Mayor Eric Adams applauded President Biden’s call for the Republican-controlled Congress to move complete immigration reform in his State of the Union speech Tuesday night time, whereas repeating his plea for a “national solution” to the scores of asylum seekers who’ve flooded into some of the nation’s largest cities — together with New York — over the previous 12 months.
However Biden’s 70-minute address devoted little or no time to outlining a technique for higher dealing with the move of principally Latin American migrants over the southern border, apart from his call for Home Republicans to assist him move “comprehensive immigration reform.” He did additionally call on the GOP for more funding for border brokers and to present a path to citizenship for Deferred Motion for Childhood Arrivals recipients — also referred to as Dreamers, farm staff and others right here on a short lived foundation.
“American border problems won’t be fixed until Congress acts,” Biden mentioned. “If we don’t pass my comprehensive immigration reform, at least pass my plan to provide the equipment and officers to secure the border. And a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers, those on temporary status, farm workers, essential workers.”
Biden’s speech additionally didn’t comprise any point out of a so-called “decompression strategy” to alleviate the quantity of migrants exhibiting up in New York Metropolis each day, which the mayor has been calling for since final October.
But, in a press release launched shortly after Biden’s deal with, which Adams attended in-person as a visitor of Congress Member Adriano Espaillat (D-Manhattan, Bronx), the mayor kept away from calling out the president for not mentioning a decompression technique or promising extra federal funds for cities which have born the brunt of the inflow.
As an alternative, he echoed Biden’s call for the Congressional Republicans to give you a repair, whereas making it clear he feels Democrats in Congress aren’t to blame for the lack of a transparent plan.
“I agree with the president that we need Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform, something that democrats like U.S. Senate Majority Leader [Chuck] Schumer, U.S. House Democratic Leader [Hakeem] Jeffries, and the New York City congressional delegation have been trying to do for decades,” Adams mentioned.
“As I’ve repeatedly said, the asylum seeker crisis is a national problem that needs a national solution, in the short-, medium-, and long-term,” he added. “New York and other cities across the country are struggling with this crisis. We need help and we need it now.”
Though Adams didn’t single out Biden or the government department in his request for further assist by title, his spokesperson Fabien Levy insisted to amNewYork Metro that “a national solution includes all our federal partners.”
The mayor’s latest feedback observe months of him making public overtures for each Congress and the White Home to ship the metropolis important monetary assist to deal with the inflow of over 44,000 migrants into the 5 boroughs — the cost of which he now estimates could be as high as $4.2 billion.
The town, nevertheless, has gotten some assist in the type of $8 million from the Federal Emergency Administration Company (FEMA), $2 million from Schumer and can obtain one other $1 billion from the state. Plus, the metropolis is due for some portion of the $800 million in federal aid funds for municipalities on the entrance traces of the disaster included in an omnibus spending invoice handed by a then Democrat- managed Congress late final 12 months.
However Adams mentioned he’s not too optimistic the Home will chip in the {dollars} he’s searching for below Republican management.
“If we look at the history of a Republican controlled Congress, they don’t want to do comprehensive immigration reform,” Adams mentioned at an unrelated press convention earlier Tuesday.
“We need to make sure that we have a foolproof plan to address this national issue and we don’t see the Help coming from a Republican controlled Congress,” he added.