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Immigration is “our secret weapon”, says New York Mayor Eric Adams
“When you start to say removing immigrants from this country, you're really removing the foundation of this country."
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Lalit K Jha - Fri, 06, Jun 2025
- 02:04 EDT
- 168
New York Mayor Eric Adams. / Lalit K Jha
New York City Mayor Eric Adams backs legal immigration as the “secret weapon” of the largest city in the United States and cautions that removing immigrants would shake the country’s foundations.
Adams, who is the city’s executive since his victory as a Democrat candidate in 2022, tells New India Abroad in an exclusive interview: “Immigration is important in our city. In fact, it is our secret weapon. It is who and what makes us great.”
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He is quick to back it with an oblique reference to the current controversies surrounding immigrants. He says: “When you start to say removing immigrants from this country, you're really removing the foundation of this country and what makes us successful.”
Taking time off his busy schedule that includes contesting the current mayoral election as an independent, among the nine in the fray, Adams explains his stand on immigration: “You realize even through COVID, it was the immigrants that kept this city going. When New Yorkers, documented New Yorkers were able to work remotely, were able to shelter in place, it was the immigrants that were stocked in our grocery stores, that they were delivering food. And then when you went to the hospitals, you saw immigrant populations, second-person, second-generation immigrants who are nurses, our doctors, our hospital employees from places like India, Philippines, the Caribbean.”
He is matter-of-fact about and acknowledges the deep reality of the city’s immigrant history: “When you look at even one of our boroughs, such as Brooklyn, with the number of people who live in Brooklyn, largest borough in the city of New York. In fact, if it was a separate city, it would be even a third or fourth largest city in America. 40 percent of the people in Brooklyn speak a language other than English at home. Think about that number.”
New York, considered the financial and cultural hub of not just the U.S. but the world, is visited by close to 65 million people every year. Adam’s mayoralty is all for keep illegal immigrants away while back backing legal immigration. He talks of his priority: “What we must do with immigration, one, our federal government must fix our broken immigration system. Second, we must secure the borders. I thank this administration for doing just that. Our unsecured borders created such a crisis. There has been a 90% decrease in those who are crossing our borders.”
The mayor has a sound argument why America needs immigrants: “We have a population decrease problem in America. We should use the immigration crisis as an opportunity. coming to the country after being vetted. You should be able to go to one of the municipalities where we need workers and we need people. Kentucky needs backstretch workers for their racing industry.”
He finds a connect between immigrant identity, technology and governance to keep people safe. He points out: “A universal system of being able to identify New Yorkers so they don't have to reintroduce themselves to government every time they need services. So, I want a smarter city by using technology. And those are the things we're looking for. But at the foundation of that, we want to continue to make people be safe, but also feel safe.”
The need for safety makes him wary of criminal gangs exploiting the porous American borders. He says, bluntly: “We have too many dangerous Venezuelan and South and Central American gangs that have entered our country. They're creating a lot of danger, a lot of havoc. That cannot happen. That happens when you have porous borders, and we must make sure that does not continue to happen.”
What is his advice to immigrants? He has simple and direct answer: “We should welcome immigration. We should allow people to work. We should make sure that they're on a pathway for citizenship or green cards. But no one should just be wandering in our country without any destination.”
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