NYC Mayor Says Illegal Immigrants Contributed to ‘Robbery Pattern’

New York Mayor Eric Adams speaks during a press conference at the NYPD 40th Precinct in New York on July 17, 2023. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

New York Mayor Eric Adams has acknowledged that some of the illegal immigrants that have been coming to the city in droves have added to what he described as a “robbery pattern,” although he went far from pinning the blame for a rise in some types of crime on illegal immigrants.

The Democrat mayor made the admission during a media briefing on Jan. 2, during which his topline message was that overall crime is down, jobs are up, and more tourists are visiting the Big Apple.

“In 2023, overall crime went down. We saw a drop in five of the seven major crime categories, including a 12 percent decline in homicides, and 25 percent decrease in shootings,” he said, noting that a personal bugbear of his—the high number of rat complaints—has also dropped.

The overall crime index fell by 3 percent in October 2023 from the same period a year ago, according to recent crime data from the New York Police Department. However, both felony assaults and grand larceny auto (GLA) rose by 6.9 percent and 11.3 percent, respectively.

Mr. Adams then turned his attention to the problem of the influx of illegal immigrants into the city, noting that last week, another 3,000 illegal immigrants arrived in New York.

“No city should be going through this, and it’s not sustainable,” he said while reiterating his call to the Biden administration for federal engagement to “fix this problem.”

‘Robbery Pattern’

The mayor was then asked by a reporter whether he believes that illegal immigrants are responsible for some of the crime in the city.

“Do I believe that there are some migrants who are committing crimes in the city? Yes. Yes,” Mr. Adams said, although he was quick to add that it isn’t just illegal immigrants.

“There are people who are committing crimes in all walks of life. It’s not just migrants and asylum seekers. I think that we have a number of migrants who have committed crimes. We have a number of non-migrants who are committing crimes.

“And, so, I do not want to walk away with anyone saying that the GLA increase we saw in the city was just migrants. No, it’s not. It was long-term New Yorkers who committed GLA also. But are there some crimes that migrants have committed? Yes, there are.”

He then said that when people find themselves in circumstances in which they aren’t allowed to work and can’t provide for themselves, “they have to just sit around all day, that’s not a good scenario.”

Mr. Adams and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul have both called on the Biden administration to adopt measures that would allow illegal immigrants to get work authorization faster.

A reporter then asked Mr. Adams what data there is to back up his assertion that illegal immigrants were responsible for some of the uptick in grand larceny auto crimes.

“There was a robbery pattern, for instance, that when we looked at it, we identified that robbery pattern, there were some migrants that participated in that robbery pattern,” the mayor said. “Every robbery pattern we have in the city is not done by migrants, but we identified that this was a robbery pattern and there were migrants who participated in that robbery pattern.”

Illegal immigrants board a bus en route to a shelter at Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York on May 18, 2023. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

Earlier that day, in an interview with FOX5 New York, Mr. Adams warned that illegal immigrants will soon be forced to sleep on the streets as the city struggles to find space to house them amid a surge in new arrivals.

‘We’re Out of Room’

In the interview on Fox News, Mr. Adams said New York is “being inundated” with illegal immigrants, with roughly 2,500 arriving every week. He said that this number can top 4,000 in some weeks.

Asked what will happen once there’s no more room to accommodate new arrivals, he was quick to note that there’s already no more space.

“We’re not just saying we’re out of room as a sound bite, we’re out of room literally. People are going to be eventually sleeping on the streets,” Mr. Adams said.

When asked what it would take to shut the door on new illegal immigrant arrivals, he said his hands are tied.

“I don’t have the authorization to tell people they can’t come into New York City,” Mr. Adams said, noting that the law even prohibits law enforcement from turning over illegal immigrants to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.

“This is a national problem. It’s unfair for local municipalities and cities to handle this problem.”

Illegal immigrants pass through a gap in the U.S. border wall to await processing by Border Patrol agents in Jacumba, Calif., on Dec. 7, 2023. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

He also said he believes that too many illegal immigrants are entering the United States through “various pathways and cavities in our border,” but he didn’t elaborate further.

“We have to be extremely careful because not everyone that’s coming is pursuing the American Dream,” Mr. Adams said.

A recent ICE report revealed that the number of illegal immigrants inside the United States but outside of ICE custody has surpassed 6 million, marking another grim milestone in the border crisis.

This number has soared to 6.2 million in 2023 from 4.7 million in 2022—a jump of more than 30 percent.

Republicans have blamed President Joe Biden’s policies for fueling the surge in illegal immigration.

During his first 100 days in office, President Biden took dozens of executive actions on immigration, including ordering a halt to the construction of the border wall.

Many Republicans see illegal border crossings as one of the country’s most pressing issues, while polling shows that for Democrats, it’s of relatively low priority.

Biden administration officials have been reluctant to call the situation along the border a “crisis,” while White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has accused Republicans of turning the border issue into a “political stunt.”