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(CNSNews.com) - New York City Mayor Eric Adams went on a few of the Sunday talk shows to demand "coordination" with border states that are sending busloads of illegal immigrants to northern sanctuary cities.
He also stated that the shipment of migrants is a "political ploy" by Republican governors to distract the electorate from the real humanitarian crises -- abortion restrictions and guns.
"New York City has always been a sanctuary city. A city with right to shelter," Adams told ABC's "This Week."
"And we're going to continue to do that. We have a moral and legal obligation to do so. We're not asking for people all over the country to send people to New York merely because they don't want to take on their responsibility to help those who are seeking this American dream. That is not what we're asking for.
"We want to continue what we've always done, and that is ensure that people who came to this city were treated if a humane fashion. We're not seeing that now. This humanitarian crisis was created by human hands.
"And I believe it was a political ploy to overlook some of the things we've done that dismantle human rights, everything from the women's right to choose, to gun control. This is the same playbook that we're seeing playing out."
Adams said something similar on CNN's "State of the Union," when Jake Tapper asked him, "What's your message to Governor Abbott and Governor DeSantis about the migrants they ship to New York and other blue state areas? "
"Well, I think it's the message for the entire country," Adams said:
"These are two governors who are hiding-up some of the actions that they have done around gun control, which is really proliferation, proliferating our country with guns. It's what they did with the women's right to choose.
"You see this is their way of covering up when many people have been really concerned about the erosion of basic human rights. We're seeing crisis calls for coordination. We received a minimum of six buses early this morning, over 11,000 individuals, asylum-seeking migrants, have come to the city already.
"It is time for us to coordinate this humanitarian crisis that our country is facing."
Tapper noted that the El Paso border sector receives and average of 1,700 migrants each day. "Even if you think what these governors are doing is horrific, it seems like you agree this is a crisis that needs more attention from the Biden administration," Tapper told the mayor.
"No," Adams said. "I believe it's a crisis that needs more coordination from our country of -- this is one country. This is a country that has always been capable of handling those who are seeking to participate in the American dream.
"And that coordination should be not only on the federal level, the state level, but even cities to cities. And we reached out to the El Paso mayor, as well as our team attempted to reach out to Governor Abbott. They refuse to do any form of coordination.
"They think the politics of treating people in a humane manner to cover up, I believe, what they have done around human rights, the erosion of it for these last few years, is what they believe is the best way to handle it. I just disagree."
Let them work
Adams said he's had conversations with the White House, and New York's U.S. senators.
"I think one of the most important parts that we should move forward is to allow those new arrivals to be able to work," Adams said. "They came here to pursue the American dream. I don't think it really is logical to allow people to be here for months without the ability to seek employment, particularly during a time when we are seeking employees on various sectors in our city."
Adams told Tapper that he has no desire to change New York's right to shelter law: "We're not considering and we don't believe we should change the right-to-shelter law," he said.
"What needs to be looked at is the actual practices, because I'm sure, 40 years ago, when this law was put into place, no one thought that we would receive 11,000 -- over 11,000 migrants or asylum seekers. And so it's the practices and parts of it that we want to reexamine to make sure that we can actually carry out an influx.
"That law was put in place for the individuals who were living in New York and needed shelter under an emergency situation. This is a humanitarian crisis, and it needs to be viewed that way."