Illegal immigration crisis forces New York City mayor to make big cuts to police, education budget

New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced that his administration will make significant cuts to the education sector and police budgets to try to address the illegal immigration crisis affecting “The City That Never Sleeps.”

According to The New York Times, the cuts planned by the Adams administration would completely halt the hiring of new police officers and leave the number of agents below 30,000.

Likewise, the cuts also include the slashing of more than $1 billion from the budget granted to the New York City Department of Education.

The reduction will affect county school libraries as well as student programs.

“No city should be left to handle a national humanitarian crisis largely on its own, and without the significant and timely support we need from Washington, D.C. Today’s budget will be only the beginning,” Adams said of the budget cuts and the lack of support that comes from the federal government.

The mayor of New York had been warning for months about potential budget readjustments that, in his own words, would be “extremely painful” for New Yorkers.

Since last year, New York City has received about 130,000 illegal migrants, mainly from the southern border. City hall authorities explained that of the city’s extensive budget, estimated at $110 billion, New York City will spend up to $12 billion to provide food and shelter to illegal immigrants until fiscal year 2025.

The immigration crisis, which has been dragging on since the first months of the Biden administration, has greatly affected border states such as Texas and Arizona but also other states on the east coast that have received hundreds of thousands of migrants traveling by bus from the southern border.