NYC Mayor Eric Adams Says Illegal Aliens Would Make Great Lifeguards Because They're 'Excellent Swimmers:' 'We Need Lifeguards'
New York Mayor Eric Adams has a solution for the lifeguard shortage: illegal aliens.
On Tuesday, Adams suggested hiring migrants to be lifeguards, because, according to him, they're "excellent swimmers," the New York Post reported.
"How do we have a large body of people that are in our city and 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?" Adams, 63, said in his press conference.
He continued: "That just doesn't make sense."
Some social media users interpreted Adams' comments as him implying that U.S. migrants are strong swimmers because they've swum across the Rio Grande to reach the country's shores.
The topic of lifeguards was brought up as New York City's beaches are set to open for Memorial Day weekend. Officials want to avoid a shortage like last summer's that boasted 500 lifeguard open vacancies, per the Daily Mail. Applicants could earn $22/hour plus a $1,000 bonus if they work through the peak season.
Hundreds of thousands of aliens seeking help in America have been bused from Texas to New York, Denver, and Chicago since 2022, the HuffPost reports.
Adams said handling the increase of migrants could be more ideal if there were fewer barriers for skilled migrants seeking work permits.
"If we had a plan that said, 'You have a shortage of food service workers, and those who fit the criteria, we're going to expedite you. If you have the experience that you are a nurse, which we have a nursing shortage, and we would expedite you,' " Adams said. "And that's the same with lifeguards."
Hundreds swim across the Rio Grande every day to reach the U.S. border. For the past 30 years, Texas Monthly reported nearly 2,700 people have died while making the swim. Even that number is approximate as no U.S. agency currently tracks the deaths of migrants in the river South of the U.S. border.
