OPINION | This article contains the author's opinion.
“Sanctuary cities” are now facing the consequences of their own choices.
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez recently spoke up about the overwhelming influx of illegal migrants in New York City, stating, “This crisis is in our own backyard.”
Along with Ocasio-Cortez, the sanctuary city’s mayor has finally been forced to address the issue as well.
Despite mayor Eric Adams’ fliers being left at the US-Mexico border discouraging more migrants from heading to New York, the city has yet to see the issue resolved.
Eric Adams says migrant influx will "destroy" New York City https://t.co/VYuBAul8OA pic.twitter.com/vCkpxB2Hhu
— Newsweek (@Newsweek) September 7, 2023
Adams seemed desperate at the Upper West Side town hall on Wednesday, stating, “this issue will destroy New York City.”
“Let me tell you something, New Yorkers: never in my life have I had a problem that I did not see an ending to. I don’t see an ending to this,” said Adams.
“We’re getting 10,000 migrants a month. One time, we were just getting Venezuela. Now we’re getting Ecuador. Now we’re getting Russian-speaking coming through Mexico. Now we’re getting Western Africa. Now we’re getting people from all over the globe that made their minds up that they’re gonna come through the southern border and coming to New York City.”
More than 100,000 illegal aliens have recently made their way to the city, overrunning everyday services in the city.
The city’s 200 shelters are full, and migrants are now being dumped into various other structures around NYC.
As if the issue hasn’t been enough of a problem for city services, NYC leaders are also planning to enroll close to 20,000 migrant children in public schooling for the fall semester.
An influx of migrant children in New York City is causing a number of challenges for public schools. Councilwoman @CMvpaladino says the schools are not prepared, citing a teacher shortage and language barriers as prime examples.
More: https://t.co/2IgnvBS4qt #OnBalance pic.twitter.com/KTOTvz7gct
— NewsNation (@NewsNation) September 6, 2023
The Biden administration has encouraged NYC to simply displace the migrants to other facilities outside of the city.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D), however, is holding on tightly to the city’s sanctuary standing, saying, “We cannot and will not force other parts of our state to shelter migrants, nor are we going to be asking these migrants to move to other parts of the state against their will.”
Adams is now demanding that the White House “step up” in helping cover the $12 billion price tag on New York’s open-border policies.
Adams brought this up on Wednesday, stating, “We have a $12 billion deficit that we’re going to have to cut. Every service in this city is going to be impacted, all of us.”
“I said it last year when we had 15,000 and I’m telling you now with 110,000. The city we knew, we’re about to lose, and we are all in this together, all of us.”
The mayor made a sly comment at Biden, but especially came after Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who has been sending illegal aliens to various sanctuary cities around the country by the busload.
Rep. Mike Lawler of New York made clear that this is a “crisis of their own making.”
“It’s very similar to cashless bail,” noted Lawler. “When you create a sanctuary city policy that invites migrants to come regardless of their status, you are going to get a lot of people coming, and now they can’t handle the influx.”