Democrats are starting to see just how unsustainable their desired open border policies are in the real world. After demonizing former President Donald Trump for inhumane and racist immigration control, the left rallied to pave the way for illegal immigrants to enter the US and have the same rights as American citizens. Now, however, the blinders are being torn off as Dems are being hit where it hurts the most: the pocketbook, and they realize just how much it’s costing to house and feed a single migrant, much less millions.
Migrant Cost of Living in NYC
New York City Mayor Eric Adams has been a supporter of illegal immigration and open borders, but the millions-a-day cost of feeding and sheltering immigrants is taking its toll. In a recent city council meeting, Emergency Management Commissioner Zach Iscol said the Department of Homeless Services and Health & Hospitals spend an average of $363 daily to provide food and shelter for a single migrant, according to the New York Post. These city-run shelters are known as Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Centers (HERRCs). With more than 30,000 migrants receiving housing and supplies from these taxpayer-funded facilities, the daily bill comes in at $10.89 million.
State Republicans blame the White House for not stepping up to the plate. City Council Minority Leader Joe Borelli told the Post: “Maybe the Biden administration can remember that this is their responsibility and not our mayor’s.” Rep. Nicole Malliotakis exclaimed:
“It’s mind-boggling that the city is going out of its way to house citizens of other countries when we have our own New York citizens who are struggling to put food on the table and keep roofs over our heads.
“We just got our new property tax assessments, and people are wondering how they’re going to make these increased payments.
“Mayor Eric Adams and the City Council should tell Joe Biden to stop the insane policy that’s allowing people to enter our country.”
(Photo by Leonardo Munoz/VIEWpress)
However, Republican Rep. Claudia Tenney puts some of the blame on the mayor, accusing Adams of “pouring gasoline on the fire by accommodating illegal immigrants and begging for billions of dollars to feed, house, and care for them at the expense of the taxpayers of New York.”
The Big Apple has seen an influx of illegal immigrants after Republican-led states Arizona and Texas began sending migrants to the blue states that had pushed for open borders. PR Newswire reported that illegal immigration costs Texas taxpayers nearly $13.4 billion a year. And in Yuma, Arizona, one of the border cities being swarmed with migrants, illegal aliens are taking up hospital beds to the point that there aren’t enough for citizens. Yuma Regional Medical Center told lawmakers it had spent $26 million “on uncompensated care for the wave of illegal immigrants who threaten to swamp the facility,” the Washington Times reported.
But maybe the tide is changing. Perhaps Democrats are beginning to realize just how inadequate their party is at dealing with the border crisis. Mayor Adams, in particular, seemed to take Vice President Kamala Harris to task for not finding solutions to the issue. During a City Hall news conference on March 7, Adams said:
“There needs to be an individual who is dedicated to do the decompression strategy for the federal government. Someone should be at these entry points: El Paso, Brownsville, Texas, and others, too, to organize a real decompression strategy across the entire country.
“One person should, we should be looking at — it is often stated that as the role of the VP has too much in her portfolio to be focused on just doing that decompression strategy. If not, the decompression strategy can’t be New York City.”
Politicians and citizens alike are making noise about the billions of dollars the government is sending to Ukraine while Americans suffer from homelessness and a migrant crisis. Even Democrats are now wailing against the injustices of something they previously wholeheartedly supported. Could it be a sign the tide is changing?
