NBC host lambasts NYC Mayor Adams for 'racist' claim that migrants are 'excellent swimmers'

NBC's Tom Llamas criticized New York City Mayor Eric Adams for his controversial claim at a recent press conference that migrants are "excellent swimmers."

NBC's Tom Llamas criticized New York City Mayor Eric Adams Tuesday for his recent statement that migrants are "excellent swimmers." 

"It's incredibly racist and I am shocked and really upset that there hasn't been more outrage in this city," Llamas said in response to controversial comments that Adams made at a press conference on Tuesday. 

"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," he said.

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"That just doesn’t make sense," Adams added. 

Llamas continued to criticize Adams for his comments. 

"Where would he get that from, unless it had something to do with crossing the Rio Grande, or because some of them may come from places like Cuba or Haiti, or another island?" Llamas asked. 

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The NBC host also expressed strong disappointment that New York City, which he said "claims to be progressive" and "claims to protect people from all nationalities," was not more shocked by Adams' comments. 

Power Malu, executive director of Artists, Athletes, and Activists, also hit Adams for his comments in an interview with Llamas. 

"Once again, we have an administration that’s deflecting attention off of their incompetency and mismanagement, and pointing the finger at the migrants," Malu said, as flagged by NewsBusters. 

"At any given press conference, you’ll have this administration blame the migrants for the financial woes of the city and in the same breath, they’ll praise and say the migrants should be allowed to work because they can help us," Malu said. 

Adams also listed off other occupations like food service workers and nurses as examples of professions that illegal migrants may be able to fill in New York City.

"We have all these eligible people waiting to work with the skills we need to fill the jobs but we are unable to allow them to work because bureaucracy is in the way," he said. "That just does not make sense."

New York City has been grappling with a migrant crisis in recent years. Officials have revealed that there have been more than 195,000 migrants who have entered the shelter system since 2022, and more than 65,000 are still in the shelter system.

Mayor Adams' office did not respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. 

Fox News' Adam Shaw contributed to this report.