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New York Politics

Biden offers advice, but no aid, as Adams pleads for help in

managing NYC migrant crisis
By Tim Balk
New York Daily News • Last Updated: Aug 28, 2023 at 6:43 pm

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From left, Mayor Eric Adams, President Joe Biden and Gov. Kathy Hochul. (AP)

The Biden administration provided plenty of pointers without a pittance of new

resources to help New York manage the city’s worsening migrant crisis, prompting
strong pushback from the administrations of Mayor Adams and Gov. Hochul on
Monday.

The mayor’s office and the governor’s office responded to roughly 24 recommendations
from Washington, delivered in dual letters and Monday briefings with local officials, by
pointedly noting their calls for more federal support have largely gone unanswered.

“New Yorkers deserve the facts, so let’s be clear: Our requests from the federal
government remain the same, and quite frankly, unaddressed,” Kayla Mamelak , a
spokeswoman for Adams, said in a statement.

Mamelak thanked the federal government for engaging with the issue, but called on the
White House to unlock federal funds, expedite work papers for arrivals, and create a
plan to slow the flow of people to the city.

In her statement, Mamelak said the federal government’s briefing “did not address the
situation on the ground.” LATEST
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The city projects it could spend upward of $12 billion supporting migrants over the
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Leaving a hiring hall in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, Adams said he had not attended the
6m
federal government’s briefing, but was expecting his advisers to provide him with an
update in the evening. Liberty
Liberty endure first 40-
Avi Small, a spokesman for Hochul — who was in Colorado on Monday for a ame season, say longer
schedule helps build
Democratic Governors Association event — issued a statement thanking the federal chemistry
government for engaging in dialogue with New York officials. 24m

But Small added that the “crisis will only abate once the federal government takes NYC Crime
action on work authorization that allows migrants to be resettled permanently.” Upper West Side man kills
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Adams, a Democrat, has been criticizing the federal response to the migrant crisis for cops say
months, and said in the spring that President Biden, a Democrat, had “failed” New 25m

York City on the issue.

Hochul, also a Democrat, has been less quick to criticize the president.

But the governor, who has faced growing pressure to help the city, delivered a speech
last Thursday placing responsibility for the crisis at the president’s feet.

“This crisis originated with the federal government, and it must be resolved through
the federal government,” Hochul said.

More than 100,000 asylum seekers have arrived in New York City since spring 2022,
according to city government figures , and about 60,000 remain in the city’s care .

In a year, the count of people sleeping in the city’s over-stretched shelter system has
roughly doubled. Many of the migrants fled political and economic turmoil in Central
and South America.

The challenge has created tension between Adams, Hochul and Biden.

Biden has dropped Adams from a team of campaign surrogates . Adams has pressed
Hochul for more state money.

Hochul’s office has condemned aspects of the city’s treatment of asylum seekers . And
Adams’ office has in turn criticized the state’s handling of the crisis , even as the mayor
has insisted he is closely aligned with Hochul.

On Monday, Adams said: “I think the state should be managing this, like I think the
national government has a role.”

“This has been dropped in the city’s hands,” Adams told the Daily News in Brooklyn.
“It’s just unfair to New Yorkers.”

In letters to the city and state, Alejandro Mayorkas, the secretary of the U.S. Homeland
Security Department, said the federal government had identified “structural” and
“operational” issues with the city’s response.

The Homeland Security Department told the city to improve its communication with
arrivals, case management process, and information collection process at migrant
intake centers, the department said in a statement to the media.

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“We are hopeful that our recommendations will equip the city to take additional steps
to improve the migrant operations ,” Mayorkas wrote in his letter, which was dated
Sunday and previously reported by Politico.

Mayorkas noted that the federal government has asked Congress for more shelter
funding. And he said the federal government understands the need for swift work
authorization for the migrants.

But Congress is out of session.

And the federal government, Mayorkas wrote in his missive, continues “unfortunately,
to work within statutory constraints that do not ably serve our nation’s labor needs.”

Adams maintained Monday that the federal government needs to step up with more
money and a national emergency declaration.

“It’s a losing strategy to say: Let’s just keep this all in New York,” the mayor said.
“We’re getting close to 10,000 people a month. That’s not sustainable.”

Originally Published: Aug 28, 2023 at 3:16 pm

2023 > August > 28

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