(The Center Square) — House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is weighing into the migrant crisis in New York, accusing the state’s Democratic leadership of “throwing in the towel” by failing to deal with the roots of illegal immigration.
In a statement, McCarthy took aim at the influx of tens of thousands of migrants to New York, saying that “finger-pointing and frustration” over the crisis has led to a “total breakdown” between the White House and New York City Mayor Eric Adams and other top New York Democrats.
He urged the state’s Democratic congressional lawmakers to support a previously approved GOP House border security bill that has stalled in the Democratic-controlled Senate.
“While New York Democrats complain that it’s unfair for Biden’s open-border crisis to be New York’s problem, they’ve taken no action to actually solve the crisis,” he said.” If enacted into law, this border security bill would immediately restart construction on the wall and hire more border patrol agents to stop the flow that has created the crisis throughout the country.”
McCarthy also noted pushback by GOP members of New York’s congressional delegation against plans to house migrants at federal parks and facilities throughout the state.
“It has gotten so bad, even the leaders of Democratic strongholds like New York City and Massachusetts are throwing in the towel,” he said. “They can’t handle the strain that the massive influx of people has had on their city and state.”
The House Speaker’s comments indicate that Republicans intend to make the immigration surge a key issue in next year’s election in blue states like New York, where they made gains in the 2022 midterm elections by flipping two Democratic-held congressional seats in Long Island.
More than 100,000 asylum-seekers have arrived in New York City over the past year, straining an already overburdened emergency shelter system and causing friction between Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul, both Democrats.
Both Adams and Hochul have called on the Biden administration to provide more federal aid for the state and expedite work authorization for the asylum-seekers, but the two Democrats have also traded barbs over the state’s handling of the crisis.
An August poll found a majority of New Yorkers believe the influx of migrants into the state is a “serious” problem and fault the state’s Democratic leadership for not doing enough to deal with the crisis. The Siena College Research Institute poll also found that President Joe Biden’s favorability in New York has dropped below 50% for the first time.
