Pot meet kettle!
The Biden administration has skewered New York City for having “no exit strategy” for asylum seekers in shelters — as the feds themselves appear to lack any substantial plan to help US cities with the flood of migrants from the borders.
The stunning potshot at New York’s handling of more than 100,000 migrants — which City Hall called “a slap in the face” — leaked out Wednesday from an unreleased report by an assessment team at the Department of Homeland Security.
The federal inspectors reportedly absolved the Biden administration from responsibility for the overwhelming influx of migrants, saying instead that the real culprit in the mess was the city and state.
But, according to an NBC report citing an unnamed source, the report went even further, slamming the city for having “no exit strategy” to ensure migrants get out of the shelter system.
“It’s not an operationally sound effort,” an unnamed DHS official added, according to NBC.
A City Hall spokeswoman, Kayla Mamelak, called the most recent comments from the feds “a slap in the face” during a “national crisis that the federal government has refused to take meaningful action on.”
Mamelak said she can’t believe the feds would try put the blame on one city for what is widely being viewed as a national problem.
“If the U.S. Department of Homeland Security did in fact call on a municipality to develop a long-term solution to a national humanitarian crisis, it would be highly disappointing,” she said.
On Tuesday morning, the White House officials briefed reporters on their current efforts to address the crisis, but the feds were without a fresh plan, instead trying to point the finger at Congress.
Mayor Eric Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul have relentlessly banged the drum on how they believe asylum seekers can thrive in the US: work authorizations.
But the Biden administration has thrown up its hands over pleas to fast-track working permits, leaving New York State pols mulling the creation of its own work visas for migrants.
“New York City has far passed its breaking point, and we continue to call on our federal partners to expedite work authorizations, declare a national state of emergency, create a decompression strategy, and lead on this national issue,” the City Hall spokesperson said.
Adams and Hochul have repeatedly called on the Biden administration to take ownership of the crisis, to no avail, saying immigration is a federal issue that has not been addressed.
Powerful Democratic billionaire donor Michael Bloomberg even spoke up earlier this week, putting the screws to Biden, blaming him for putting the crisis on NYC while ignoring the broken border laws.
The only bit of help offered up to NYC recently, which was welcome news for City Hall staffers, was the promise of 50 DHS staffers said to be en route to the Big Apple this month to help process asylum seeker paperwork.
Since the start of the crisis, the federal government has provided less than $150 million to NYC to help offset the cost of feeding, housing and educating the thousands of migrants.
Adams has put the overall price tag on the crisis at $12 billion by 2025. He has warned if the feds don’t step up, NYC will have to cut agency budgets by 15% by next year.
The city is currently caring for nearly 60,000 migrants.