The Democratic-controlled state of Colorado will send migrants to New York City and Chicago, according to New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
Adams made the statement Tuesday during a call-in with WABC’s “Sid and Friends in the Morning” radio show when asked about the migrant crisis by host Sid Rosenberg. Adams called the present situation an “embarrassment” that requires solutions on a national level.
Large numbers of migrants have come through the U.S.-Mexico border this past year, prompting Republican Governors Greg Abbott and Ron DeSantis to bus and fly migrants to liberal states.
Title 42, originally initiated by former President Donald Trump at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and since retained by President Joe Biden in a decision that has divided some Democrats, was allowed by the Supreme Court on December 27 to stay in place.
Colorado Governor Jared Polis, left, has announced that migrants will be transported from his state. New York City Mayor Eric Adams said Tuesday that his city and Chicago will be receiving some of those migrants. Both leaders called on federal government to make sweeping changes to immigration. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images; Spencer Platt/Getty Images
“We were notified yesterday that the governor of Colorado [Democrat Jared Polis] is now stating that they are going to be sending migrants to places like New York and Chicago,” Adams said. “This is just unfair for local governments to have to take on this national obligation. We’ve done our job. There’s no more room at the end, but we are compelled by local laws here that we must provide shelter…and continue to move in the right direction.”
A statement issued Tuesday by Polis’ office said that the state, in partnership with the city of Denver and nonprofit organizations, has worked “tirelessly” to address a migrant surge—about 70 percent of whom arrive in Denver without the intention of making it “a final destination.”
But due to weather and job shortages, these migrants—including those specifically from the Venezuelan community—are experiencing transportation cancellations.
Colorado’s plan involves the intake, processing and transportation coordination to help migrants safely reach their desired destinations. That includes assuring that each migrant is voluntarily deciding that preferred location of future living.
“No one should play politics with the lives of migrants who came here to escape oppression, and in Colorado, we are honoring our values of treating people with dignity and respect,” Polis said in a statement. “We are simply carrying out our values of treating every human being with dignity and respect. Coloradans would expect nothing less from us to uphold our shared values to assist people fleeing oppression.”
Polis went on to say that “states and cities cannot continue to bear this burden alone” and also called for Congress to fix the immigration system.
No timeline was provided by Colorado officials regarding when migrants would be transported, and no specific locations—including New York City or Chicago—were mentioned.
Adams also put the onus on President Joe Biden and Congress, saying that his city, Chicago, El Paso, Houston or Washington. D.C., should “not be going through this.”

Newsweek