NYC Mayor Adams backs off latest budget cuts as city contends with alien influx

New York City Democratic Mayor Eric Adams announced the cancellation of a round of budget cuts due to take effect in April, amid pushback over his response to the surge in illegal alien arrivals to the city.

Adams in November announced sweeping budget cuts to city services to offset the cost of accommodating the new arrivals. He previously backed off of proposed cuts to the fire and police departments in January.

Apart from cancelling the third round of cuts, Adams further loosened a hiring freeze, according to Politico. Partially motivating the move is an expected decline in the cost of accommodating the aliens as well as a recently revised budget forecast expecting higher revenues.

"Despite facing a perfect fiscal storm that included a multi-billion-dollar budget gap driven by an asylum seeker crisis, the sunsetting of COVID-19 federal stimulus funding, and the cost of inherited outstanding labor costs, our administration was able to successfully make the strong fiscal decisions to navigate us to prosperity," he said.

More than 110,000 illegals have arrived in New York City over the prior year amid an unprecedented surge in illegal border crossings from Mexico. Adams has previously warned that the influx would "destroy New York City" and called on the federal government for aid in dealing with the additional persons.

Adams' initial announcement of cuts prompted lawsuits from multiple unions and contributed to a decline in his public approval. A December Quinnipiac survey showed him with just 28% approval among New York City voters.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter.