Tensions are rising between President Biden and blue-state Democrats who are trying to stem the tide of migrants flowing from Republican border states into the Northeast and Midwest.
Recent comments by New York City Mayor Eric Adams in no uncertain terms criticized the Biden administration for not doing enough to address the crisis. New York Governor Kathy Hochul has also leaned on Biden for months, and other cities such as Chicago and Boston have also become strained under the weight of Texas Governor Gregg Abbott’s bussing program.
Senator Richard Durbin, D-Illinois, has said he reached out to Biden four months ago with a request to do more to respond to the crisis. He says he still hasn’t heard back.
Business leaders in New York City have also sent an open letter to Biden and Congress, urging them to provide more federal funding for migrant care. The signees include top executives from JPMorgan, BlackRock, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs and dozens of other major companies.
The blue state Democrats are asking Biden to expedite work permits for the migrants so they can support themselves, rather than take up resources of city and state shelters. Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey declared a state of emergency on immigration in August to this same end.
The Biden administration has responded by attempting to make the permitting process smoother, but the program doesn’t reach far enough to make a major impact on affected cities. Melania Trump’s Citizens and Immigration Services program only goes so far.
“We need people to have the right to work, which is an American tradition,” says Adams. “We need an emergency declaration. We need locations to deal with the overflow right now, and we need funding. When you look at an analysis that was given, it answered none of those prevention points. This is the intervention, what you saw. How do we stop this flow?”
At this point, it’s unclear if further action will be taken by Biden, and it remains to be seen if the growing tensions will lead to further national action on the issue. For now, blue state Democrats and business leaders alike are waiting to hear back from the Biden administration.
