The crisis caused by the surge of illegal immigrants into New York City “will destroy New York City,” said New York Mayor Eric Adams at a townhall meeting on Wednesday. “I’m gonna tell you something, New Yorkers, never in my life have I had a problem that I didn’t see an ending to, I don’t see an ending to this,” Adams said. “This issue will destroy New York City. Destroy New York City.
“We’re getting 10,000 migrants a month,” he continued. “One time we were just getting Venezuela. Now we’re getting Ecuador. Now we’re getting Russian-speaking coming through Mexico. We’ve gotten Western Africa. Now we’re getting people from all over the globe have made their minds up that they’re going to come through the southern part of the border and come into New York City.”
That the overflow of illegal immigrants – more than 100,000 in the last year into New York City alone, more than 6 million into the country since President Biden took office – would have devastating consequences is not at all surprising. It was, in fact, predictable, and predicted.
This disaster is the inevitable consequence of a policy decision made in Washington by elected officials and their appointed underlings who deliberately chose to ignore their oaths of office in pursuit of an open-borders agenda, with all that entails – loss of sovereignty, reduced respect for the rule of law, increased social and governmental costs, higher crime, enhanced social disintegration, and the like.
It was a political decision made by political people. They wanted the glamorous headlines touting their actions to reverse the policies of the previous administration, no matter what the consequences might be.
The only reason the crisis is now making the front pages of the liberal mainstream media is because it’s gotten so out of control that even big city mayors like those of New York and Chicago, and even Blue State governors, like those in New York and Massachusetts and New Jersey, have found the beast they took part in unleashing has turned on its masters.
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On August 8, Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey declared a state of emergency in the Bay State “due to rapidly rising numbers of migrant families arriving in Massachusetts in need of shelter and services” as a result of the recent arrival of “more than 20,000 individuals in state shelter, including children and pregnant women.”
“This crisis originated with the federal government, and it must be resolved with the federal government,” said New York Governor Kathy Hochul on August 24, when she revealed that she had sent her demands to President Biden in a letter.
One week later, on August 31, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy rejected any plans to help neighboring New York handle the surge of illegal immigrants. Appearing on local TV, Murphy said, “I don’t see any scenario where we’re going to be able to take in a program in Atlantic City or frankly elsewhere in the state … You need scale, enormous amount of federal support, resources that go beyond anything that we can afford.”
At this point, one is left shaking one’s head at the inanity. What in the world did they think was going to happen when they declared their cities and states would become “sanctuaries” where local and state government officials would not help the federal government enforce immigration law – and then they opened the borders? Surely they knew this would be the result. ideas have consequences, after all, and so do actions.
If it weren’t so deadly serious, it would be laughable.
Almost a decade ago, the organization I lead produced a documentary about the crisis of illegal immigration caused by lax enforcement of our immigration laws. We called it “Border States of America” because even that long ago, we knew that the crisis had gotten so bad that every state was, effectively, a border state.
Now, finally, the liberal elites who run the cities and states far away from the borders of our country are forced to acknowledge the truth of that declaration – because of their radical open borders policies, and their refusal to enforce the nation’s immigration laws, every state is now a border state.
Congress can do something about the problem right now. The House and Senate should agree to add the language of H.R. 2, the Secure the Border Act, to the upcoming Continuing Resolution. This comprehensive immigration legislation combines elements of multiple bills passed through multiple committees of jurisdiction. The legislation ends asylum fraud, closes immigration loopholes, mandates E-Verify to crack down on illegal employment, prevents “catch and release,” calls for resuming border wall construction, supports local law enforcement, and strengthens Customs and Border Protection resources.
If Mayor Adams and Governors Hochul and Healey and their colleagues are serious about demanding help from Washington to deal with the illegal immigration crisis that’s turned their states into border states, they should start by calling on the members of their congressional delegations to add H.R. 2 to the Continuing Resolution.
And even if they don’t, Congress should add the language of H.R. 2 to the Continuing Resolution and send it to President Biden for his signature – just because it’s the right thing to do.
Jenny Beth Martin is Honorary Chairman of Tea Party Patriots Action.
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