Many Democratic leaders diminished the impact of illegal immigration when primarily GOP-led border states were being inundated by undocumented migrants during the first half of the Biden administration.
Now that some of those migrants are starting to show up in so-called sanctuary jurisdictions, the Democratic Party narrative has notably shifted.
Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul exemplified this trend during a recent address in which she claimed that the flood of migrants into her state constitutes “a federal problem” that should be addressed with “more money” from D.C.
While she expressed sympathy for the “people’s desire to seek asylum,” she nevertheless bemoaned the frustrating situation that New York leaders currently face.
In New York City, hotels had been repurposed to serve as housing for undocumented migrants. Limited space and safety concerns, however, have resulted in a growing number of those migrants sleeping on the streets.
The Big Apple has a longstanding requirement for anyone in need of housing to be provided shelter, but Democratic Mayor Eric Adams recently indicated that the policy might have to be suspended.
“We need help, and it’s not going to get any better,” he said last week. “From this moment on, it’s downhill. There is no more room.”
For her part, Hochul insists that Republicans are a primary source of the problem for allegedly standing in the way of the federal funds she believes would remedy the problem.
“Now, I always can use more money, and I believe they’ll be putting in a request for supplemental dollars in a package that also includes funding for Ukraine,” the governor asserted. “This is what I learned yesterday. We’ll see whether that materializes. And we need the Republicans to get on board with that. Secondly, we’ve asked them for space, identify all the DOD, Department of Defense, and GSA properties that they have their hands on.”
Instead of calling for increased border security and immigration law enforcement, Hochul argued that the “missing link” lies in allowing these undocumented migrants to take jobs from American citizens.
The crisis at our borders is a direct result of the Biden admin’s policies, which have incentivized illegal immigration.
Joe Biden & Kathy Hochul are sending the world a clear message by not enforcing our immigration laws & rewarding those who enter this country illegally. pic.twitter.com/xwRasXuVzQ
— Rep. Claudia Tenney (@RepTenney) May 15, 2023
“This could change everything, if we could get legal work status, temporary protected status, for example, people coming from, let’s say, Venezuela, treat them … as we treat the people from Afghanistan and Ukraine and Cuba and Haiti,” she said. “They have an expedited work process opportunity.”
