We are a nation of immigrants, and New York has been at the forefront of welcoming and assimilating millions of newcomers who have enriched our culture and anchored our economy.
But the migrant crisis of the last two years, the result of federal gridlock that has treated immigration as a political football instead of a problem to be resolved, has overwhelmed New York’s ability to house and support the estimated 180,000 asylum seekers who recently have arrived, with about 65,000 still in the city’s care.
Mayor Adams and his administration, and by extension the entire metropolitan area, are caught between a rock and a hard place, forced to deal with an issue they did not create and have no authority to resolve.
The Biden administration recently announced plans to expedite amnesty hearings for single adult migrants who illegally cross the border, requiring that they
go before a judge with a decision to be rendered within 180 days, during which they are released into the community. The mayor has been leading a chorus to quickly grant them work authorization, which would both ease the financial crunch for local taxpayers and allow them to begin to assimilate.
The cost to local taxpayers is astronomical, anticipated to rise to $12.5 billion through 2025. Those are tax dollars that cannot be used to provide more resources for public safety, ease the housing crunch, educate our children and protect us against climate change.
Governors in places like Texas and Florida cynically use their own taxpayers’ dollars to bus migrants to northern cities, including New York. When Mayor Adams moved to seize the buses, migrants were simply unloaded in New Jersey for the last leg of their travel.
The flow of migrants has thankfully slowed over the last six months, a combination of tougher border enforcement and actions by our neighbor nations to the south discouraging transit through their countries.
It cannot be repeated enough that immigration is a federal issue, and it is the federal government that must take the lead on offsetting the devastating impact on local taxpayers.
It is time the federal government does its job.
Howard Fensterman is the managing partner of the Abrams Fensterman law firm based in Lake Success.
