On Thursday, Mayor Eric Adams was once again on the defensive amid state criticism that his administration has been slow in responding to the influx of migrants.

“I don’t think the governor slammed us. I think the governor did her analysis on probably four areas that we just needed clarity on,” said Adams at an unrelated press conference.

Adams also took issue with the accusation that the city decided to leave single men outside the Roosevelt Hotel to create a spectacle.

Some critics have questioned whether the city allowed the line of migrants to form outside the midtown hotel in order to draw attention to the problem.

“It’s wrong. And it’s an attack on those city employees who dedicated their lives on countless amount of hours…” Adams said. “That’s just insulting to these hard-working New Yorkers.”

He also called on Gov. Kathy Hochul to step up her assistance in the form of an executive action.

“We’re hoping the governor will put in an executive order that will prevent us from having to go from location to location to location,” Adams said.

The city attempted to bundle legal action against a host of upstate counties in a bid to get a favorable outcome against localities that passed executive orders barring migrants.

But in July, the case virtually fell apart when a Manhattan judge ordered that the lawsuit for two localities could proceed in their respective counties.

The order created the potential for City Hall to send lawyers across the state to argue on the mayor’s behalf.

Hochul has repeatedly said she doesn’t believe the rest of the state is required to help.

“I’m not sure it was ever meant to be a universal right of unlimited shelter to anyone who comes to the City of New York, but I’ll certainly tell you that right does not extend to the entire State of New York,” Hochul said in an exclusive interview with NY1 on Wednesday.

At issue is an article under the state constitution that reads: “The aid, care and support of the needy are public concerns and shall be provided by the state and by such of its subdivisions, and in such manner and by such means, as the legislature may from time to time determine.”

Sources close to Hochul said she interprets the article to mean that the state legislature has to pass a law or take action in order for the state to help further.

Later, Hochul’s press secretary released a statement following up on the resettlement of migrants.

“Migrants are coming specifically to New York City — and not to the state’s 57 other counties — because of New York City’s jobs and transit, and because of the city’s legal agreement to provide unlimited room and board to anyone who arrives from anywhere in the world. That’s why we see migrants refusing to get off buses upstate, and it’s why it remains appropriate for city government to be responsible for sheltering individuals who come to the five boroughs,” Avi Small said.

NY1 has reached out to Assembly Speaker Heastie for comment.

Meanwhile, the city wants to house migrants at the former Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan in a letter obtained by NY1.

The location is where billionaire sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein killed himself before the prison was shut down two years ago.

Other locations the city is considering include army bases like Fort Dix.

The city would need federal approval to use both sites.