Mayor Eric Adams on Thursday clapped back at Governor Kathy Hochul after her lawyers released a letter Tuesday criticizing New York City’s management of its migrant crisis.
In the letter, Hochul’s attorney Faith E. Gay accused the city of poor coordination and communication with the state on the migrant fiasco that has resulted from the arrival of about 100,000 immigrants since the spring of 2022. The letter came in response to Adams’s request for more state intervention in the migrant situation. Hochul’s office, however, recalled the multiple ways the state already has supported the city and said the city has dropped the ball at several points.
“The State has been a vital partner to the City since the beginning of this challenge,” the twelve-page letter, obtained by Politico, said. “The State has provided a broad range of support to the city. The Governor has declared a State Disaster Emergency and issued an Executive Order to support the City’s need for legal and regulatory flexibility. The State has directed significant State funds to the City. The State has made numerous State-owned properties available for the City to house migrants.”
New York’s state government has sent staffing and technical assistance to the city and 1,840 National Guard members to help operate the shelters, and it has coordinated with counties and local officials to facilitate the short-term housing of migrants outside the city, the letter added.
The city should improve its efficiency and consistency in collaborating with the state, it said.
“In some instances, the City has failed to accept the State’s offers of assistance or recommendations for State facilities,” the letter said. “The City has not made timely requests for regulatory changes, has not always promptly shared necessary information with the State, has not implemented programs in a timely manner, and has not consulted the State before taking certain actions. . . . The City can and should do more to act in a proactive and collaborative manner with the State.”
Adams dismissed some of the letter’s claims at a press conference Thursday.
“I think the governor did her analysis on probably four areas that really, I think, to me, just need clarity on,” Fox News reported the mayor as saying. Some of the recommendations for migrant housing from the state, he said, were deemed unsuitable for living.
“The worst thing you could do is house migrants in a flood plain area and all of a sudden you have an emergency where you have to move people at that location,” Adams said.
The massive influx of illegal immigrants over the last few months involves the entire state of New York, yet the city is being saddled with the brunt of the burden, he said at the news conference. It has been “dropped into the lap of New York City residents,” he said. Adams asked Hochul to issue an executive order that would stop suburbs from enacting ordinances prohibiting migrant shelters from being set up in their areas.
“We are going into individual court cases where everyone is finding creative ways to not be the state and country that we are,” Adams said.
New York towns have been putting up obstacles to prevent the city from relocating migrants to settle among their residents, he said, leaving New York City to foot the bill to accommodate their housing, food, and other resources.
“I think it’s unfortunate, and we’re hoping that the governor will put in place an executive order that would prevent this from having to go from location to location,” Adams said. “New York just cannot continue to take this flow. And, you know, all I can say is I’m hoping people can imagine what it’s like to every week come up with, you know, from 25 to almost 3,000 people finding new places, sporting fields, recreational centers, hotels. That is just not how you manage a city.”