Democratic New York City Mayor Eric Adams recently said that illegal immigration “will destroy New York City.”
Last month, Mayor Brandon Johnson (D) of Chicago said, “Let me state this clearly: The city of Chicago cannot go on welcoming new arrivals safely and capably without significant support and immigration policy changes.”
The governor of Massachusetts has also declared a state of emergency due to swelling illegal immigration.
“The reality is, Abbott was shining a light on existing issues that nobody was talking about, said moderate Republican Will Hurd, referring to Texas Governor Greg Abbott bussing migrants to liberal cities.
Immigration will likely be on the minds of American voters as the 2024 election draws closer.
“This is not just going to be a local New York City or Chicago or Boston issue,” said Democratic strategist Howard Wolfson. “This is going to be top of mind for voters all over the country next year, and my strong advice to the White House is they need to get off the sidelines and take action to address this.”
White House spokesman Angelo Fernández Hernández said the Biden administration is “using the tools it has available to secure the border and build a safe, orderly and humane immigration system while leading the largest expansion of lawful pathways for immigration in decades.”
Reporting from The New York Times:
As the appeals grow louder, the White House has slowly ramped up its response. The Federal Emergency Management Agency in June allocated huge “shelter and service” grants to cities and states unused to such attention — $105 million to New York City, $10.6 million for Chicago, $19 million to Illinois, more than $5 million to Washington. Other programs at the Department of Human Services boosted the total federal money to New York to $140 million, and $45 million for Chicago. Those numbers, however, hardly meet the need: Chicago and Illinois alone have allocated about $200 million on migrant care in the city this year.
