New York City Democratic Mayor Eric Adams announced Thursday that his administration would be making significant cuts affecting NYPD and Education Department budgets, saying the cuts are necessary to deal with the ongoing illegal immigration crisis.
Adams’ budget cuts will freeze police hiring, dropping the number of NYPD officers to below 30,000, The New York Times reported. The budget cuts will also slash the city’s Education Department budget by more than $1 billion over the next two years, affecting school programs and libraries.
“No city should be left to handle a national humanitarian crisis largely on its own, and without the significant and timely support we need from Washington, D.C. Today’s budget will be only the beginning,” Adams said.
The move comes two days after Adams warned in a press conference that budget cuts to help deal with the illegal immigration crisis would be “extremely painful for New Yorkers,” adding, “In all my time in government, this is probably one of the most painful exercises I’ve gone through.”
The cuts to the NYPD come just a month after Adams said the Big Apple needs more police officers as the city faces a rise in felony and misdemeanor assaults and car thefts.
Leftist Democrats slammed Adams for cutting funding for programs such as summer school and universal kindergarten.
“Mayor Adams’s unnecessary, dangerous and draconian budget cuts will only worsen New York’s affordability crisis and delay our city’s economic recovery by cutting funding for the schools, child care, food assistance and more that help New Yorkers live and raise families in this city,” said Lincoln Restler, a chair of the City Council’s progressive caucus, according to the Times.
New York City, which has a budget of $110 billion, is projected to spend $12 billion providing food and shelter for illegal immigrants through the 2025 fiscal year, according to city officials. More than 130,000 illegal immigrants have arrived in the city since last year as Adams has repeatedly asked the Biden administration to better enforce immigration laws at the border and help the Big Apple provide assistance to the illegal immigrants who have made it to the city.
CHECK OUT THE DAILY WIRE BLACK FRIDAY SHOPPING GUIDE
Last month, the mayor warned that the number of illegal immigrants being bused to major cities after crossing the border is “not sustainable.” Adams added that the number of illegal immigrants arriving in New York City on a weekly basis was up from 2,400 people to 4,000 people.
Adams was on his way to Washington, D.C., to meet with the Biden administration and discuss the ongoing border crisis earlier this month when he was forced to cancel his plans after being informed that his campaign was being investigated by the FBI. Days later, Adams’ cell phones were confiscated by federal agents amid the probe into allegations that the mayor’s 2021 campaign conspired with the Turkish government.