New York City Mayor Eric Adams calls blowback over comments he made about migrants as "silliness" and complained that the "word police" were attacking him.
Earlier this week, he suggested that the city could solve a summer lifeguard shortage by hiring migrants because they're "excellent swimmers."
Adams' suggestion came as a tangent while responding to a question about lifeguards at city pools and beaches in advance of Memorial Day weekend.
The mayor implied that the city could kill two birds with one stone, by providing jobs for migrants and filling staffing vacancies. Along with the lifeguard jobs he mentioned shortages in food service workers and nurses that migrants could help fill.
In an interview on local TV station WPIX on Thursday, Adams said, "I've been saying this constantly. We have a shortage of employees and we have able-bodied migrants and asylum seekers who want to do so."
He said the real issue is filling empty jobs and not the words he uses.
"Why aren't we allowing people to work instead of focusing on using politically correct terminology?" Adams asked.
New York City had dealt with a surge of immigrants after Texas started bussing them north. The city has struggled to provide housing, schools and other necessities to asylum seekers, many of whom are still waiting to receive work permits from the federal government.
"I'm not going to be distracted because there are those who want to turn everything into a political ploy," Adams said.
