During a press conference in late July 2022, Adams told his constituents that it was their civic duty to welcome the fact that their schools, hospitals, roads, and neighborhoods were being inundated with the many illegal aliens who were settling in New York City, as in many other cities, during the Biden administration. Among the mayor’s remarks were the following:

• “Number one, this is an opportunity for New Yorkers to move away from ‘Not In My Backyard.’ We all must share the crisis. Our approach has been to divide up the homeless issue even prior to the asylum seekers by councilmanic districts. Now with this influx of people seeking asylum and support, now we have to go beyond that. We’re looking at the potential for emergency shelters in hotels and other facilities … If there was ever an all-hands-on-deck moment, this is it … [O]ur system was inundated with those who were seeking shelter because of the callousness of those other states that were pushing them out.”
• “We’re here, we’re receiving them, and everyone is going to have to be on board. And we can’t have the historical ‘I believe people should be housed but just don’t house them on my block.’ Everyone’s block is going to be impacted by this. And so we have to add our advocacy with our ability to help our neighbors. We need everyone on board with this.”
• “As I said last week, our schools are going to be impacted, our healthcare system is going to be impacted, our infrastructure is going to be impacted … we’re going to need all New Yorkers to be with us on this.”