Some of the country’s bluest cities are saying they’re filling up with illegal immigrants and need federal cash to help them accommodate everyone.
New York Mayor Eric Adams made his plea Tuesday, saying his city has seen a marked surge with more than 2,800 “asylum seekers” entering the city’s homeless shelters in recent weeks.
“We are calling on the federal government to partner with New York City as we help asylum seekers navigate this process, and to provide financial and technical resources,” he said in a statement asking Uncle Sam for the handout.
Washington, D.C., is also asking for help.
The city’s representative to Congress, Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, announced new emergency spending legislation Tuesday she said will reimburse the District for handling the newcomers.
She blamed Texas and Arizona for the surge.
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The governors of those states, Greg Abbott in Texas and Doug Ducey in Arizona, have each orchestrated busing operations that have shipped a combined 6,200 illegal immigrants to the nation’s capital.
The migrants were among the hundreds of thousands that have been caught and released into border states this year.
Though the migrants were directly sent only to the District, Mr. Adams, in his statement, said some of them are ending up in his city too.
Mr. Ducey was unmoved by the complaints, saying the East Coasters are finally experiencing a tiny fraction of what his state has been dealing with under President Biden.
“The president’s policies have placed overwhelming burdens on Arizona communities. It’s convenient that these liberal mayors are finally speaking up on this humanitarian crisis once it affects their communities,” he said on Twitter.
Mr. Abbott also took to Twitter to chide the mayors for complaining, and said the solution lies with the president.
“It’s past time for Biden to do his job,” Mr. Abbott said.
At the White House, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the administration has heard the mayors’ demands and “we’re going to continue to look into their requests.”
She also took shots at Mr. Ducey and Mr. Abbott.
“We believe it’s shameful that some governors are using migrants as a political tool,” she said.
Mr. Ducey replied that it was “shameful” for the White House to have ignored the GOP governors’ pleas for months, “yet somehow big city mayors have immediately caught the White House’s attention.”
Ms. Jean-Pierre’s predecessor, Jen Psaki, had mocked the busing effort when Mr. Abbott announced it in April.
She pointed out those being shipped were all coming voluntarily — an indication they were probably going to end up in D.C. anyway, only now they were getting there faster and thanks to help from the state’s taxpayers.
Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser took a different tack Sunday, saying that some migrants were being “tricked” into getting on the buses.
A record number of migrants have been caught at the border under President Biden, with Customs and Border Protection reporting four straight months of more than 200,000 encounters.
The majority of those caught are then quickly released, with most turned loose in the border states where they were originally nabbed.
Mr. Abbott began his busing program in early April, saying he wanted to share the pain with the nation’s capital. His office said Tuesday that more than 135 busloads, carrying more than 5,100 migrants, have reached Washington.
Arizona, which started in late May, has sent 29 buses carrying 1,111 migrants.
Mr. Adams said he doesn’t question the illegal immigrants’ decision to come, saying they are making claims of asylum that they have a right to lodge.
He said they are showing up at his city’s homeless shelters, and the city has “both a moral — and legal — obligation” to deliver services to them. He said without federal help, the city may have to cut its level of service.
Ms. Bowser also complained of migrants taking beds in her city’s homeless shelters.
Ironically, the two cities’ complaints may end up helping Texas and Arizona in their myriad court challenges to President Biden’s immigration plans, by making clear the effects of the current border chaos ripple across the country.
That turns out to be a significant point of contention in arguments over whether judges should impose nationwide injunctions when ruling on Biden policies.