New York City Mayor Eric Adams is scheduled to travel to parts of Central America to speak with migrants along what is considered to be the most treacherous portion of their journey, according to sources.
As part of the four-day trip, Adams will travel to the Darién Gap — a lush, mountainous region connecting Central and South America along the Panama-Colombia border that also features about 50 miles of marshland — during the first weekend of October, City Hall sources told NBC New York. Given the extreme topography, it is one of the most perilous parts of the journey for asylum seekers, as they are required to hike, swim and trudge through parts of thick jungle on dangerous paths.
City Hall aides tell News 4 Adams' upcoming trip is — in part — designed to examine what they describe as a misinformation pipeline that encourages migrants to continue crossing the border despite limited legal work opportunities in the U.S. and housing capacity in New York.
First, the mayor will depart for Mexico City on Wednesday and attend an international business conference the next morning, where City Hall said he will speak with "local and national leaders to learn more about the issues at the southern border" and the impacts on NYC. He will also visit Puebla Mexico, where city officials say a majority of NYC's Mexican immigrants start their journey.
From there, Adams also plans to stop in Quito, Ecuador, where he will meet with local community organizations and asylee integration programs to discuss how the migrants are passing through Ecuador and what is being done to stop them.
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The mayor will then go to Bogotá, Colombia, on Saturday and then head to the Darién Gap. Adams will return to the city on Sunday.
