New York City Mayor Eric Adams suggested Tuesday that immigrants could help solve the city’s lifeguard shortage because they are “excellent swimmers,” a remark that sparked outrage among immigrant advocates and confusion among saves lives.
On a Press conference on Tuesday, a reporter asked Adams for an update on the city’s lifeguard shortage as Memorial Day approaches. The mayor asked the reporter to imagine whether the city could expedite work permits for migrants and asylum seekers , so they could work jobs that need filling.
“How come we have a large number of people in our city and in our country who 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?” Adams said at the press conference.
A city spokesperson said in a statement to TIME that Adams has “repeatedly pointed out” that there are people who qualify for open jobs in the city in sectors such as food services, construction, manufacturing and lifeguards, but who cannot work because the federal government did not issue them a work permit.
“With more than 197,000 migrants coming into our care since the spring of 2022, Mayor Adams has made it clear that there is nothing more un-American than not allowing someone to work,” the spokesperson continued. “Anyone trying to get more out of the fact that the mayor continues to make this point (Tuesday) is missing the forest for the trees.”
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Immigrant advocates criticized the mayor for his comments. Murad Awawdeh, president and CEO of the New York Immigration Coalition — an organization that represents more than 200 immigrant and refugee rights groups in New York state — says the mayor’s comments imply “that because some people had to swim or walk through water on your perilous journey to safety here in the United States,” they would make good lifesavers.
“Point blank, that comment is racist,” says Awawdeh. “The mayor should not mock or belittle the dangerous and often fatal journeys that people take and are forced to take to escape the violence and persecution they face. It is humiliating and dehumanizing, and the mayor needs to stop using dangerous language like this.”
Adams has received backlash for controversial statements he has made in the past — in September, he said the influx of asylum seekers “will destroy New York City.” Awawdeh calls the mayor’s language “divisive and inappropriate.”
Yaritza Mendez, co-organizing director of the immigrant advocacy group Make the Road New York, says that while she understands the mayor’s argument that the federal government needs to do more to expedite work permits for migrants, she thinks the mayor’s comments mayor show “how out of touch” he is with the immigrant community.
“Our community should not be reduced to this comment,” says Mendez.
Janet Fash, who was lifeguard in New York City since 1979, says it is clear that Adams “hit a nerve” with his comments. She says she thinks the mayor was referring to the lifeguard shortage to talk about the issue of immigrants needing work permits, but points out that “there is a process” to becoming a lifeguard in New York City. .
“I think it hit a nerve,” says Fash. “I think people in general are angry. I mean, I was intrigued.”
Fash adds that the lifeguard shortage is a “citywide problem” that affects “all New Yorkers.”
There is a shortage of lifeguards across the country, according to the American Lifeguard Association. Last year, about a third of the country’s 309,000 public swimming pools remained closed or opened sporadically due to shortages.
This story originally appeared on Time.com read the full story
