After New York City Mayor Eric Adams bemoaned the arrival of roughly 10,000 asylum seekers to the Big Apple each month, a journalist shot back with statistics that indicate how that number compares to what officials see at the U.S. border with Mexico.
Fox News reporter Bill Melugin shared on Monday a post to X from John Modlin, chief patrol agent of the Tucson Sector, saying that last week there were 10,700 apprehensions, 526 rescues, nine human smuggling events, five narcotics events, and five firearms seized.
NYC Mayor Eric Adams says NYC cannot handle 10,000 migrants per month.
Border Patrol's Tucson, AZ sector just had almost 11,000 in one *week*. And that's just one of nine sectors along the southern border. Sanctuary cities get a tiny fraction of what's coming across border. https://t.co/YXaTbZT8b7— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) September 11, 2023
“NYC Mayor Eric Adams says NYC cannot handle 10,000 migrants per month,” Melugin said. “Border Patrol’s Tucson, AZ sector just had almost 11,000 in one *week*. And that’s just one of nine sectors along the southern border. Sanctuary cities get a tiny fraction of what’s coming across border.”
Melugin’s post attracted the attention of X owner Elon Musk, who responded, “Wow,” and other commenters, some of whom called for more migrants to be sent to New York or for the border to be shut down.
Adams, a Democrat, announced over the weekend “steps” to stabilize his city’s finances to contend with the cost of taking care of more than 110,000 migrants.
“Today, with approximately 10,000 asylum seekers still arriving each month, the city estimates this mounting crisis will cost taxpayers $12 billion over three fiscal years — an amount that will continue to grow without federal and state intervention and support,” Adams said.
In remarks last week, Adams said the migrant surge could “destroy” New York City and he took an apparent swipe at Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott while chastising red states for busing migrants to blue cities in an effort to alleviate their border communities and challenge “sanctuary” policies.
“We turned this city around in 20 months and then what happened?” Adams said, alluding to his city dealing with the COVID pandemic. “It started with a madman down in Texas who decided he wanted to bus people up to New York City: 110,000 migrants we have to feed, clothe, house, educate the children, wash their laundry sheets, give them everything they need — healthcare.”
Modlin, during a congressional hearing earlier this year, told lawmakers that he needed more personnel at the border. “I certainly know I do not have enough agents within Tucson sector to deal with the flow that we’re dealing with now,” he said.
In a CNN interview on Monday, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas lamented how officials are dealing with a “broken immigration system,” but insisted that the Biden administration has “responded with a model approach that has proven to work.”