Adams criticizes Hochul over migrant crisis 

New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) took aim at New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) over her handling of the migrant crisis in the state.

Adams criticized Hochul’s position that New York City should cap the number of migrants it sends to other parts of the state. Over the last few months, the mayor has demanded more assistance from Hochul and the federal government.

New York City has transported migrants to different parts of New York as it has grappled with how to deal with the influx of migrants arriving in the city. The city is committed to providing shelter to anyone who needs it, but Hochul said in a speech last week that the commitment does not apply to the rest of the state.

“I think the governor’s wrong,” Adams said at an event at the New York Law School and the Center for New York City Law. “She’s the governor of the state of New York. New York City is in that state. Every county in this state should be part of this.”

“We have .05 of the landmass in this state and we have 90, almost 99 percent of the migrant asylum seekers,” he added.

When reached for comment about Adams’s comments, a spokesperson for Hochul referred The Hill to the speech she gave last week.

“In 1981, the City of New York and a Coalition for the Homeless signed an agreement that the city would provide shelter to anyone who seeks it,” Hochul said during her speech. “This is an agreement that does not apply to the state’s other 57 counties, which is one of the reasons we cannot and will not force other parts of our state to shelter migrants, nor are we going to be asking these migrants to move to other parts of the state against their will. That said, I do believe we have a moral imperative to help these new arrivals.”

“The Mayor and I said then and in countless meetings with Congress, the White House Cabinet members, at rallies with labor, press conferences, and working with business,” she said later on. “What we’ve said all along is just let them work and help us out financially.”

Hochul’s spokesperson Avi Small told The Hill that it was “unfortunate” that Adams is blaming the state government over the crisis.

“It’s unfortunate that the Mayor is choosing to point fingers at the state – which continues to provide the City with unprecedented amounts of financial support – rather than working collaboratively to manage this crisis,” Small said in a statement.

“Governor Hochul knows that New Yorkers want their leaders to focus on solutions, which is why she is working more individuals on the path to work authorization so they can move out of shelter and into permanent housing,” he added.

The city has already received $140 million in federal funds to assist migrants, the largest amount for any city not on the U.S.-Mexico border.

Hochul estimated that about 100,000 asylum seekers have arrived in the state over the last year. The White House told Hochul that it cannot send more federal assistance to the state, blaming congressional hurdles for the inability to send aid.

“Without Congressional action, this Administration has been working to build a safe, orderly, and humane immigration system and has worked to identify ways to improve efficiencies and maximize the resources the federal government can provide to communities across the country to support the flow of migrants,” a White House spokesperson said in a statement.