Many Americans see the influx of migrants into the US primarily as a border issue – and with good reason. Like This newsletter has been recordedThe border between Mexico and the United States is where the vast majority of illegal border crossings occur and where many people seek asylum.
But as the country faces a rising wave of migration, its effects are increasingly widespread. Thousands of migrants were transported to Democratic-run cities like Chicago, Philadelphia and Washington. Today’s newsletter will focus on perhaps its biggest destination, New York City, to explain the movement that is testing the city’s commitment to compassion and politics thousands of miles from the southern border. southwest.
New York City has prided itself for centuries as a haven for immigrants. Even today, almost two-fifths of the city’s residents were born in other countries. However, the speed of the current arrival wave is unprecedented. Since last spring, at least 42,000 migrants who say they are seeking asylum have come to the city in need of shelter and basic services.
The escalating state of emergency prompted Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, to declare that New York was approaching a “breakthrough point.” He made the migrant situation the focus of his annual State of the City speech last week. And he has increasingly gone where others in his party have balked, joining Republicans in calling for the White House to step up the response.
How it started
The origins of the current influx of migrants to New York can be traced back to last summer, when Governor Greg Abbott of Texas start paying for the bus north for foreigners who have applied for asylum at the border. Gambit is clearly politically motivated. Abbott has been a fierce critic of President Biden’s immigration policies. He is seeking to ease the financial burden on Democratic cities in caring for migrants and increase pressure on the president to crack down on those who cross the border illegally.
Democrats accuse him of being partisan cynical and ruthlessly using migrants as political pawns. But Republican governors in Arizona and Florida soon followed suit. Border cities and neighboring states run by the Democratic Party have also helped thousands of people migrate to major urban centers, though often without political implications.
New York City has seen more migrants arrive than other major cities in the North. In just one recent week, more than 3,000 asylum seekers arrived in New York City. By comparison, Chicago has received a total of more than 5,000 asylum seekers since August. According to The Chicago Sun-Times.
A stress support network
New York and its vast network of aid groups pride themselves on supporting migrants. The city also has a decades-old legal requirement to shelter anyone who asks. For now, city leaders are including new migrants entering the country.
As a result, the city is reporting a record number of sleepers in its shelter network and has opened nearly 80 hotels and other relief centers with beds for migrants, including one at Brooklyn Marina.
In some cases, the city or nonprofit groups are also paying for translation services, legal assistance, and meals; register children to go to school; and support parents awaiting trial in a years-long backlog. (My colleagues Karen Zraick, Brittany Kriegstein and Kimiko de Freytas-Tamura have written about how city and its newest product is rushing to reply.)
The city says it has spent more than $300 million since last spring. For a rough comparison, the city spends about $400 million a year on public libraries. In a turbulent economy, the extra costs could force the city to cut some common social services, although state and federal aid could ease the burden.
Politic
When Texas first began sending migrants north, Adams and Abbott had a high-profile partisan battle over right and wrong. But at least part of the governor’s plan seems to have the desired effect.
That’s because Adams has begun using his sizable platform as mayor of the nation’s largest city — and his close alliance with Biden — to put public pressure on the White House. He recently visited the southwestern border on his own and used this month’s keynote address at a mayors conference in Washington to urge the president to come up with a national strategy to rapidly shed burden on cities.
“What is the short term plan?” he asked last week on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe”. “If my house catches on fire, I don’t want to hear about fire protection.”
Adams has blamed Republicans for blocking progress on a comprehensive overhaul of the nation’s immigration law rather than his own party. But by speaking out, Adams is undermining the Biden administration’s attempt to undermine politics on a thorny policy issue, as my colleague Michael Shear, the White House curator, explained to I.
“Their strategy in the White House is to see Republicans as outrageous, like Trump, and obsessed with border security,” he said. “That distinction becomes more difficult if your own party is yelling at you.”
Related: listen to the story of a mother and daughter desperately trying to reach the southern border.
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