The New York City Council’s top GOP lawmaker told a Congressional committee Wednesday that he approved of Mayor Eric Adams decision to take the Biden administration to task over its handling of the migrant crisis.
“I give him credit for being virtually the only elected official in his party to say out loud, repeatedly and in public, that the open border policies of this White House, Secretary Mayorkas, and the federal agencies under their control have been an absolute disaster for New York,” Joe Borelli (R-Staten Island) testified Wednesday morning before the House Committee on Homeland Security.
“And the people of the city are paying for it.”
Borelli conceded that he doesn’t see eye-to-eye with the mayor on many issues, including on how to handle the crisis, but appeared to be closely aligned with Adams in their calls for the federal government to step up.
The councilman scoffed at the $140 million earmarked for NYC by the feds as it shoulders the costs of tens of thousands of migrants.
“At a current burn rate of about $10 million per day, federal aid would pay for about two weeks of sheltering migrants in New York City.”
New York City is on pace to spend nearly $12 billion on the migrant crisis through 2025 as thousands continue to arrive each week.
“These unanticipated and unsustainable expenses are the reason the Mayor is preparing to possibly cut the city’s budget by a total of 15 percent by next spring, which would amount to roughly $16 billion,” Borelli said.
“This would ultimately wreak havoc on New York’s economy, which has yet to recover from the pandemic recession,” the councilman said warning the cuts could bring crime increases, cuts in education and garbage being scattered on city streets.
The cross-party praise came from the council minority leader after using Hizzoner’s own words to drive home how dire the financial situation had become.
“The migrant crisis will destroy New York City,” Borelli said, reminding lawmakers that those “aren’t the words of the right-wing, nor are they the hyperbole of political punditry.”
“Those words were spoken by Democratic New York City Mayor Eric Adams at a town hall in Manhattan two weeks ago,” he said.
The city has pleaded with the feds to step in and help it manage the crisis, but it has received little aid to offset the costs of the mess.
