Legislators criticize city, state’s handling of migrant crisis
The statement calls out Mayor Adams’ latest city hiring freeze and cuts of up to 15% for NYC’s public agencies.
A group of 20 legislators, ranging from the local to national level, released a statement on Monday, critiquing New York City and New York state’s handling of the migrant crisis.
The statement calls out Mayor Eric Adams’ latest city hiring freeze and cuts of up to 15% for NYC’s public agencies. The group is calling for a redirection of funds, expansion to rental assistance, more transparency around respite centers, and are defending the right to shelter.
Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul announced last week that Floyd Bennett Field, a federally owned airbase, will be used to house up to 2,500 asylum seekers. Gov. Hochul says that housing migrants at large sites like Floyd Bennett Field will help facilitate those filling out asylum forms.
MORE: NYC and federal government agree to use Floyd Bennett Field to shelter asylum seekers
News 12 reached out to the mayor’s office regarding the statement backed by those 20 lawmakers and received the following response, in part:
"As we continue to receive an average of 10,000 migrants every month, and the costs of this crisis are now estimated to cost $12 billion over three fiscal years, we must come together and ensure we are all stepping up to do our parts. For more than a year, we have urged the state and federal governments to show national leadership on this national issue by allowing asylum seekers to work, declaring a federal state of emergency, and implementing a statewide and national decompression strategy to provide relief to New York City and other cities around the nation. We hope this group of federal, state, and city elected officials will focus on the issue at hand and finally help to deliver the support New York City needs from Albany and Washington.”
