NYC Mayor Eric Adams proposes immigrants as solution to lifeguard shortage because they are 'excellent swimmers'

New York City Mayor Eric Adams suggested immigrants as a possible solution to the city's lifeguard shortage because, he said, they are "excellent swimmers."

Adams was asked at a briefing Tuesday whether lifeguard staffing at the city's pools and beaches would be an issue as Memorial Day approaches.

He responded by asking the reporter to imagine that the city could expedite work licenses for migrants and asylum-seekers for jobs that are in high demand.

"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?" Adams said.

The city's deputy mayor for health and human services, Anne Williams-Isom, said there are more than 197,100 migrants in New York City and 50,000 applications for asylum.

Adams said: "So we have all these eligible people waiting to work with the skills we need to fill the jobs, but we're unable to allow them to work because bureaucracy is in the way. That's just — that just does not make sense."

Adams also referred to other in-demand professions, including food service work and nursing, that migrants could be fast-tracked to work in.

The mayor's office said by email Tuesday night that Adams has been touting immigrants as a potential solution to the city's labor needs for several months.

"Mayor Adams has been clear that there is nothing more un-American than not allowing someone to work," a spokesperson for Adams' office said. "Anyone who is trying to make more out of the mayor continuing to make that point today is missing the forest for the trees."

There are 560 people who qualify to be lifeguards in the city this year, compared with the 364 lifeguard-qualified people last year, said Deputy Mayor of Operations Meera Joshi, who was also at the briefing.

There is a national lifeguard shortage in the U.S., according to the American Lifeguard Association. It partly blames the coronavirus pandemic, saying Covid eliminated training opportunities and created a perspective that lifeguarding isn't an essential job or career.

"As the summer approaches, there is a growing concern that public swimming pools across America may be closed again due to a lifeguard shortage," the American Lifeguard Association said, adding that "about a third of the country’s 309,000 public swimming pools" were closed or opened inconsistently last year as a result.

Two years ago, Gov. Kathy Hochul approved lowering the minimum age for certified lifeguards from 16 to 15 to help curtail the shortage, NBC New York reported.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com