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NY Post
New York Post
6 Mar 2023


NextImg:Eric Adams has no hope for Biden help with NYC’s $4B migrant tab: official

Mayor Eric Adams has given up hope that President Biden will cough up any material amount to pay for the Big Apple’s $4.2 billion migrant crisis this fiscal year, Hizzoner’s budget director said Monday.

But rather than call out Biden for his failure to help New York deal with a crisis pegged to the president’s handling of the southern border, City Budget Director Jacques Jiha chose to pin the blame on congressional Republicans.

Telling the City Council’s Finance Committee that Gov. Kathy Hochul’s proposal for a three-way cost split appeared dead in the water, Jiha said Adams now wants the state to go 50-50 with the Big Apple.

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“We know that we’re not gonna get any third from the federal government because of the Republican-led House,” Jiha testified.

“So, at least, you know, if the governor were to share — split the cost with us, it would make more sense than just paying us 29% of the cost that we expect.”

Migrants arrive at the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown Manhattan on Jan. 5.
Gregory P. Mango
City Budget Director Jacques Jiha.
City Budget Director Jacques Jiha says President Biden’s administration won’t likely provide any more migrant funding this fiscal year.

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President Biden.
Critics blame President Biden for the city’s migrant crisis.
AP

Hochul has proposed that the state pick up 29% of the city’s migrant-related spending to a maximum of $1 billion over two years, Jiha said.

The governor’s office didn’t immediately return a request for comment.

Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-Staten Island, Brooklyn) fired right back at Jiha for trying to pin blame on the GOP.

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“Instead of asking hardworking taxpayers for more money to pay for an unsustainable crisis, the mayor and governor should tell President Biden to repeal his executive orders that got us here,” she said.

US Rep. Nicole Malliotakis.
US Rep. Nicole Malliotakis says Biden should “repeal his executive orders that got us here.”
Getty Images

Fellow New York Republican congressmember Mike Lawler said: “The policies enacted by the Biden administration have exacerbated the migrant crisis across our country. Their failure to secure our border and work in a bipartisan way towards immigration reform has left municipalities across the country struggling to handle the influx and the costs associated with it.

“For the mayor of New York City, which has been a sanctuary city, to blame Republicans is laughable and denies reality,” said Republican Rep. Michael Lawler (NY-17)

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Jiha said that officials haven’t estimated the total cost of providing housing and other services to the city’s migrants beyond the middle of next year because they’re counting on a quick end to the state of emergency Adams declared in October.

Democratic Councilman Keith Powers (D-Upper East Side), meanwhile, said he’s worried that city budget officials aren’t accounting for the migrant crisis’ hit to the budget in future years.

“We are entirely reliant on the state and federal government to fill in the gaps. We are going to end up eating the cost for that in future budgets,” he told The Post.

The Office of Management and Budget usually projects spending costs five years into the future.

“It is our hope — and we’ve been working with the federal government so that we could, you know — these individuals can get the paperwork and exit them out of the system,” Jiha said.

Mayor Eric Adams.
Mayor Eric Adams now wants the state to pay half the cost of providing migrants with housing and other during the fiscal year that ends June 30.
Hans Pennink

The city expects to spend $2.8 billion on housing and other services for migrants through June 30, the end of fiscal 2023, and $1.4 billion more during fiscal 2024, for a total of $4.2 billion, Jiha said.

In December, Adams asked the Federal Emergency Management Agency for $1 billion to deal with the migrant influx but only about $8 million has so far been authorized.

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Adams’ request came shortly before Schumer (D-NY) took credit for adding $800 million in migrant-related aid — for the entire country — to the $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill that Biden, 80, signed while vacationing in St. Croix on Dec. 29.

Gov. Kathy Hochul.
Gov. Kathy Hochul has proposed having the state pay 29% of the city’s migrant-related costs to a maximum of $1 billion over two years.
Andrew Schwartz / SplashNews.com

Jiha on Monday called the Schumer funding and Hochul’s proposal “woefully insufficient and inadequate to cover the needs.”

In response to questioning by Councilwoman Gale Brewer (D-Manhattan), Jiha also said FEMA hasn’t “set up their own operation” to process reimbursement requests from the city.

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“That’s what they keep telling us,” he said. “They have not submitted any guidelines to proceed — nothing — and most likely, my hunch is, it’s unlikely we’re gonna get any resources in this fiscal year.”

Migrants arrive in New York City on Sept. 6, 2022.
Migrants arrive in New York City on Sept. 6, 2022.
Robert Miller

In late January, Adams pressed Biden for a chance to discuss the migrant crisis when the president visited the city to tout $292 million in federal spending on a new Hudson River rail tunnel.

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The two Democrats have spoken several times since then, City Hall said, but it’s unclear what, if anything, came of it, and Adams has largely shied away from directly criticizing the president over the migrant crisis.

As of Sunday, more than 49,900 migrants have been processed by the city since the spring, with 30,900-plus housed in 99 emergency shelters, according to the latest official tallies.