Op-ed by Assemblyman Joe DeStefano
President Joe Biden’s open border and Gov. Kathy Hochul’s “Sanctuary State” policy are a total disaster for the taxpaying residents of New York. After giving illegal immigrants more than a billion dollars last year, Hochul has doubled down with a $2.4 billion budget item this year–including $500 million from the state's reserve fund.
This is a slap in the face to the hardworking New Yorkers who have watched prices, taxes, and bills go up year after year–with no help from the state or federal governments. And the crisis isn't slowing down. In December alone, a record number of illegal immigrants crossed the Southern Border, with more than 300,000 entering the country with no vetting, no vaccines, and no questions asked. There are nearly 150,000 aliens living off the government in New York, with Mayor Eric Adams declaring that the situation will “destroy” the city.
It’s laughable how Adams blames the problem on Texas Governor Greg Abbott for providing bus service to migrants wanting to take the mayor up on his offer of sanctuary. Abbott does not subscribe to the “let everyone in” policy of the Democrats. Yet, his state is being overrun by migrants ushered in by the Biden administration using, I may add, hundreds of millions of our tax dollars. Efforts by Abbott to stop the immigrant flow into his state have been met with lawsuits from a White House that is doing everything possible to welcome the illegals in.
New York should have a governor like Greg Abbott fighting to stop human trafficking, drug smuggling, and lawbreakers from entering our country. Instead, we have Kathy Hochul, who refuses to rescind her sanctuary offer, taxpayers be damned, and is willing to raid the reserve fund to support them. It’s equally disturbing that she is cutting education aid to Long Island schools to shift funds to the aliens.
The Democrats are failing America. They're failing New York. They're failing all of us. Every state is now a border state, and our communities cannot support this fiasco any longer. The sad truth is the Democrats are doing this for votes. They want to replace the record number of people who have bailed out of New York with economic refugees who are beholden to them for services. It’s a sad, horrific state of affairs, and I fully agree with Mayor Adams: The migrant crisis will surely destroy our once proud Empire State unless Biden and Hochul reverse their devastating policies.