Like many New Yorkers who are really stressed out and need to get away, Mayor Eric Adams has jetted off to Mexico, ostensibly, as he put it, "to speak with leaders of the area and to really start the process of understanding the flow of migrants here to New York City and throughout the entire country." (He added, "This is the type of conversation we believe need to look at both local, national, and international to come to the resolution.") His four-day trip began Wednesday evening in Mexico City, and yesterday, he was in Puebla, Mexico.
Let's take a look at what our mayor has been up to so far:
Here he is at a Catholic church in Mexico City:
Here he is speaking at an event called the "North Capital Forum":
Here he is, speaking as he got an honorary degree at a university in Puebla:
Here he is speaking (very slowly) before Puebla's elected leaders:
Here he is getting honored, again:
Here he is, making a heart sign:
Here he is, forcing Puebla's elected leaders to make heart signs:
Why is Adams on this weird public relations stunt slash fact-finding mission? Is it to put pressure on the Biden administration, which seems to hate him, or at the very least, clearly finds him incompetent? Is it to burnish his own reputation as a capable leader, one that can tackle the most difficult of challenges? (LOL.) Does he really think that people contemplating making the dangerous journey to the U.S., often due to extreme political and economic violence, will just all of a sudden change their minds if they hear from the mayor of New York City?
Apparently, he thinks so. At many of his events in Mexico, Adams attempted to drive the point home that NYC is at capacity, though he offered some remarkably muddled messages.
"We are neighbors. We are familia. Mi casa es su casa. Your struggles are my struggles," Adams said inside Puebla's legislative chamber. "[Migrants] are our future and we cannot lose one of them," he continued. According to news reports, he then turned around and told reporters, "My trip here is to speak directly to the people of all the countries that are migrating: There is no more room in New York." Adams added, "Our hearts are endless, but our resources are not. We don't want to put people in congregate shelters. We don't want people to think they will be employed."
Aside from repeatedly stating that people will be living in terrible conditions if they come to New York City, Mayor Adams also made time to make some claims that migrants are shoplifting, during a "fireside chat" about migrants with the CEO of AT&T Mexico. Via CBS News:
"You're not going to be a big box chain store and ignore a large population of men in general, and specifically, they're coming to your cities, and don't think it's going to impact shoplifting, masked people that can be involved in stealing or doing something that's anti-social behavior. We must come up with a humane approach that can resolve some of the underlying issues," Adams said.
The mayor clarified his comments Thursday evening, insisting there is no evidence of an increase in shoplifting coming from migrants.
"Are there cases where migrants have been arrested for shoplifting? Yes, but that is not a rampant problem that we're facing," he said.
How much is this trip costing taxpayers? As Gothamist reported, City Hall won't say. While Eric Adams's personal travel is being paid for out of his own pocket or by outside nonprofits ("I'm paying my own way," Adams said earlier this week. "You know my rule: My dime, my time, don't whine."), New Yorkers are picking up the bill for the costs of his NYPD security detail, which Gothamist noted could run into the tens of thousands of dollars. Taxpayers are also covering the costs for some (but not all) of the administration officials who have joined him, which include the City's Commissioner of International Affairs Edward Mermelstein, Commissioner of Immigrant Affairs Manuel Castro, Adams's Deputy Press Secretary Kayla Mamelak, and Adams's very good NYPD buddy Timothy Pearson, whom Adams gave a cushy job to, even as Pearson was collecting a paycheck from a casino, as well as his NYPD pension.
Today, Adams is in Quito, Ecuador, before he travels to Colombia's Darien Gap. He is expected to arrive back in New York City early Sunday morning.
And some links that are not engaging in weird political grandstanding:
- Mayor Adams will likely be happy to hear that the Biden administration will once again be deporting Venezuelans directly back to Venezuela.
- Via the CITY: "GrubHub, Uber and DoorDash have secured a second pause on a new minimum wage for New York City food delivery workers—a delay that is costing drivers about $15 million a week, according to lawyers who’ve asked a state appeals court to let the law roll ahead."
- Please, no more new paddle sports, just play ping-pong, people!
- The story of how Bob Menendez's wife Nadine killed someone while driving, then got a free Mercedes from a man who is now indicted alongside her as well as her husband in a sweeping bribery scheme, has somehow gotten even more wild. Via the New York Post: "A retired top policeman helped Robert Menendez’s wife-to-be leave the scene of her fatal car crash without a sobriety test or handing over her phone. The Post has learned that Michael Mordaga, the former director of Hackensack Police and an ex-chief of detectives in the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office, was on the scene within minutes when Nadine Arslanian slammed her black Mercedes into Richard Koop in Bogota, NJ, in December 2018. Mordaga, 66, helped her leave behind the totaled car and take her belongings from it after quizzing the patrolman dealing with the crash on what he planned to do. Dashcam footage and 911 recordings do not show Arslanian asking after the victim, but they do show her refusing to have her cellphone searched and also suggest she did not call 911 until officers were already on the scene—then told them the wrong location for the crash."
- "Fisherman Convicted in Plot to Sell $900,000 of Illegal Fluke and Bass"
- Here's some baseball news.
- Here's some George Santos news.
- "Evolving Requirements For Tenant Lawyer Funding Met With Protest"
- Vickie Paladino continues to be Vickie Paladino:
