Finger-Pointing Among New York Democrats Over Migrant Crisis Becoming Comical

Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-N.Y.) and her radical Attorney General Tish James are at loggerheads over how generous the state of New York should be in housing and caring for the 58,000 asylum seekers who have shown up at New York City’s doorstep in recent months.

Hochul believes that New York City’s “shelter for all” law applies only to asylum seekers in New York City. But AG James disagrees because she views housing as a “human right” that applies across the state. Hochul sued to force New York City to house the migrants in their jurisdiction, and James recused herself, seeing Hochul’s move as an effort to bar her and the courts from forcing the governor to house all the asylum seekers all across the state.

Hochul is being pulled six ways from Sunday over the migrant crisis. She’s feuding with New York City Mayor Eric Adams because Hizzoner thinks the governor is being niggardly in dispensing state funds to assist the city. And both she and Adams are feuding with Joe Biden because Biden is ignoring the problem entirely.

Politico:

The attorney general and the governor, two of the state’s most powerful Democrats, have insisted publicly that they are not feuding. But the fault line is now clear over the politically fraught migrant issue that’s also divided President Joe Biden and New York City Mayor Eric Adams. The split could complicate New York’s ability to get more federal help for migrants and fuel a major line of attack for national Republicans.

Hochul’s lawyer, Faith E. Gay, sent a 12-page “CYA” letter to Adams listing all the things that aren’t Hochul’s fault and that Adams is doing wrong.

“The city can and should do more to act in a proactive and collaborative manner with the state,” read the letter, which was first obtained by the New York Times.

But as the crisis gets worse, the migrants keep pouring into the city coming from the border, nerves among the Democratic leadership are beginning to fray, and the migrant crisis begins to morph into a political crisis — at least for AG James.

Her representation of Hochul in the case “alienates the left and is bad for national progressive cred,” a Democratic political operative who worked for a former state attorney general said in an interview.

James ran for governor against Hochul in late 2021, but pulled out of the Democratic primary after finding limited support. She later backed Hochul and instead ran for reelection as attorney general.

“Thousands of city employees and hundreds of volunteers and community-based organizations have performed miracles to offer food, shelter, and care to the largest concentrated influx of asylum seekers this city has ever seen, but while our compassion is limitless, our resources are not. This is a state and national crisis, and we need more of this kind of partnership from our state and national partners,” Deputy Mayor of Communications Fabien Levy told Fox News.

Of course, if we had a president willing to protect the border, it might be a different story. But Joe Biden has determined that the United States is morally required to allow 1 or 2 million people to come across the border and apply for asylum instead of asking asylum seekers to wait in their country of transit while their cases are adjudicated.

There is a humanitarian crisis building inside the United States, and instead of finger-pointing, Democratic politicians should start coming up with solutions.