Biden fails to take part in meeting with mayors on migrant crisis

For quite some time now, Democrat mayors of large American cities have been imploring the Biden administration to help ease the burdens unchecked migration are bringing to their jurisdictions, but last week, the president did not bother to meet with them after they traveled to the White House to discuss the matter, as the Post Millennial explains.

A cadre of leaders from several urban centers went to D.C. to tell federal leaders of the strains their communities are facing as a result of the high volume of new arrivals and to seek additional funds to help with the onslaught.

Biden AWOL

Though the mayors were allocated at least some time and attention from members of Biden's team, the commander in chief himself did not take part in discussions.

Perhaps making matters all the more frustrating for the mayors, no explanation for Biden's absence was provided, though, according to the New York Post, the president did take part in a morning intelligence briefing but had nothing else on his schedule during the officials' visit that would have posed a conflict.

The mayoral delegation was reportedly slated to include Houston's Sylvester Turner, Karen Bass of Los Angeles, Chicago's Brandon Johnson, Denver's Mike Johnston, and Eric Adams of New York.

According to reports, Mayors Johnson and Johnston met with Jeff Zients, White House chief of staff, as well as senior Biden adviser Tom Perez.

White House demurs

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was later asked about Biden's decision not to meet with the mayoral contingent, and her answer was far from illuminating.

Jean-Pierre stated that the was unable to “speak to the $5 billion” in additional funds requested by the group, which the mayors said were needed “to cover the expenditures [their] cities have already incurred and to continue serving the growing number of people arriving in [their] communities.”

The press secretary did assert, however, that the president would like to see more resources allocated by Congress to help address the situation.

Adams' abrupt exit

An intriguing wrinkle to the day's events occurred when Adams – an outspoken critic of the administration on the migrant crisis – abruptly backed out of Thursday's meetings, as the New York Post reported.

As CBS News noted, it was later revealed that Adams' cancellation came just as the home of his chief fundraiser was the subject of an FBI raid as part of what was described as a probe into what two sources characterized as “foreign government influence peddling” potentially involving Turkey.

Campaign counsel for the mayor stated, “Mayor Adams has not been contacted as part of this inquiry. He has always held the campaign to the highest standards,” but whether he is ultimately implicated in whatever conduct prompted last week's FBI activity, only time will tell.