New York City Mayor Eric Adams has suggested that immigrants fill the city’s need for lifeguards, citing how they are “excellent swimmers.”
The mayor made the comment during a City Hall meeting in which he discussed the city’s lifeguard staffing ahead of the summer months. Adams argued that these positions could be filled quicker if the process of immigrants receiving their work visas was sped up.
“How do we have a large body of people that are in our city, our country, that are excellent swimmers and at the same time we need lifeguards — and the only obstacle is that we won’t give them the right to work to become a lifeguard,” the mayor said.
It was not specified why Adams stated that immigrants are excellent swimmers, though his comment could be in reference to the Rio Grande, which flows along the border between Texas and Mexico. In late 2022, over 1,500 immigrants crossed the Rio Grande into El Paso, Texas.
“With more than 197,000 migrants who have come through our care since the spring of 2022, Mayor Adams has been clear that there is nothing more un-American than not allowing someone to work,” a City Hall spokesperson told the Washington Examiner. “The mayor has repeatedly pointed out that there are people in our shelter system right now who are qualified for vacant city jobs — in industries such as food service, construction, manufacturing, lifeguarding, and more — and yet, we cannot hire them because the federal government has not issued them work authorization and the right to work. Anyone who is trying to make more out of the mayor continuing to make that point today is missing the forest for the trees.”
Adams also listed several other positions in the city that could be filled with immigrants, including food service and nursing. He argued that the work visa process for immigrants would be expedited if there was a shortage in these fields, adding that “it’s the same for lifeguards.”
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The statements from the mayor were made on the same day that Jerome Powell, chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, said the labor market was “very, very strong,” attributing part of this to the “millions” of immigrants who have joined the workforce since 2021. Since January of that year, when President Joe Biden took office, more than 6 million immigrants have illegally crossed the southern border, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
The Washington Examiner contacted Adams’s press office for comment.
