New York’s Migrant Crisis Breaks Democrat Unity

What’s happening: New York City Mayor Eric Adams took a swipe at Gov. Kathy Hochul for not forcing other New York counties to welcome incoming migrants. Both leaders, as well as a chorus of Wall Street heavyweights, have blamed the Biden administration for the nationwide migrant crisis.

• Status check: NYC grapples with a soaring migrant count that's now eclipsed 100,000. City estimates warn a staggering $12 billion will be spent on housing, food, and services for immigrants by 2025, which could tip the state into bankruptcy. Nearly 1.6 million migrants have crossed into the U.S. since Joe Biden took office.

• Also, the city has been sending migrants to counties throughout the state despite Hochul’s opposition and forcing public schools via legal action to accept migrant children.

Why it matters: The usually tight-knit alliance between the White House, Democratic governors, and Wall Street is fracturing under the weight of a spiraling migrant crisis. With numbers too staggering to ignore, the blame game intensifies ahead of 2024, and all roads lead back to Biden's border policies.

• Politics: The migrant crisis has become a political liability, and even Democratic voters in the state are restless. For Gov. Hochul and Mayor Adams, pinning the blame on Biden isn't just convenient—it's essential for reelection.

• Zoom out: The GOP's move to bus migrants into Democratic “sanctuary cities” has been extraordinarily successful. It's not just rallying the Republican base; it's also forcing some Democrats to publicly critique Biden's border policy, effectively making it a bipartisan issue.

The crisis continues

Competing for work: Gov. Hochul launched a jobs program for illegal aliens. Here's the kicker: More than 380,000 New Yorkers are currently unemployed. The new program creates a more competitive labor market where lower-wage illegal immigrants could potentially take jobs away from citizens.

• Building, fast: Mayor Adams' new migrant megacamp on Randall's Island alone is costing city taxpayers an estimated $20 million per month.

Violence: Migrant resettlement in New York City is also raising serious safety concerns. One migrant has been arrested six times for a total of 14 crimes within just two months of his arrival. Another was released without bail after assaulting an NYPD officer.

• But it doesn't stop there. A hotel-turned-migrant-shelter has become a hotspot for arrests, with over 40 people taken into custody, mostly for domestic violence incidents.

Protests: There have been anti-migrant protests held in the city too, some turning violent. At one notable protest, former Republican candidate for NYC mayor Curtis Sliwa was arrested.