New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams co-signed a scathing bipartisan letter on Monday urging President Biden to fix the border crisis while rejecting a controversial plan to erect a tent for migrants on the grounds of Aqueduct Racetrack/Resorts World casino in Queens.
The strain of sheltering an unrelenting influx of migrants — 53,000 and counting — is now hitting home and causing resistance from even liberal, pro-sanctuary NYC politicians.
“What we need now are real solutions – solutions that can only come from the federal level, with President Joe Biden addressing the crisis on our borders and sending the necessary financial relief to our city,” wrote Republican Councilwoman Joann Ariola in a letter to Biden, Gov. Kathy Hochul, and Mayor Eric Adams.
The letter was also signed by Democratic lawmakers from southern Queens including Councilwoman Lynn Schulman and State Assembly members Jenifer Rajkumar and David Weprin.
The lawmakers said creating a migrants’ encampment that could hold 1,000 people on the Aqueduct grounds would create an “undue burden to the infrastructure and residential communities that surround the site.”
“The … communities are made up primarily of Black, Indigenous, & People of Color (BIPOC) owned single and two-family residential properties which already struggle with a lack of proper city services due to low staffing,” they said.
The lawmakers also voiced concerns that a tent city could further strain nearby Jamaica Hospital – the primary medical facility for southern Queens and JFK airport that is “already overburdened with patients due to a lack of additional medical facilities in the area.”
In addition, the lawmakers said a migrants camp at Aqueduct would hurt business at Resorts World slots casino and the adjacent Hyatt Regent hotel.
The casino is a cash cow for the state, generating more than $20 million a month in revenue, records show.
“For all of these reasons and more, we strenuously object to the placement of a base camp at this location, and ask that you reconsider any such endeavor.”
It all kicked off over the weekend when City Hall notified Queens Borough President Donovan Richards late Saturday that city and state officials would be touring the grounds of the Aqueduct Racetrack and Creedmoor Psychiatric Center this week.
Both venues are on state property and the governor would have to approve the plans.
If they are deemed suitable, the tent cities would open on the grounds at the end of July, Richards said.
Meanwhile, lawmakers representing eastern Queens raised concerns about putting a 1,000-person migrants’ camp at the Creedmoor Psychiatric Center.
“The practicality of these shelters and safety for residents and the individuals housed within these facilities must be ensured. Eastern Queens is a transit desert, and those seeking asylum must have access to transportation that allows them to seek and receive the vital supportive services our city can provide,” said the joint statement released Monday by state Sens. Toby Ann Stavisky, John Liu and Leroy Comrie, Assembly members Ed Braunstein, David Weprin and Clyde Vanel and Council members Linda Lee and Vickie Paladino.
Biden’s office had no immediate comment.
Hochul’s office referred The Post to comments she made last week about the migrant crisis. “This is not a situation that anybody expected to continue at this point in time, the number of people still coming.”
A City Hall spokesperson said on Sunday, “All options are on the table as we deal with this crisis and no humanitarian relief centers are final until announced.”
More than 53,000 migrants are now housed in the city, bringing the total shelter population to a record-breaking 103,400 people — larger than many American towns – residing in 186 shelters across the five boroughs.