Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams brushed off comments by Texas Governor Greg Abbott Wednesday — who came to New York Wednesday and blamed the White House for the migrant mess — and instead tried to point the finger at GOP leaders.
The Empire State Dems rallied to give cover to Biden despite New York being left largely on its own to handle the crisis while the city is on the hook for $12 billion in costs to care for tens of thousands of asylum seekers.
“Let me be clear, I will not be taking advice from Greg Abbott,” Hochul said Wednesday when asked about the Texas leader’s comments. “[Biden] wants to add resources, except that there’s going to be a government shutdown driven by Republicans who have no interest in ensuring that we have meaningful immigration reform.
“They don’t care about the fact that the migrants we have will be affected by a government shutdown, nor do they care about the fact that speaker McCarthy, the leader of Greg Abbott’s party, is willing to have a budget go forth that literally cuts 800 positions from border security,” she said.
At first, Adams appeared to avoid addressing the Texas governor’s NYC visit, dodging reporters’ questions throughout the day, but later issued a statement attacking Abbott for using migrants as “political pawns.”
“New Yorkers deserve better than being trapped in a vicious game of political hot potato, so let’s stick to the facts: When thousands of asylum seekers arrived at Governor Abbott’s doorstep in pursuit of the American Dream, he chose to use them as political pawns,” the mayor said, in an apparent reference to Abbott bussing migrants to New York City.
Hochul’s tone toward the Biden administration has softened over recent weeks following a pointed state address blaming the White House for creating the border crisis that has led to tens of thousands of migrants coming to New York.
Adams, though, has been far less kind to his fellow Democrat, repeatedly slamming Biden for failing to do enough, even after the White House secured temporary protective status for Venezuelans, paving the way for thousands in the city’s care to obtain work visas.
“We cannot spike the ball, because this is not going to deal with all of the migrants and asylum seekers who are in this city,” Adams said last week after the TPS change, calling on the feds to provide funding and shelter sites.
The feds have only provided $145 million in funding to the city, which is expected to cost more than $12 billion through 2025. The only federal site the White House has set aside for migrants is Floyd Bennett Field, which was only signed off on recently and still is not reading to house asylum seekers.
New York City has seen an influx of more than 115,000 migrants from the southern border since the start of the mess in spring 2022.
Abbott made the trek up to New York City Wednesday for an event at the Manhattan Institute, where he criticized Biden’s handling of the migrant crisis.
“There’s one solid piece of advice, and [New York officials] are beginning to follow it — the challenge the city of New York and the state of New York are dealing with is caused by one person, Joe Biden,” he said of the migrants crisis.
“Joe Biden can flip that switch any day and stop New York dealing with the consequences of an open border. Until that is done, New York and other states are going to continue to deal with this,” Abbott added.
Hochul shot back, saying, “They [Republicans] are so hypocritical to come here and tell New York how to deal with a crisis that can be resolved if the Republicans… can pull together a coalition of people who actually will solve this.”
Adams echoed the governor’s sentiment in his statement.
“If he genuinely wanted to be part of the solution to this humanitarian crisis, Governor Abbott would urge his Republican colleagues in Congress to collaborate with President Biden on desperately needed and long overdue immigration reform, instead of using this issue to gain cheap political points,” Adams said.