Mayor Eric Adams pleads with judge to 'revisit' NYC's sanctuary city law amid illegal immigration surge: 'We have reached our limit'

New York City Mayor Eric Adams evidently no longer wants to be handcuffed to the Democrats' open-borders policies of yesteryear, especially not when the suburbs are pushing back.

Adams indicated that he was in court Thursday "asking the judge to revisit this law to deal with this humanitarian crisis."

The New York mayor pre-empted possible claims of hypocrisy, stressing that the "law of sanctuary city was in place" long before he took office; that "when they decided to put in place that law, no one thought that they would be dealing with a humanitarian crisis of this proportion."

Former Mayor Ed Koch signed an executive order in 1989, declaring New York a sanctuary city.

Former Mayor Michael Bloomberg went much farther than Koch, signing executive orders forbidding city employers, including members of the NYPD, from asking residents about their immigration status.

As mayor, Bill de Blasio passed a sanctuary city law in October 2014 ensuring New York would remain a sanctuary for illegal aliens even if they were violent felons or on the terrorist watch list, reported the New York Post.

While Adams' assertion that the law precedes him is correct, legislators and city councilmen were long warned of the potential fallout — warnings he chose to ignore.

Adams vowed to hinder federal efforts to deport criminal noncitizens when running for office and indicated he would maintain NYC's "sanctuary city status." Adams went so far as to support legislation that would allow foreign nationals to vote in local elections.

Now, amid what Republicans recognize as an invasion, Adams is singing a different tune.

According to Adams' office, New York city has "cared for" over 61,000 migrants over the past year and is seeing roughly 500 illegal aliens pour in every day," reported CBS News. Adams reckons that number might spike to thousands of migrants entering daily.

"With over 130 emergency sites and eight humanitarian relief centers already opened, we have reached our limit," said a spokesman for the mayor.

Whereas before, Adams figured he could displace his problem, rerouting illegal aliens he previously welcomed to the suburbs, various New York counties have declared states of emergency to prevent the sanctuary city from offloading its "humanitarian crisis."

TheBlaze previously reported that Orange County and Rockland County have declared states of emergency in advance of migrants' arrival in the respective communities.

"To have 300 people dropped on us at one time is ridiculous. There's just no way we can handle that; ... 300 people is five times what the homeless count is [currently] in Rockland County," said Rockland County Executive Ed Day (R).

Day said it was "maddening" for New York to deluge his county with illegal aliens, especially when Rockland "isn't even a sanctuary county."

Since the city can no longer bus illegal aliens into neighboring counties or even into Canada — a tactic Adams criticized Republican governors for — New York is taking over hotels and schools on the newcomers' behalf.

TheBlaze noted Monday that New York City has committed to opening its first asylum-seeker arrival center, since other hotels have been overwhelmed. The historic Roosevelt Hotel, shuttered during the COVID-19 lockdowns, will apparently do the trick.

KRCR-TV reported that the city is also preparing to shelter illegal aliens in school gymnasiums.

Adams' office released a statement, saying, "We received more than 4,200 asylum seekers last week alone and continue to receive hundreds of asylum seekers every day. We are opening emergency shelters and respite centers daily, but we are out of space. As the mayor has said, nothing is off the table as we work to fill our moral mandate, but we should all expect this crisis to affect every city service. We will continue to communicate with local elected officials as we open more emergency sites."

While critical of the influx of illegal aliens into his city, the New York mayor has previously been silent on the matter of well over 5 million illegal aliens stealing into the country since President Joe Biden took office.

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