OPINION | This article contains the author's opinion.
The US southern border has been fundamentally broken under Joe Biden.
The historic and unprecedented crisis continues to balloon. In 2022 alone, the US encountered the highest number ever recorded of illegal immigrants. This represents a 200% increase from former President Donald Trump’s last year in office in 2020.
With top Democrats in the federal government refusing to address the situation, border states like Arizona and Texas have began busing migrants to Democrat strongholds like New York City.
JUST IN – Total chaos at New York City event on migrant crisis
— Insider Paper (@TheInsiderPaper) September 15, 2023
Democrats have found themselves in a predicament. On the one hand, Democrats refuse to close the border and deport those who illegally enter the country. On the other hand, many cities face overwhelming debt and cannot possibly tax and spend their way out of this problem.
In the meantime, Democrats appear to be wasting taxpayer dollars by putting migrants in hotels in New York. The Roosevelt Hotel in NY is “an arrival center for all migrants,” where they receive food and even get vaccinated. This has sparked widespread protests.
Far-left Democrat Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other Democrats were loudly heckled at a press conference regarding the migrant crisis.
Protesters chanted, “Send them back!” and “Close the border!”
“Close the border! Close the border! Respect the constitution, AOC! I am your constituent!,” one man shouted into a megaphone.
“What we seek to do is to make sure that all the resources are necessary and that we are joining with the city and state,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
In response, the man wielding the megaphone said, “Illegal immigration is not right! Respect the constitution, close the border!”
Rep. Adriano Espaillat, D-N.Y., said the delegation was there to “see for themselves what the migration dynamic is in our nation.”
Espaillat says the migrants are “people that want to work, people that are fleeing violence, people that are fleeing environmental disasters.”
“We see so many stories, heartbreaking stories manifest itself here. What I think, these are folks that will take New York City to a better place,” he said.
“Every crisis presents great opportunity. There’s hope and opportunity in this building,” Espaillat continued, adding that “this is a contentious issue,” gesturing toward the protesters who broke out in another chant of “close the border!”
“I think that there are three points of consensus here that are very important in getting a solution to that issue,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “The first is that there is consensus here across geographies and state on increased federal resources to cities and municipalities dealing with this issue.”
“The second is to allow for work authorizations so that folks in here can get to work and start supporting themselves as soon as possible. They are prevented from getting jobs. They are prevented from employment and that is part of the strain on our public systems,” she added. “The faster that folks can access the work that they’re asking for, legally, the better we can solve this problem.”
New York City Mayor Eric Adams said, “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. I don’t see an ending to this. This issue will destroy New York City. Destroy New York City,” Adams said during a Town Hall meeting on the Upper West Side. “We’re getting 10,000 migrants a month.”
“We had 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,” Adams said. “It’s going to come to your neighborhoods. All of us are going to be impacted by this. I said it last year when we had 15,000. I’m telling you now with 110,000. The city we knew we’re about to lose. And we’re all in this together.”