Mayor describes Latin America trip as ‘an eye-opener’

Mayor Eric Adams feels that his trip to Latin America was a success.

During his trip, Adams got an up-close look at the flow of migrants and made a personal pitch to try to dissuade them from coming to New York.

“This trip has been an eye-opener for me,” Adams told reporters Saturday.

The comment, at a virtual briefing with reporters, came at the end of a four-day swing that took to him to Mexico, Ecuador and Colombia.

On the final day, he got a first-hand look at the Darien Gap, the dangerous jungle crossing at the Colombia-Panama border that migrants must navigate on their way north.

His message is that New York is over capacity.

“In South and in Central and North America, we are a family,” Adams said Saturday. “And to put this on one family member is not the right thing to do.”

Back in the city Monday, Adams underlined the importance of the mission.

“I just want to be clear to New Yorkers. What I saw there is telling me that if we don’t take real actions, this is going to just inundate this city,” Adams told reporters at the Columbus Day Parade in Manhattan. “And I cannot sit back and allow it to happen.”

NY1 and other New York-based media joined the mayor for parts of his trip, but he said the goal was to target local media and counter misinformation that accommodations would be comfortable and work is readily available in New York.

The mayor will also pursue other strategies going forward. He said Monday he’ll solicit ideas from former President Bill Clinton and former Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

“Our plan is to stop the tide and stop the flow of coming into the city,” Adams said. “And we believe there’s ways to do it, particularly by partnering with Colombia.”

In the town of Necocli in northern Colombia, Adams saw migrants camped on beaches as they awaited a boat ride to take them north. But any direct contact with migrants was minimal, as Adams spent most of his time visiting with officials.

And his view of the Darien Gap was only by helicopter. The mayor said the conditions of the trip had to be negotiated with Colombian security forces.

“We had to convince the national police to allow us to go in,” Adams said. “They were clear the level of threat, the level of danger, they wouldn’t allow a lot of my team to go in with me.”

The mayor’s trip had multiple purposes. In Mexico City, he promoted the city at an economic conference. In Puebla, where much of New York City’s Mexican population has roots, Adams was celebrated for New York’s embrace of immigrants.

Still, he insisted throughout the trip that his message was clear and consistent.

“We’re stating we are out of room in our city,” Adams said Saturday. “We don’t want people to take this dangerous trek to come to New York City that is out of room. We don’t have unlimited supplies.”