NEW YORK CITY — New York shouldn’t have to clean up the federal government’s migrant mess, Gov. Kathy Hochul told President Joe Biden in a starkly worded plea for help.
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Hochul sent the Biden administration a formal letter that requested the president take desperately needed executive action on the migrant crisis, which has brought 100,000 asylum seekers into the state, largely New York City.
“I cannot ask New Yorkers to pay for what is fundamentally a federal responsibility and I urge the federal government to take prompt and significant action today to meet its obligation to New York State,” the letter states.
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The letter’s came with four demands that Hochul outlined in a 10-minute address to New Yorkers.
Those are:
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“The reality is we’ve managed thus far without substantive support from Washington,” she said.
But Hochul’s address didn’t just blame the Biden administration for the crisis.
She blasted Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s “despicable” decision to use asylum seekers as political pawns by shipping them to New York City.
Migrants deserve compassion, she argued, noting that they’re literally fleeing for the lives from political strife, gang violence, extreme poverty and persecution.
“People are coming here to seek asylum status here in the United States, so they can be safe,” she said.
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