A group of Democratic mayors overseeing the country’s largest sanctuary cities are pleading with the federal government to declare a national emergency over the surge of illegal immigrants crossing the southern border.
In a virtual press conference on Wednesday, New York City Mayor Eric Adams, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, and Denver Mayor Mike Johnston begged the Biden administration for billions of dollars in relief funds to expand their capacities — while also blaming the crisis entirely on Texas.
Amid an unprecedented surge in illegal immigration at the US-Mexico border, processing centers in border states have been overrun with no end in sight. In protest of the Biden administration’s failure to address the problem, Texas Governor Greg Abbott began taking the sanctuary cities up on their standing offer of refuge for immigrants.
Operation Lone Star, which launched in March 2022, has shipped an estimated 85,000 asylum seekers to various Democrat jurisdictions around the country, including cities like Chicago, New York, and Denver, as well as the nation’s capital.
But when facing the direct consequences of their pro-immigration policies, Democratic city leaders are finding themselves unable to shoulder the burden.
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“We are proud to have helped nearly 60 percent of the more than 161,000 migrants who have come through our intake system move out of shelter. But cities cannot continue to do the federal government’s job for them,” New York City’s Eric Adams said, calling on federal and state agencies to help resettle the 68,000+ immigrants still waiting to be processed.
Adams also lamented the declining quality of life in his city as the immigration system overflows into the streets.
“For many months we were able to keep visualization of this crisis from hitting our streets … But we have reached a breaking point,” Adams said. “We are no longer able to do that. Just last week, we had 3,900 people who arrived here. If you do the math … that’s potentially 16,000 a month that we must feed, clothe, house, and educate.”
“That is what the breaking point looks like.”
Mayor Eric Adams says that quality of life in NYC will continue to decline because of the illegals:
"For many months we were able to keep visualization of this crisis from hitting our streets… But we have reached a breaking point. We are no longer able to do that." pic.twitter.com/53u6JogwKO
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) December 27, 2023
Related: Texas Reports New Record for Single-Day Migrant Crossings
Shortly after the press conference, Adams issued an executive order requiring charter buses carrying migrants to give at least 32 hours’ notice before arriving in New York City. Buses must also drop off their passengers in approved locations between 8:30 a.m. and 12:00 p.m. rather than simply releasing them onto the street.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Jonhson implemented a similar policy to address so-called “rogue buses,” but he stressed that the real issue is the economic burden on the city.
“I’ve stood up 27 shelters. We are housing currently nearly 15,000 asylum seekers, providing mental care, healthcare, educating 4,500 students, while also creating a pathway to sustainability. But we cannot do this alone. We need more support from the federal government,” he said. “We have reached a critical point in this mission that, absent real significant intervention immediately, our local economies are not designed and built to respond to this kind of crisis.”
In a follow-up interview with CNN, Johnson warned that “the entire country is now at stake” without federal intervention.
Mayor Mike Johnston of Denver, meanwhile, emphasized that his city’s immigration system is so backlogged that asylum seekers are receiving court dates as late as 2027, leaving them unable to work and fully reliant on government services.
“We’re looking at about $160 million of potential costs going into next year’s budget,” Johnston said. “That’s almost 10% of our entire city budget. That’s a massive impact for us.”
The three mayors had previously demanded an aid package of $5 billion from the federal government, but only received $1.4 billion.
The call for additional aid came shortly after Customs and Border Protection announced a record-setting 242,418 migrant encounters on the southern border in November 2023.
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