NEW YORK — Facing dismal poll numbers and another round of budget cuts, Mayor Eric Adams kept expectations low that his trip to Washington to lobby for migrant funding and immigration policies would yield any action.
“I left with the cold reality that help is not on the way in the immediate future,” Adams said after an unrelated press conference in City Hall on Friday. “We did not walk out from D.C. with any level of optimism that anything is going to drastically change. It is clear that for the time being, this crisis is going to be carried by the cities.”
Adams met with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, FEMA administrators and Tom Perez, senior adviser to President Joe Biden. He also said he attended the National Menorah-lighting ceremony, and hobnobbed at a White House holiday party with Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson.
The trip marked his tenth to the capital to discuss — and lobby for — migrant funding since taking office, City Hall reps said.
On this week’s trip, Adams didn’t get any commitments of federal reimbursements for........