Reversal of Misfortune: Eric Adams Wants 'Revisit' Sanctuary City Status for NYC

Two old sayings spring to mind. First is, “Act in haste, repent in leisure.” And then there is “Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.” This, of course, applies to illegal immigration, which is fine, noble, and uniquely American so long as the migrants are sleeping on the streets of El Paso or overrunning a town in Arizona.

But when it comes to time to locate one’s money in the same space as one’s mouth, then it is a different story altogether. High and lofty ideals are wonderful, so long as someone else is footing the bill. Just ask the heroic people of Martha’s Vineyard, who couldn’t get the huddled masses off of their front lawns soon enough.

Now that New York Mayor Eric Adams has had the chance to experience all of the *ahem* challenges that come with unchecked illegal immigration, hizzoner is having some second thoughts. Last week he asked a judge to “revisit” New York City’s sanctuary law.

Mayor Eric Adams is “now in court, today, asking a judge to revisit” NYC’s sanctuary city law:

“No one thought that they would be dealing with a humanitarian crisis of this proportion.” pic.twitter.com/UxkkYzhc0n

— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) May 15, 2023

The Post Millennial reports that the move comes after Adams had resorted to busing illegals out of Gotham and into the county and as reports continue to roll in of hotels turning away paying guests and canceling reservations to accommodate the people who have arrived in the U.S. under the Biden immigration plan. On Wednesday, Adams also signed an emergency declaration suspending the city’s right-to-shelter rules for illegals. A spokesperson for the city issued the following statement:

New York City has cared for more than 61,000 migrants over the last year — sheltering, feeding, and caring for them almost entirely on our own. In recent days, we’ve seen upwards of 500 people arrive each day, and we expect those numbers to grow significantly as Title 42 lifts tomorrow.

No asylum seeking-family that has sought shelter from us over the last year has slept on the street thanks to our colossal efforts, but without more support from our federal and state partners, we are concerned the worst may be yet to come. With over 130 emergency sites and eight humanitarian relief centers already opened, we have reached our limit, and this last week we had to resort to temporarily housing recent arrivals in gyms.

In an effort to mitigate those risks and find room within our shelter system, the city has temporarily suspended the policy surrounding timing for placements in shelters. This is not a decision taken lightly and we will make every effort to get asylum seekers into shelter as quickly as possible as we have done since day one.

So Gotham has hung out its “no vacancy” sign. Adams said the move was a hard decision but the right one. He noted that the city saw an influx of around 42,000 immigrants last week and was averaging approximately 500 per day.

I strongly suspect that Eric Adams knew full well the proportion of the humanitarian crisis. But like all other leftists of prominence, he never thought that he would have to deal with it. Leftists love wonderful policies that have humanitarian rings to them, so long as the consequences are reserved for other people. And right now, Adams is still looking for other people to pay the freight for a leftist policy.