Governor Murphy Refuses to Accept NYC Migrants after Vowing to Make New Jersey ‘Sanctuary’ State

After the Biden administration teased the idea of relocating New York City migrants to the Atlantic City International Airport in New Jersey, the state’s Democratic governor has come out and publicly refused to cooperate.

“I don’t see any scenario where we’re gonna be able to take in a program in Atlantic City or, frankly, elsewhere in the state,” Governor Phil Murphy said during his appearance on News 12 New Jersey on Thursday night. “We are already seeing folks in New Jersey that have probably swelled into New Jersey from New York or other locations, but you need scale, an enormous amount of federal support, resources that go beyond anything we can afford.”

“Putting everything else aside, I just don’t see it. I would suspect that’ll continue to be the case.”

Murphy’s comments are a remarkable about-face given his contemplation of turning New Jersey into a “sanctuary” state during the 2017 gubernatorial race against lieutenant governor Kim Guadagno .

“Donald Trump and Chris Christie have shown us that elections have consequences, and that the most effective tactic to push back to reject the politics of division and fear mongering is to use the ballot box,” Murphy, who previously served as American ambassador to Germany in the Obama administration, told Politico at the time.

At the time, Murphy sought to distinguish himself from then-President Donald Trump and his rhetoric on illegal immigration. “We’ll be a sanctuary – not just city – but state,” then-Democratic candidate Murphy said in a New Jersey gubernatorial debate.

Once in office, Murphy’s attorney general, Gurbir Grewal issued a string of directives that turned a blind eye to illegal immigration, including restricting local law enforcement from coordinating with ICE or probing into a suspect’s immigration status unless “necessary to the ongoing investigation.”

On Wednesday, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) sent New York City mayor Eric Adams a list of nearly a dozen federally operated facilities that the beleaguered politician could use to temporarily relocate asylum seekers inundating the Big Apple. Among the properties were Schenectady Airport, Camp Smith, and the Atlantic City Airport.

New York City’s continued battle to accommodate upwards of 100,000 illegal migrants since the spring of 2022 has led to tensions flaring between City Hall and the Governor’s Mansion, with both sides pointing the finger at the other for failing to address the crisis. Adams blasted Democratic governor Kathy Hochul’s handling of the situation on Tuesday.

“Governor Hochul has been a partner on subway safety, on crime, on a host of things, but I think on this issue the governor is wrong,” Adams told students during a fireside chat at a breakfast with the New York Law School. “She’s the governor of the state of New York. New York City is in that state. Every county in this state should be part of this.”

In early June, New York City filed a lawsuit against 30 upstate counties alleging that districts illegally prohibited local hotels from housing migrants bused upstate from the city. One City Hall lawyer described the rural pushback as “misguided and unlawful,” however, the governor has stood by their decision.

“We cannot and will not force other parts of our state to shelter migrants, nor are we going to be asking these migrants to move to other parts of the state against their will,” Hochul said during a speech in late August.

The Biden administration’s suggestion for New Jersey to help out provided a rare opportunity for state Democrats and Republicans to come together. “All I can say is that I will do my best to prevent this from happening,” Republican Atlantic County Executive Dennis Levinson told Politico following the DHS announcement. “We can’t afford it. We’re a poor county. We’re one of the poorest counties in New Jersey. It’s not a burden I can put on our taxpayers.”

Murphy, too, sought to underscore the nation’s responsibility  to “humanely secure our borders.” “We’ve always been a nation of immigrants, but that doesn’t mean it can be the Wild West,” the former Goldman Sachs executive said.