The Biden administration is facing mounting pressure from Republican lawmakers in New York who are demanding answers on the illegal immigrants being shipped across the country by the White House, including upstate New York, and slamming the “secrecy” of the migrant transfers.
“Joe Biden’s failure to enforce the law at the border has made every state a border state,” said Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York in an interview with Fox News. “Instead of securing the border, President Biden is shifting the burden of the influx of illegal migrants onto New York communities. Upstate New York should not be punished for Biden’s border crisis.”
Five New York Republicans sent a letter to the White House on Thursday, expressing “deep concern” that the influx of migrants into upstate and western New York will “overwhelm the local services and infrastructure.” The letter was signed by New York Republican Reps. Claudia Tenney, Elise Stefanik, Michael Lawler, Nick Langworthy and Marc Molinaro.
The New York Republicans cited a previous letter sent in January 2022 in which they asked the White House to stop sending migrants across the country, a request that was ignored by the Biden administration.
“We urge you to stop this obstinance and immediately halt your administration’s moving of illegal migrants to our state,” the letter states.
The letter comes after New York City Mayor Eric Adams declared a state of emergency last year due to the influx of an estimated 41,000 migrants from the southern border into the city.
Adams recently stated that “there is no more room” for migrants in the city and that “we’ve done our job” but “now it’s time for the national government to do its job.”
Additionally, migrants have been showing up in small towns across the state, including the city of Jamestown, New York, where residents recently raised concerns to the New York Post about the town’s resources being overwhelmed.
In an effort to deliver “transparency” to the American public on the issue, the New York Republicans pressed the Biden administration in the letter to provide answers by Jan. 31 on the number of migrants relocated to New York over the past two years, what towns they were sent to and where they will be sent to in the future, and the process by which local agencies have been notified and reimbursed.
If the questions are not answered, the Republicans suggested that federal funding could be withheld by the House, in an effort to put pressure on the Biden administration to take action and address the border crisis.
