After months of criticism, Mayor Adams praises Biden’s new border policy, promises campaign help

Mayor Eric Adams praised President Joe Biden on Tuesday for his executive order capping the number of migrants who can be let into the U.S. and said he’s ready to offer “whatever they need” toward the Biden campaign’s re-election efforts.

The apparent olive branch from City Hall came on the heels of a drastic immigration policy change from the Biden administration and after Adams voiced criticism of the president for months over his handling of the migrant crisis.

The president’s executive order will prevent migrants who’ve crossed the southern border from pursuing asylum claims when the seven-day average of crossings surpasses 2,500 people — a figure well below recent levels — a controversial move that drew almost immediate criticism from immigrant advocates and conservatives alike.

Adams, who noted Tuesday that 200,000 migrants have come through the city since he was elected, was not among those critics, though.

“Whatever can be done to slow the flow, give us the resources, allow people to work — I’m all for,” he said at a City Hall press conference.

Biden’s order aims to achieve one of those goals — slowing the flow — but does not address City Hall’s demands for more funding to house and assist migrants or its call for the federal government to speed the process to allow migrants to work legally in the U.S.

Ingrid Lewis-Martin, the mayor’s chief adviser, suggested that, in spite of what City Hall views as a positive development, it will continue to press the feds for additional funding.

“We still have to appeal to the federal government to give us the money because this is still on our dime, and we cannot sustain,” she said.

Federal funding that the city did get earlier this year was the subject of months of delays caused by the Adams administration’s failure to submit the paperwork required to unlock the money.

In addition to Lewis-Martin’s demand for more financial help, another top Adams adviser, Tiffany Raspberry, contended Biden’s new policy was “a direct result” of the mayor leading the charge on the issue — a claim the White House did not immediately respond to.

Biden’s order, which is in part a response to Congress’s failure to act on the issue, did not receive such a warm welcome from immigrant advocates.

Murad Awawdeh, president of the New York Immigration Coalition, called it “reckless” and a “political stunt that turns our back on our humanitarian obligations.”

“This executive action will harm many families and individuals and do nothing to advance what this country needs most — an orderly and reformed immigration system that works for all communities,” he said.

Challenges at the U.S.-Mexico border promise to be a central issue in Biden’s re-election run against his predecessor, former President Donald Trump.

Trump, who was convicted last week in the Manhattan hush-money case, has vowed to cut off the flow of immigrants pouring into the U.S.

Where Adams, a moderate, factors into all this is unclear.

Last September, he said the flow of migrants into the Big Apple would “destroy” the city and noted Tuesday that a spike in pattern crimes roughly coincides with an influx of migrants to New York.

Republicans have in the past used his rhetoric on the migrant situation for their own talking points, though Adams has described himself as the “Biden of Brooklyn” and noted Tuesday that he’s a superdelegate for the president.

Unlike Gov. Kathy Hochul, he was not invited to a Tuesday ceremony at the White House to unveil Biden’s border cap.

“I have too much to do to worry about what guest lists I’m not on,” the mayor said at his press conference.

After Trump’s conviction, Adams’ office issued a relatively muted response acknowledging the verdict and assuring New Yorkers that the police were “ready to respond to any and all circumstances, including large-scale protests.” Unlike other Dems, he did not making any pronouncement about the verdict demonstrating that no one should be above the law.

Asked about that response, whether it was geared at not alienating supporters who might be planning to vote for Trump and how Biden could best utilize him on the campaign trail, Adams responded Tuesday that the president “has been very helpful” and that he’s willing to offer Biden’s campaign “whatever they need.”

“People who are good supporters don’t try to dictate what they’re going to do with your campaign,” Adams said. “It’s up them to say, ‘Eric, here’s where we believe we can use you.'”

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