New York City Mayor Eric Adams revealed during a press conference Tuesday that there were "a number of migrants who have committed crimes," including some participating in what he called a "robbery pattern."
"Do I believe that there are some migrants who are committing crimes in the city? Yes. Yes," Adams confirmed when asked by a reporter. Though he emphasized it's not only migrants, "There are people who are committing crimes in all walks of life. It's not just migrants and asylum seekers. I think that we have a number of migrants who have committed crimes. We have a number of non-migrants who are committing crimes."
"And, so, I do not want to walk away with anyone saying that the [grand larceny auto] increase we saw in the city was just migrants. No, it’s not. It was long-term New Yorkers who committed [grand larceny auto] also," he added. "But are there some crimes that migrants have committed? Yes, there are."
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Adams gave an example, explaining that they found a "robbery pattern" in the city that included some migrants.
"We identified that this was a robbery pattern and there were migrants who participated in that robbery pattern," Adams said while acknowledging, "Every robbery pattern we have in the city is not done by migrants."
He also claimed that the city had to address the "environment" that could lead to migrants committing crimes.
"But remember what I said last week. You place a person in an environment where they can't work, can't provide for themselves. They have to just sit around all day. That's not a good scenario. That's not a good scenario. And that is what we need to focus on. What environment are we creating in these cities?" Adams said.
Data from the NYPD shows that robbery, felony assault and grand larceny auto increased in October 2023 compared to the same time one year prior.
Since spring of 2022, NYC has received 161,000 migrants with Adams expecting another surge on the way in the coming months.
"For many months, we were able to keep the visualization of this crisis from hitting our streets, but we have reached a breaking point and can no longer do that," Adams said in December.
He added, "New York City has begun to see another surge of migrants arriving, and we expect this to intensify over the coming days as a result of Texas Gov. Abbott’s cruel and inhumane politics."
