Tipsheet

New York Governor: You Know, on Second Thought, Our Border Might Be 'Too Open Right Now'

Guy Benson
Guy Benson  |  October 02, 2023 1:25 PM

This is an interesting sound byte for multiple reasons.  First, the official Democratic talking point throughout this years-long crisis is that the border is not open, but "closed" and "secure."  Just a few weeks ago, the White House Press Secretary insisted that the administration's policies were "stopping the flow" of illegal immigration, and that the president "has done more to secure the border, to deal with this issue of immigration than anybody else."  Credulous hacks in the 'news' media have echoed similar propaganda, despite the abject debacle that continues to play out along America's southern boundary.  

But here we have a major blue state governor admitting at least some elements of undeniable truth, albeit very belatedly.  I say that because just last year, she was blithely calling the enormous influx of illegal immigrants "good for our economy."  Times -- or, more accurately, political pressures -- sure seem to be a-changin':

She calls for limits on who can cross the border, conceding that it's "too open."  At the end of the clip, while trying to blame Congress for what's happening (by far, the biggest culprit is Joe Biden and his administration, who refuse to re-implement successful executive-level policies), Hochul seems to endorse 'doubling or quadrupling' the Border Patrol force.  She also says that a "majority" of illegal immigrants crossing the border "seem to be ending up in the streets of New York."  As Karol Markowicz points out, this isn't anywhere close to true.  Since the start of this crisis, approximately 110,000-125,000 migrants have ended up in New York -- cumulatively, over years.  In August alone, US officials notched nearly 233,000 encounters at the border, not counting any of the tens of thousands of got-aways.  September wasn't just worse; it was the worst ever.  "Too open," as Hochul might call it:

New York's full-crisis total amounts to less than half of last month's record-setting encounters.  And here comes October.  I continue to maintain that Biden's political problem on this issue would be far less acute if Texas Gov. Greg Abbott hadn't made the decision to start shipping a fraction of this crisis to the doorstep of pro-"sanctuary" Democrats, who were content to virtue signal and morally preen while expecting border communities to bear the brunt of the humanitarian and national security disaster their policies have caused.  They'd love to be able to ignore it.  They can't ignore it now.  Abbott continues to put these stats in perspective:


Recall that Chicago's Mayor has offered comments suggesting that he wants more.  He and his city should be quickly and dramatically accommodated.  Overall, US border officials will tally three million-plus encounters in fiscal year 2023, not counting got-aways.  The Biden legacy:

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"Too open," eh, Kathy?  I'll leave you with this incredible about-face: