New York City mayor Eric Adams (D.) suggested that employing illegal immigrants would help solve the lifeguard shortage at the city’s pools and beaches.
The mayor proposed the idea at a briefing on Tuesday, calling the migrants "excellent swimmers."
"How do we have a large body of people that are in our city, our 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 said.
Migrants cross the Rio Grande river into the United States in large numbers each day in their bid to cross the southern border. Three migrants drowned in January while attempting to cross the river.
Under federal law, asylum seekers have to wait 150 days before they can be considered for a work permit, and applications have been further delayed due to backlogs in the system. Adams has called for the work permit approval process to be fast-tracked for migrants, suggesting they could be deployed to relieve shortages in other professions, including food service and nursing.
Adams’s approval rating has sunk to less than 25 percent amid the ongoing migrant crisis in New York City.