Transcript: Mayor Adams Appears On WPAT-930 AM’s “Sunuafrik Radio”

December 9, 2023

El Hadji Ndao: How are you, Mr. Mayor?

Mayor Eric Adams: Good, good. Good. Busy but all is well.

Ndao: Beautiful. Beautiful. How are you doing with the winter? 

Mayor Adams: It's all part of the package.

Ndao: Yes, yes.

Mayor Adams: You gotta take the good with the bad, you know?

Ndao: Yes. Yes, yes. So, we're going to go ahead, Mr. Mayor. As you always do, you're always giving the ethnic media a chance to really communicate with the community in general, because we are right next to them and we are glad that you understand that. So, New York, here we are SunuAfrik, a great job with The Honorable Mayor Eric Adams to discuss about different things that all of you are waiting to get answered.

Mr. Mayor, we're going to go straight up with the immigrant situation, that's what everybody's talking about not only in New York City but you'll be surprised even beyond United States, everybody's all eyes are in the United States but all eyes are in New York. So, we do understand when you take the time to really deal with this situation.

But now the question is, in our community, the African community, most of the immigrants, they feel like they are not getting enough help as other immigrants who are in the same situation that they are. If I name it, maybe the Latinos. What do you say to that?

Mayor Adams: And we are helping all the communities. And people think about the migrant and the asylum seekers who are coming in from South and Central America, they don't realize that people are coming from China, from West Africa, from Venezuela, Guatemala, Mexico. The whole flow is coming from all over the globe.

And what we wanted and we will continue to do is to maintain support to the immigrants who have been here for many years and make sure that we give a level of dignity to those who are recently arriving. But this is a national problem, and the national government must step up and play a role so it does not come on the backs of New York City taxpayers.

Ndao: So, what we don't understand in a way that is like the federal government do know the situation that we are going through right now, most definitely New York because New York is mostly impacted because we remember the bus was coming every day. The question is this. If it was to be redone again, Mr. Mayor, would you do it again?

Mayor Adams: Well, and that's a great question you're asking, because I'm not sure of what the question is, do it again. There are four misnomers when it comes down to the migrants and asylum seekers. One, that we told people to come to New York. That is not true. They were sent through Governor Abbott at first, and then other municipalities started sending buses here from El Paso, from Denver and other places.

Number two, people say, well, why don't you send them back?  We can't. That's against the law. We don't have the authority to put someone back on a bus and send them to Texas or any place that they were sent here for. You can't force people to leave a city, that is a crime.

Number three, people say, well, why don't you deport them back to the country of origin?  That is against the law. The federal government does deportations, cities cannot do that. 

And lastly, people say, we give more to the asylum seekers than we're to everyday taxpaying New Yorkers. That is untrue. When you go to see where the asylum seekers are staying, they only have tents. Many locations have outside bathrooms, outside showers. They get three basic meals a day. So, we are not giving those migrant asylum seekers more than we're giving it to everyday New Yorkers, and that includes everyday New Yorkers who are living in shelters.

And so there's been these misinformation that has been flowing out, but the fact is, we can't deport, we can't take people out of the city, we can't stop people from coming in, and we're not giving to the migrants and asylum seekers more than what we're giving everyday New Yorkers.

Ndao: And when you come down to… I remember the rally we did and everybody was happy about it, let them work. And that's all they want to do. They're coming to my show every weekend. We talk about it, because that's the topic right now. If you try to say anything, within [inaudible] I can speak about, if there is any other topic that you come on the show, nobody will listen to it unless you're talking about immigrants.

So, every weekend we've got to hop into it even if it's for a good couple hours. And the question they're asking is, yes, we wanted to have a job. We want to get the work authorization. And we appreciate you, mayor, when you gave us, the media, the chance to come and talk to you, ask you questions every Tuesday.

And the last time we find out that, yes, there's some of them that got their work…

Mayor Adams: You went on mute, Brother. You're on mute by mistake.

José Bayona, Executive Director, Mayor’s Office of Ethnic and Community Medi: El Hadji, you are on mute. You're on mute.

Mayor Adams: You hit the mute by mistake, brother. Can't hear you.

Bayona: Yes, hold on.

Ndao: Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. So, I was saying, so they just want to work. We did a rally, and it was all about let them work, let them work. And that's what they want to do. The question is now, how many of them within the African community, if you may say, did receive their work authorization?  We know that every Tuesday you're giving the media the chance to ask questions. I remember that question was asked before. Exactly do you know how many already got their work authorization and specifically, the African community.

Mayor Adams: Well, we have over 150,000 migrants and asylum seekers that are here. We are getting a larger and larger population from West Africa in general. And we know that only less than 20,000 have been given their work authorization. But the expedited TPS status did not include any country outside of Venezuela. That is part of our ask from the national government, to expand these expedited temporary… This TPS — Temporary Protected Status — to all the countries. It is my belief everyone that's here should have the right to work.

Ndao: Right. So you don't know exactly how many already got their work authorization?

Mayor Adams: Well, according to… We're talking about the African diaspora, they're not part of… They're not listed as those that are getting the TPS status. No other group outside of Venezuela.

Ndao: And I don't know if you're aware of it, Mr. Mayor, and you said it clearly early on, that federal government deal with that. Are you aware of if some of these immigrants are trying to go back to their countries as we speak right now?

Mayor Adams: We have what's called a reticketing center. If anyone desires to go back to their home country or to another state, we would pay the cost of that. And we have a substantial number of people who have returned to their home country or who have decided to go to another state where they had a sponsor or a family member.

Ndao: Very well. And now, coming back to the African community in general. [Inaudible], can you give us, like give our audience about New York City African Council, you know about it, you set it up. And now but the question is, a lot of people think they must go through the African… New York African Council to go through your administration or go through the mayor. And the question is like, we haven't heard from the many, you know, activities and so on and so forth. What can we expect?

Mayor Adams: Well, like this interview wasn't done through the African Council, it was done directly through you. And I am often meeting with African groups, attending events, doing celebrations. During UNGA — UN General Assembly Week — I went to a number of African events. And so the African Council is an organized body to speak on behalf of the continent of Africa, because as you know, not only does Africa have… It has many countries, and even within those countries… 

Ndao: About 54, yep.

Mayor Adams: And within those countries there are several different organizations, groups and entities. So, it is not manageable to have countless number of individual people inside the countries, and so our goal is by having the council we could have a universal approach to solving the problems that are impacting the African diaspora.

But that does not preclude the relationships that we have developed, like I said, you know, you're often telling me about events, often being at events that you are at. Sheikh Musa reaches out often, Dr. Theo, there's so many representatives who are interfacing into [inaudible].

Ndao: Very well. You were meeting with the interfaith religious leaders today. How was it?

Mayor Adams: It was excellent. We got together to send a message that there's no place for hate in our city. That includes Islamophobia, antisemitism, anti-Sikh, anti-Christian and all other ways of life. It was important to us to send a very clear and loud message that there's no place for hate in our city and that during the festival of not only Hanukkah and Christmas, and upcoming Ramadan and Diwali that we just left, all of these festivals, celebrations and acknowledgments, have some form of light. And we wanted to say it is through the light that we can displace the darkness that seems to have engulfed our entire globe.

Ndao: That's very important. And Mr. Mayor, we're in the wintertime, as you know, and you may be aware of it, many buildings have changed the way and system for heating. What can your administration do about it?

Mayor Adams: Well, when you say "change," the laws are clear what the temperatures must be overnight and during the day, so no change should be put in place that is going to put the heat below the minimum requirement. And if someone is doing that, you can call 311 to file a heat complaint, and it will be investigated.

Ndao: All right, well said, because what happens is when you walk into a building, right, you walk in it's really hot, but when you get to the apartment, it's something else. But we'll follow up and our listeners will use the 311 and to if they have any complaint.

Coming back to us in the same thing, in the same token, to the… When it comes down to Harlem, most specifically, people complain a lot that the cleaning, the Department of Sanitation, we're not saying they're not doing the job, but sometimes they leave, you know,... And they're not giving the same fair, if I may quote it like that, the same fair they give to others when it comes down to Harlem.

Mayor Adams: Well, they should. No borough or community should be treated differently based on the delivery of services in the city. And if there's a particular place where you're seeing a pattern, I really want people to report it to the 311 system.

Now, I would not say that a member of the Department of Sanitation may pick up garbage if some have fallen in the street and they don't pick it up appropriately, that happens.

Ndao: Yes.

Mayor Adams: But that can't be a system or pattern. And we've done some major, major initiatives around Harlem, everything from our rat mitigation and our rat mitigation zone, rat complaints have dropped substantially. We are putting in place real container of garbage, initiatives around the schools and around private residences.

Harlem is a focus area of ours because we know there's been a real rodent complaint and we want to make sure we clean it up. But this is going to take a partnership.

Ndao: Yes.

Mayor Adams: That means homeowners and business, particularly food service businesses, they must put their food in garbage containers. We passed a law, and we're hoping that everyone follows that law.

Ndao: Well said. And Honorable Mayor, we heard a lot of cutting going on in the budget, and under your administration, we know like how much you believe in the ethnic media. And the question is like, this budget cuts, would it affect the ethnic media, and if it's so, it's going to be real, real, real bad because the expectation, as we know, the visibility that your administration has given ethnic media, it never happened before, and you always said it, and that's a fact.

But at the end of the day, it's all about survival. Now, we know the cutting the budget is real, but in the same time, this mainstream media who've been around forever, maybe they won't worry about it. So, the question is, is that true that the cutting is happening and would it affect when it come down to advertising and so on and so forth?

Mayor Adams: Our goal is to maintain the flow of advertising dollars, because the advertising dollars should be considered as an investment. But as you mentioned, these are extremely tough economic times. The cost of the migrants seekers is $5 billion this fiscal year and $7 billion in January. This is a major, major impact on our budget, and the money must come from somewhere.

And right now our plan is not to go after the advertisement dollars because that's the flow of information. But we will keep you abreast on how we're going to move forward.

Ndao: Appreciate it. And a few months ago, Mr. Mayor, and I'm going to ask on top of that that you were planning to travel to Africa. And I know that when usually mayor travels they go with the media. First of all, if you're still going to go, are you planning to include the ethnic media, but is that trip still on?  [Inaudible] going on?

Mayor Adams: Well, number one, everything is always going on. There's something always going on in the City of New York, I've learned that. But the goal is, yes, I want to get back to the continent of Africa, and I will keep you abreast on how we're flowing. I was stating that we're looking forward to… 

Ndao: Now it's good.

Mayor Adams: …We're looking forward to traveling to the continent of Africa in the not too distant future, but I will definitely keep not only your station but all of my African papers and stations, publications up to date on whatever travels we do, like we did the last time.

Ndao: And if you do, you're planning to take some of this ethnic media with you.

Mayor Adams: I would love to have you join me.

Ndao: Definitely. Mr. Mayor, thank you again, but if there's anything that you want to share with our listeners that I didn't I ask, and you think you want to share with our listeners, the African community in general. And this is going to go worldwide. Please go ahead.

Mayor Adams: Just, I want to thank the support of the African diaspora. I traveled to Ghana, Accra, when I was elected; and earlier than that, I went to Senegal to go to Gorée Island, so I still feel the spirit of our ancestors. And I just want to thank and let's continue to keep our faith and focus as we deal with all the crises we are facing. Thank you so much. It's as always good speaking with you.

Ndao: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you very much.