Adams Advances Push To Resettle NYC Migrants Upstate

NEW YORK CITY — Mayor Eric Adams has a new proposal to deal with New York City's potential $2 billion migrant influx: ship asylum seekers upstate.

City officials have talked to Gov. Kathy Hochul's office about resettling some migrants to upstate areas that have lost population, Adams said Thursday.

Upstate areas would get the benefit of a new pool of workers, while New York City would get some relief from a 40,000-plus influx of migrants, Adams said.

"We believe that there is a win-win," he told WNYC's Brian Lehrer.

Adams first publicly floated the idea during an interview last week with the New York Post.

The idea is one of several Adams has proposed since asylum seekers — mostly fleeing turmoil in Venezuela — started flowing into the city, often on buses from states with Republican governors who seek to raise political points about conditions at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Adams resurfaced another idea this week that many advocates have sharply criticized: using cruise ships to temporarily house migrants.

"Every item is on the table because we have a moral and legal responsibility to do what's right for not only all New Yorkers but whoever comes to our city," he said Wednesday in a live interview with Politico.

Advocates with The Legal Aid Society and Coalition for the Homeless quickly blasted the idea, which they called "questionable" in a joint statement.

“To state the obvious, cruise ships are not designed or equipped to provide adequate long-term shelter and services to homeless people, including asylum seekers, and are unlikely to comply with well-established court orders and local laws governing New York’s right to shelter," the statement read.

But the advocates agreed with Adams that the city needs meaningful assistance and action from the state and federal government.

Adams put the onus on federal officials.

"We have not received any assistance at all,” he said.

“We have had several conversations with the governor’s office in coming up with some real solutions, but we also need the national government to do their part."