Eric Adams Blasted For Comparing New York City to Haiti

New York City Mayor Eric Adams is getting grief online for comparing The Big Apple to the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince, which has been inundated in recent weeks by deadly gang violence.

The perilous scene in Haiti, located about 831 miles from Florida at its shortest distance, erupted after armed gangs conducted massive jailbreaks from Haiti's two largest prisons, leading to the escape of more than 4,500 inmates. The gangs, who reportedly control about 80 percent of the capital city, have demanded the resignation of the Caribbean nation's acting prime minister, Ariel Henry, to which he has obliged pending the creation of a transitional presidential council.

Fears of massive migrant flows into the United States, labeled as a mass migration movement, have drawn the attention of U.S. military officials and lawmakers. On Wednesday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis deployed more than 250 officers and soldiers from the Florida State Guard, Division of Emergency Management and law enforcement agencies to the state's southern coast.

"We call New York City the Port-Au-Prince of America," Adams wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on Wednesday. "We feel the pain our Haitian neighbors feel as the situation grows dire.

"To the people of Haiti and our own Haitian community here in New York City, know that we stand with you today and always."

The post was accompanied by a "community note" reading: "Not one person has ever said this before Eric Adams." The note included a link to a list of 11 nicknames for New York City, which of course did not include Port-au-Prince.

A follow-up post by Adams included a link for travel assistance.

"It's a shame to focus on a link to a Wikipedia page instead of Mayor Adams' efforts to support those in Haiti and New York who are struggling," a spokesperson for the mayor told Newsweek via email. "As the mayor said in his tweet, 'To the people of Haiti and our own Haitian community here in New York City, know that we stand with you today and always.'"

The mayor has made previous comparisons to Haiti.

"I am not a new friend. I'm an old friend," Adams said during an August 2023 reception celebrating Haitian heritage. "We've been fighting together for so long. We've been standing side by side. I knew back then like I knew now, not only is New York City, the Port-au-Prince of America, but Brooklyn and Queens is damn sure the Port-au-Prince of America."

The post, viewed nearly 4 million times and receiving more than 3,700 replies, was met with ridicule by many X users.

"I've lived here my entire life and I've never heard anyone say that," said one reply which garnered the most number of likes.

"Eric, could you show us a single example - in audio or video or text - of someone referring to NYC as 'the Port-Au-Prince of America?' Before today," another post read.

"Direct flights to from JFK to PAP aren't that expensive, let me guess you're gonna start paying for those too," said another, seemingly mocking the mayor based on New York City accepting migrants as a sanctuary city.

Others also said that Miami, home to more Haitian immigrants, could make that comparison but not New York City.

As of 2022, almost 731,000 Haitian immigrants resided in the U.S. and composed the country's 15th largest foreign-born population, according to the Migration Policy Institute.

They said that Haitian immigrants are highly concentrated in Florida (49 percent between 2017 and 2021), followed by New York at 19 percent. The next four states—Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Georgia—were home to approximately 21 percent of the collective Haitian immigrant population.

Update 03/15/24, 9:17 a.m. ET: This story was updated with comment from Adams' office.