Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Sunday criticized the Biden administration's response to New York City's ongoing immigration crisis, calling it the “worst government failure” of his “lifetime.”
Cuomo, who resigned in 2021 amid a sexual harassment scandal, blamed the Biden administration for New York City's “immigration crisis,” causing an explosion in illegal immigration and a drop in the number of migrants arriving at the southern border by the end of the year. The number reached a record high of 2.3 million. In 2023, more than 100,000 of them will come to New York City to take advantage of free housing and benefits.
“This is the worst government failure I've ever seen in my life,” he told members of Union Grove Missionary Baptist Church in the Bronx. “We have the federal government, and that's the starting point, and we're standing at the border with a sign that says, 'Come to the United States of America and apply for asylum.' And 2 million people come, from Venezuela, Honduras, Guatemala, of course. When they get to the border, they ask, “Where do you want to go?” And they say, “I want to go to New York.” what are they going to say? I want to go to Nevada. ”
Mr. Cuomo then turned his attention to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, who said that rather than allowing immigrants to be transferred to other parts of the state in response to a lawsuit filed against the city, Mr. , took steps to direct the flow of immigrants, particularly to New York City. This comes after counties in the northern part of the state opposed the city's ability to send immigrants into its jurisdiction without permission.
“They arrive in New York. The state of New York tells them, 'You can only go to New York City.'” Only New York City. Not the Hudson Valley, not upstate New York, not Long Island, just New York City. why? ” he asked.
“Because for their own politics, they want problems in New York City, but they don't want political problems in the rest of the state,” Cuomo responded. “But that doesn't make sense. There are over 100,000 immigrants coming to New York City right now. And New York City has to provide housing, education and health care. It doesn't make sense.”
More than 175,000 migrants have arrived in New York City since April 2022, when Texas Governor Greg Abbott began sending buses full of migrants to Democratic-controlled sanctuary cities. A record influx of asylum seekers has overwhelmed New York City and its resources, leaving it facing a $7 billion financial crisis.
Mayor Eric Adams has since called on the federal government to provide resources to the city, but has received no outside help from Washington, D.C. In January, the incumbent governor announced that the state would be in charge of managing New York City's immigration crisis. announced that it would allocate more than $2 billion to help.
Like Mr. Cuomo, Mr. Adams recently criticized the Biden administration's handling of illegal immigration and called for a “national solution” to solve the problem.
“The national government has to solve this problem, it has to solve the challenges that we face. No city should have to face these challenges,” Adams said in February. . “And I kept saying this over and over again: The visualization of policy failure begins. . . . We are seeing what national policy failure is producing.”
