mayor-adams-says-that-despite-the-immigration-crisis,-municipal-coffers-are-“healthy”-and-suggests-reviewing-nyc's-status-as-a-“sanctuary-city”Mayor Adams says that despite the immigration crisis, municipal coffers are “healthy” and suggests reviewing NYC's status as a “sanctuary city”

While a rigorous report from the New York City comptroller calls into question the way Mayor Eric Adams’ Administration has handled emergency contracts for security, lodging and food services at more than 200 shelters installed since the spring of 2020, to serve more than 170 thousand recently arrived immigrants, the president in his weekly media conference stressed that several indicators demonstrate that the Big Apple has been an “example” of how to address a crisis that has “tensioned the ropes” of municipal finances.

“We have made the best decisions for the financial health of our city. We have a record $8.2 billion in reserve funds. We have attended to a national contingency like no one else, without cutting our services, without increasing taxes. Several international financial consultancies have described us as a model to follow,” said Adams, supported by the presentation of a video.

The mayor reiterated that despite this “economic recovery” scheme, federal aid and a national strategy to decompress the immigration crisis are required. In addition, in his speech he was categorical in warning that new scenarios create the ground for a review of the “sanctuary city” character of New York City.

Exorbitant costs

Hours earlier, a report from the guarantor of the City’s finances, Brad Lander, stated that the hourly salaries of the staff of the group of contracted companies, in the midst of this immigration contingency, have been “tremendously high, exceeding the hiring of employees regulars of the municipality.”

For example, it is cited in the line “security guards.” In January 2024, the average salary for these “unarmed” security employees was $27.58 per hour. But it was determined that at a “high end,” up to $117 per hour has been paid for security personnel, assigned to shelters, supplied by contractors.

“The City allowed companies at the beginning of the crisis to take advantage of an emergency to their benefit. They charged exorbitant rates for labor services that could have been more reasonable. There was only one review and a decrease, when it became clear that this crisis would continue over time,” Lander’s report emphasized.

“A gigantic unforeseen event”

According to the comptroller, as of November 2023, the city has awarded 340 unique contracts for services to migrants who arrived in New York City, under the local right to shelter standard. Fourteen municipal agencies awarded emergency contracts, with highly variable costs among the favored companies, for the same service.

For a security guard, $78.99 per hour was paid to one company, $100 per hour to another contractor, and $50 per hour to another supplier, for exactly the same function.

Without mentioning the comptroller’s numbers, and responding only to a journalistic concern, the mayor argued that some imbalances in the costs of the companies, which provided services to the migrant shelters, were due to a combination of related factors. with the rigors of this “national and global” unforeseen event that took on gigantic dimensions.

“Suddenly at midnight, 300 people arrive in the city, without any warning, on a bus sent from Texas. And we had to house them, provide food and medical services. Then everything overflowed to 2,000 people in a week, 8,000 in a month. This never stopped. “We managed to manage this unprecedented event, without any family having to sleep on the streets,” she said.

Adams recalled that more than 170,000 people were served by municipal agencies and 65,000 people are currently under the care of the City, but the difference is that in the midst of the confusion of this unprecedented event, contracts and service costs have been able to be renegotiated. with a “more stable” budget vision.

“Although at first we thought we had to sacrifice services for New Yorkers, we managed to resize our accounts. And the only thing we have reduced is 30% of the budget to attend to the newcomers,” argued the president.

“They don’t deserve to be in our city”

This new impact on the management of the immigration crisis is recorded at a key moment where several surveys show not only the concern of New Yorkers about the effects that the arrival of thousands of people has on the City’s finances and services. public. Now on a higher note, the recurring question is to what extent are we addressing threats to public safety.

A sequence of criminal acts allegedly carried out by young Hispanics staying in shelters, ranging from brutal attacks on police officers, robberies and even assaults with firearms, have put Mayor Adams on the side of the voices that demand some revisions in local regulations of ‘sanctuary city’, which prohibits any type of collaboration of municipal agencies with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE).

This Tuesday, the municipal leader reinforced that in his personal opinion, these local laws must be reviewed, because “a small minority of violent and dangerous asylum seekers”, who in a few months have already committed several crimes, “should not have the privilege to be in our city.”

“I will always be on the side of regulations that guarantee the public safety of all New Yorkers. If a young migrant was detained because he attacked a police officer, he is released and then a few days later he is caught again committing a robbery in a store, we are talking about a situation that must be analyzed. That person does not deserve to be on the streets,” he asserted.

Beforehand, sources from the Democratic majority of the Municipal Council told El Diario that it is not even remotely on the local legislative agenda to touch a letter of those regulations for the protection of undocumented immigrants before La Migra.

By Scribe