Prostitution is on the rise in New York City and Mayor Eric Adams laid blame on the Biden administration for failing to manage the immigration crisis. Adams said that an influx of female Venezuelan immigrants to Queens, New York, who are unable to find legitimate work is behind the increased numbers of prostitutes working the streets.
New York City has been an official “sanctuary city” for immigrants since 1989, but in the last few years, the numbers arriving in the Big Apple have skyrocketed. Adams said that the policies of the Biden administration, which have allowed millions of immigrants to enter the United States while seeking asylum, are directly responsible for the rise in sex workers. Adams has recently become a sharp critic of the administration he believes allows immigrants into the country, but does not allow them to work.
“This is what happens when you create an atmosphere that people can’t provide for themselves,” Adams told reporters on October 31. “You can’t work, you can’t provide… and have to turn to illegal activities to do so.”
Since taking office in 2020, President Joe Biden and his administration have systematically removed policies put in place during the presidencies of Donald Trump and Barack Obama which have led to an immigration crisis unlike anything seen before. Areas along the southern border at times see 10,000 crossings daily.
The scale of illegal immigration across the US southern border is staggering https://t.co/Sd4KaLpJaJ
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 1, 2023
U.S. Border and Customs has its hands tied by the administration and is forced to devote significant amounts of time and manpower to administrative tasks rather than enforcement of the law. More than 18,000 “gotaways” were reported in the first 16 days of October by Border Patrol.
As the crisis has swelled, the number of people who are being trafficked for sex work has also increased. Adams said that he is not sure whether the increase in prostitutes on the streets of Queens and Brooklyn is caused by individual women seeking money or if there is a surge in trafficking. Adams said that the situation has gotten bad enough that women are selling their bodies in broad daylight without any regard for the law.
Adams is also faced with city officials whose liberal ideologies are clashing with the reality on the streets. Adams said that lawmakers in the city are pushing to legalize prostitution, an effort that the mayor does not support. He said that officials fail to grasp the problems with disease transmission and violence that are tied to sex work in their efforts to legalize prostitution.
Instead, Adams wants to see a collaborative effort that targets those patronizing prostitutes while providing assistance to women to ensure they are not victims of sex trafficking. He has called on the Biden administration to provide billions in taxpayer funds to prop up social safety programs in the city.
