New York City Mayor Eric Adams is negotiating a deal to house illegal immigrants aboard a massive cruise ship docked at Staten Island. With Texas busing thousands of illegals to the Big Apple, Republican officials in the city called Adams’ plan “ludicrous” and “incompetent.”
Norwegian Cruise Line told Fox News on Saturday that the city had inquired about chartering one of its vessels to house the migrants. The company, which operates 18 megaships, said that talks are ongoing, and that “no agreement has been reached.”
News of Adams’ plan was first broken by the New York Post on Friday, with the newspaper reporting that the Democrat mayor is also considering erecting a similar tent city to one already under construction in the Bronx, and hiring another cruise ship operated by the Estonian company Tallink.
While it is unclear how much hiring either ship will cost, the Post said that officials estimate the Norwegian liner will be “cheaper” than the tent city, which is slated to cost the city’s taxpayers $15 million per month.
Around 15,500 migrants have arrived in New York since May, according to figures from City Hall. With illegal crossings from Mexico at a record high, Republican governors have taken to helping these migrants travel north to Democrat-run states, in a bid to highlight the consequences of the Biden administration’s lax border policy.
While Florida Governor Ron DeSantis flew immigrants to the wealthy elite enclave of Martha’s Vineyard last month, Texas’ Greg Abbott and Arizona’s Doug Ducey have been sending busloads of border-jumpers to New York and Washington since early summer.
Adams intends to moor the chartered cruise ship on Staten Island. However, Staten Island Borough President Vito Fossella, A Republican, told the Post that he considers the plan “problematic.”
“What’s next? RVs on the street? These problems should not become Staten Island’s problem,” he said. US Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, also a Republican, described the plan as “a ludicrous idea that could only come out of an incompetent administration.”
“Both Biden and Adams refuse to address the root of the problem and, instead, continue to incentivize illegal immigration,” she said. “Democrats have abdicated their responsibility but when Republicans take the House we will put an end to this nonsense.”