Mayor Adams says New York City could use cruise ships to accommodate influx of immigrants

New York — another convoy A bus full of asylum seekers Arriving at the Port Authority Bus Terminal on Friday, in an exclusive interview, Mayor Eric Adams Cruise ships could be a potential solution to the housing crisis, he said.

Adams revealed the plans in an interview on CBS2’s new political talk show, “The Point with Marcia Kramer.”

The ship won’t be called the “Love Boat” or the “Good Ship Lollipop,” but the mayor said the city intends to honor its commitment to providing shelter to everyone who needs it, and that the boat is a perfect fit. said it might.

“We’re looking into everything from the legality of using any type of cruise ship for temporary housing. We’re looking into everything to see how we’re going to address this,” Adams said. increase.

“I would like to pursue this on cruise ships,” Cramer replied. “Is it really possible to do that?”

“We’re looking at it. That’s what the previous administration, the Bloomberg administration, saw during the surge, and my understanding is that it’s a temporary measure, not a permanent one. The effective response is to get people into housing,” Adams said.

The mayor spoke as another convoy of buses full of asylum seekers arrived from Texas. By mid-afternoon on Friday he had four buses arriving. Three more were expected by the end of the day.

With 11,600 migrants sent to the city in the past few months, the mayor has made it clear that shelters and hotels cannot open fast enough.

“We have opened 23 emergency shelters and we anticipate an influx to possibly open 38 additional emergency shelters, so we need to find temporary measures to address this problem,” he said. says Adams.

The mayor also said he is working with the Biden administration to speed up the process of obtaining work permits for asylum seekers so they can be self-reliant.

Governor Kathy Hochul It also said there are thousands of jobs available statewide.

“It’s unbelievable given the insanity of this whole concept of telling people they’re not allowed to work right now. Restaurants are running out of employees. Some have experience. We may have medical professionals. We are short of nurses,” Adams said. “We need to see where we are facing shortages. How can we enable people to take care of themselves? No. It makes no sense.”

“So how do you track your work permit quickly?” asked Kramer.

“It’s a combination of the Department of Homeland Security and Congress. It’s a combination of both that come together to make that decision,” Adams said.

The mayor said migrants could also fill job openings upstate, which would also ease the city’s housing crisis.

“The Point with Marcia Kramer” airs every Sunday at 11:30 am after “Face the Nation” on CBS2. cbs news new york.