New York Governor Kathy Hochul called on Congress to establish tighter regulation of the border to keep illegal migrants out of the country.
Hochul, remarkably, expressed concerns about masses of people from various parts of the world arriving and requesting asylum, and a significant number of them ending up homeless on the streets of New York.
The Empire State’s governor pushed back on Biden’s open borders policy during her appearance on CBS’s “Face The Nation.”
“But it’s stunning that a trillion dollars is not is not sufficient,” Brennan noted. “I want to ask you as well about the other crisis you’ve been raising alarms about not is the strain due to migrants. There were no border provisions in this congressional bill that just passed. And I know you’ve said you’ve had to manage without help from Washington. What would you ask Congress to get done in the next 45 days?”
“Well, shame on Speaker McCarthy and the Republicans in Congress, including the nine from New York state who are complaining like crazy about the migrants, but refuse to work with President Biden and come up with a sensible border strategy,” Hochul said. “It can be done. This can be done in a bipartisan way, comprehensive immigration reform…”
“What specifically do you want?” Brennan asked.
“Well, we want them to have a limit on who can come across the border,” she said. “It is too open right now. People coming from all over the world are finding their way through, simply saying they need asylum, and the majority of them seem to be ending up in the streets of New York and that is a real problem for New York City. One hundred and twenty five thousand newly arrived individuals, and we are being taxed.”
“We are always so proud of the fact that New York has the Statue of Liberty in our harbor,” she continued. “We are one of the most diverse places on earth because of our welcoming nature and it’s in our DNA to welcome immigrants. But there has to be some limits in place. And Congress has to put more controls at the border and not in this budget threat, shutdown threat. Talk about eliminating positions for Border Patrol, well, we actually need to double or quadruple those numbers. So get back to work and do your jobs.”
On Thursday, Hochul was on CNN, where she said that New York has “hit our capacity.” She then asked for “other areas to embrace these individuals.”
“I will be very clear about the values of New Yorkers, we have always been a place that has welcomed immigrants,” Hochul said. “So, we’ll always be that place. But it’s also a question of capacity right now. We have been welcoming. We have been gracious. We have been supportive. But we have to point out the fact and make sure people coming across the border who think there are plentiful hotel rooms and services in New York City, we hit our capacity. So, we’re asking other areas to embrace these individuals. But we’re not going to compromise who we are as a state with the Statue of Liberty in our harbor. So, that’s what I want to be clear about. That’s important. We’ll retain that. But we just need a slowing right now to help us manage the people who have already come and let people know it’s not the way it was a year ago. We’re at capacity. But getting people out of the shelters is our number one priority, full stop.”
This is quite a turnaround for a New York governor who said in 2021 about illegal migrants that “we want them to come here,” adding, “you are welcome here.”
NEW YORK GOVERNOR FLIPS ON MIGRANTS
In Dec 2021, NY Gov. Kathy Hochul invited all migrants to come to New York.
She welcomed them with open arms, quoting the welcoming message from the Statue of Liberty touting the state's sanctuary status.
A few days ago, she changed her tune… pic.twitter.com/u3QPN1HkF9
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) October 1, 2023
What changed, Kathy?