Governor Kathy Hochul may be in charge of the state of confusion called New York but you certainly can’t say the Democrat runs it. One would think the progressive leader of a proclaimed sanctuary state would be prepared for all the migrants coming in. They’re here and she’s not even scrambling for answers, she’s nodding her head at whatever anyone suggests.
Governor leads from behind
Governor Kathy Hochul administers the state of New York from the suburban greenery of Albany, far from New York City and its iconic urban concrete. That’s where all the migrant arrival action is happening and that’s where the decisions should be coming from, she insisted on Tuesday. The easiest way to make something go away is when it becomes “someone else’s problem.” In this case Mayor Eric Adams.
“‘Leading‘ would suggest there has been some semblance of preparation, coordination and proactivity,” ranking Assembly Republican William Barclay observed on Wednesday. “We’ve seen none of that.”
Meanwhile, Mayor Adams is left trying to “decide where asylum seekers should go upstate despite fierce resistance.” That resistance is coming from fellow Democrat politicians who aren’t willing to shoulder their fair share of the sanctuary burden.
Gov. Kathy Hochul’s blasted for NY migrant crisis response: ‘There has been zero leadership’ https://t.co/LmgYyWvMHT pic.twitter.com/3mPiqgj0Te
— New York Post (@nypost) June 14, 2023
“I’m leading in a way that a governor is supposed to lead,” Hochul proclaims. She’s staying safely in her office and making a list. She calls it a “survey” of “all land available that I have control over.” Things like “SUNY campuses, psychiatric centers, former prisons…” As soon as she gets it done she promises to make it available to the mayor.
Adams is the one who will have to make all the politically toxic decisions about which of those sites eventually get used, and how. The day before, June 12, the governor visited a quiet, upstate town. She has the power to sign an order shuffling migrants off to Buffalo but won’t do it.
She assured locals who don’t wish to be invaded by Venezuelans. She would rather use her influence to push Mayor Adams into sending them places “where they would be relatively welcome rather than resisted.” Vermont, perhaps.
A passive approach
Governor Hochul likes to face the ongoing crisis by taking a deep breath and chanting a few affirmations. Stay calm, she soothes.
She’s handing the hot potato to Mayor Adams as her “passive approach” to “the growing crisis fueling conflict between New York City and local governments about where to put the hundreds of migrants pouring into the city each day.”
The last time the governor stuck her head up, it almost got lopped off. Last month, her office was chattering about “challenging the authority of Rockland and Orange counties to block migrants from arriving.”
Did Kathy Hochul really just invite migrants to come to New York to milk cows and clean toilets?
— Red Voice Media (@redvoicenews) May 23, 2023
She backed down “after the New York Civil Liberties Union took legal action.” On May 10, she told the press “I’m sure we’ll be announcing the results of that very shortly,” as she quietly shelved the idea.
In the past week alone, “roughly 2,200 asylum seekers arrived in the five boroughs.” That brings the current tally to “more than 76,200 who have come since last year.” In response, Governor Hochul “has mobilized 1,600 members of the National Guard since last year and made state-controlled facilities like the former Lincoln Correctional Facility in Manhattan and JFK Airport in Queens available to house migrants while maintaining pressure on the feds to provide more resources.”
It’s up to Joe Biden to pay for all these migrants he dropped on them. He should have planned on where they would stay. It’s not her problem. She’s begging Joe to spread around some of that bribe money he took as a donation to the progressive cause. “We need help. We need resources. We need federal facilities,” Hochul reportedly said Wednesday, “following a Friday meeting in Washington, D.C. with White House officials with Biden on the phone.” Hopefully, like Mykola Zlochevsky, she got her deal with Joe on tape.
