CV NEWS FEED // New York City mayor Eric Adams and four other Democratic mayors penned a letter to President Joe Biden last Saturday asking for help with the surging number of migrants in their cities amid the ongoing border crisis.
Joining Adams were Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.
“To address this crisis without further delay, we are requesting an urgent meeting with you to
directly discuss ways we can work with your administration to avoid large numbers of additional asylum seekers being brought to our cities with little to no coordination, support, or resources,” the mayors wrote to Biden.
The letter opened by expressing appreciation for the administration’s actions to aid communities that receive migrants. “Thank you for your ongoing work and partnership regarding immigrants entering the United States via the Southwest Border,” the five Democrats stated.
“[We] write to share our appreciation for the supplemental appropriation you have proposed to help our communities navigate and support new arrivals, in particular the $1.4 billion identified for food, shelter and services are much needed,” the mayors continued. They called the aid “an important step to address the humanitarian crisis impacting our cities.”
However, the elected officials also acknowledged that “additional action is needed” from the administration.
Specifically, they called for more federal funding: “We request an appropriation of $5 billion to cover the expenditures our cities have already incurred and to continue serving the growing number of people arriving in our communities.”
In addition, the mayors urged the administration to “accelerate approval of work authorization and adjudication for eligible applicants” and “dramatically increase access to work authorization” for migrants.
“We believe that our cities and states can far better handle the flow of new arrivals if there is a coordinated entry and distribution process of newcomers once they arrive,” the letter stated:
We believe we have a unique opportunity to work with the White House and Congress over these next few weeks to create an immigration and asylum system that will treat our newcomers with dignity and be fair and equitable to cities and neighborhoods across the country.
Given the urgency of this issue we are all willing to travel to DC next week to sit down and discuss our shared interest in finding a successful resolution.
Copied on the letter were the leaders of both parties in each house of Congress: House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-LA, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-NY, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-KY.
Leif Le Mahieu of The Daily Wire noted that, despite their various other requests, “the mayors did not ask for more security at the border.”
“Border crossings have surged under Biden, with millions of foreign nationals unlawfully entering the U.S. from all over the world,” Le Mahieu continued.
Back in September, Adams blasted Biden for refusing to schedule a meeting with him to discuss the migrant crisis when the president was in New York City for the United Nations General Assembly.
“I’m very public. Everybody knows where I am,” Adams said at the time.
At a town hall meeting earlier that month, the mayor sounded the alarm about his city’s skyrocketing population of illegal immigrants.
“Never in my life have I had a problem that I did not see an ending to. I don’t see an ending to this,” he said. “This issue will destroy New York City.”
Adams was formerly a supporter of liberal immigration policy and campaigned on maintaining New York’s status as a “sanctuary city.”
