Eric Adams receives last-minute invite to White House during DC trip

New York City Mayor Eric Adams will meet with White House officials to discuss the city’s migrant crisis on Thursday evening in a last-minute change of plans as he attends the White House’s national menorah lighting ceremony.

Adams, who was initially expected to only meet with Democratic congressional leaders and the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency on Thursday, was scheduled to meet with members of the Biden administration at 5:15 p.m.

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“As he has done regularly, Senior Advisor Tom Perez met with Mayor Adams to discuss the collaboration of the Biden-Harris Administration with New York City over the recent months. We will continue to support the City and the State in the coming weeks and months as they host recently arrived migrants,” a White House spokesperson said.

The meeting comes during the mayor’s 10th visit to Washington, D.C., this year to advocate more federal assistance in dealing with an influx of more than 150,000 immigrants since spring of 2022. He is expected to request financial assistance as well after predicting the crisis will cost the city $12 billion by 2025 if it remains the same. The heavy price tag is due to the costs of housing and caring for the immigrants.

The mayor said on Thursday afternoon that he would also be attending the menorah lighting at the White House.

“The lighting of the menorah is a reminder to our Jewish brothers and sisters and the world itself that there is always light in the darkness,” Adams posted to X, formerly known as Twitter. “Now more than ever, we need to reaffirm that message. Proud to celebrate the first night of Hanukkah by joining tonight’s National Menorah Lighting at the White House.”

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Adams’s visit comes a month after he quickly and unexpectedly departed Washington on Nov. 2 to handle an FBI inquiry into his campaign. Adams was originally expected to join other mayors to discuss the larger migrant crisis plaguing “sanctuary cities,” and the mayors were hoping to secure $5 billion in federal assistance.

The White House has maintained that it is committed to helping sanctuary cities get funding from Congress, but the administration has only requested $1.4 billion from Congress for the crisis so far.