Migrant Crisis Threatening New York City Spurs Democratic Infighting – The American

On Aug 29, 2023

New York City is grappling with an unprecedented migrant crisis, as the city has experienced a staggering influx of over 100,000 migrants since the spring of 2022. More than 2,000 new immigrants continue to arrive every week. The once harmonious relationship between New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams has grown increasingly strained, as each is critical of the other’s handling of the crisis.

The city’s decades-old “right-to-shelter” law means that it is legally obligated to provide shelter to homeless migrants. Federal data show that about a million illegal immigrants poured into the U.S. in 2022 alone, with New York City appearing to have received most of the migrants, especially those bused from Texas.

In May, Hochul declared the migrant surge a state disaster emergency. The governor has allocated $1.5 billion in aid and provided numerous state-owned or state-funded sites for sheltering the migrants, while also providing National Guardsmen and reimbursing the city for the cost of building and running some of the shelters.

The New York City mayor, however, has openly denounced the governor for not doing enough to manage the crisis. Adams has argued that state law should compel other parts of the state to accommodate migrants too, but the governor has rejected this proposal.

“I think the governor’s wrong. She’s the governor of the state of New York. New York City is in that state. Every county in this state should be part of this,” the mayor said Tuesday, in an acceleration of the two’s disagreement. He added, “New Yorkers are weary of bearing the brunt of this national crisis.”

Hochul claimed Thursday that the “right-to-shelter” mandate “does not apply to the state’s other 57 counties, which is one of the reasons we cannot and will not force other parts of our state to shelter migrants.” The governor also noted, “Putting someone in a hotel on a dark, lonely road in Upstate New York and telling them they’re supposed to survive is not compassion.”

But Adams has insisted that the governor is wrong: “Whatever obligations apply under state law to the City of New York apply with equal force to every county across New York state. Leaving New York City alone to manage this crisis — and abdicating the state’s responsibility to coordinate a statewide response — is unfair to New York City residents who also didn’t ask to be left almost entirely on their own in the middle of a national crisis.”

The political ramifications of this crisis are evident. A recent poll of registered New York voters shows that 82 percent of respondents consider the migrant influx a serious issue, with 51 percent and 47 percent disapproving of Hochul’s and Adams’ handling of the crisis, respectively.

Without a clear, coordinated strategy among federal, state, and city authorities, the migrant crisis will only exacerbate.