City and state leaders in New York are wading into harsh measures to combat the rising migrant crisis, which has become both a focal point and a breaking point for the Empire State’s politics.
In an about-face for Democrats in the state, Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul has now thrown her support behind New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ call to suspend the “right to shelter” law, arguing that it is contributing to the depletion of the Big Apple’s resources, which are already “at capacity.”
As the New York Post reported, Hochul called eliminating the decades-old right-to-shelter mandate the “right thing to do.
“The original premise behind the right to shelter was for — started as for homeless men on the streets. People were experiencing AIDS, then it was expanded to families,” the governor said during an appearance on CNN. “But never was it envisioned that this would be an unlimited universal right or obligation on the City to have to house literally [the] entire world.”
Amid a wave of more than 110,000 illegal immigrants that have entered New York City since spring 2022, Adams is taking on the right to shelter in the state Supreme Court, contending that it is now necessary for the city to turn some people away.
And speaking to NY1, Hochul said migrants should look for places other than New York City to go as it can no longer deal with more arrivals.
“We have to let people know that if you’re thinking of coming to New York, we are truly out of space,” Hochul told the outlet, adding that “The mayor has done an extraordinary job managing this crisis situation. We have been partners in helping him, but there must be other cities that do not have upwards of 125,000 people, over 60,000 in shelters, that can handle the volume easier in other states.”
Per data from New York’s City Hall, 41 percent of the migrant arrivals in the city who have come from the southern border are from Venezuela. Accordingly, the Biden White House recently cleared a path for Venezuelans to get expedited work permits.
As the Post notes:
Hochul said she had been pushing for more than a year to get Venezuelans the temporary protected status that allows them to work in the US, and that now working migrants will begin to live independently instead of relying on the city’s shelter system.
Expanding temporary protected status to migrants allows them to work within 30 days instead of 180, meaning they will be able to exit the shelters sooner.
… Following the Department of Homeland Security’s announcement, Hochul unveiled a major initiative that will focus state resources and personnel to help eligible migrants file for work authorization and connect them to employers.
More than 70 staffers from 16 different state agencies will be assigned to the effort. Another 50 DHS employees have been promised to New York to process migrants’ work authorization applications.
New York Mayor Eric Adams claims that the influx of migrants is driving prostitution and creating a “black market of employment.”
According to the Democratic mayor, the migrant surge is the cause of “an increase in prostitution in our city,” as upwards of 10,000 migrants reportedly enter the city every month.
And it isn’t only New York that’s being overwhelmed by the open border. One Border Patrol sector in Tucson, Arizona, is in a state of upheaval, with agents receiving the go-ahead to allow migrants out onto the streets in the face of overcrowded detainment facilities filled to capacity.
Border Patrol agents in San Diego, California, are following in the footsteps of their counterparts in Tucson, releasing hundreds of illegal border crossers onto American streets because of a lack of capacity for holding them.
Texas has responded to the border surge by striving to secure the border in spite of the federal government’s failure to do so. Gov. Greg Abbott recently touted new border-wall construction, part of Operation Lone Star. But the effort to secure Texas — and, by extension, the country — from mass migration is being challenged by the White House.
Abbott earlier this year announced a barrier in the Rio Grande made up of floating buoys. But that project has become the subject of a lawsuit from Biden’s Department of Justice, which claims it violates federal law and is a risk to public safety.
In Massachusetts, Democratic Gov. Maura Healey has mobilized the National Guard to deal with the massive migrant surge. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, has vocally stated his opposition to allowing excess migrants from New York into his state.
And Colorado governor Jared Polis, also a Democrat, has been busing migrants to other states, a tactic employed by Abbott and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis that was once derided by Democrats, but which has now been adopted by them — including by New York’s Eric Adams.
It appears Democrats have finally discovered that the idea of opening your city or state to the world is a lot better in theory than it is in practice.
Click here to learn more about the immigration invasion, and what can be done about it.
