Hochul administration rips New York City’s response to migrant crisis

(The Center Square) — Gov. Kathy Hochul's administration is ripping New York City's handling of the migrant crisis while defending the state's response to a surge of tens of thousands of asylum seekers.

In a scathing letter to city officials, a lawyer representing Hochul criticized NYC Mayor Eric Adams for a "lack of coordination" on relocations of migrants that has "impeded the state’s ability to foster productive relationships and discussions" with county and local officials.

"In particular, the city chose to send migrants to counties and localities outside of the city with-little-or-no notice to or coordination with the state or those counties and localities," she wrote. "That has created opposition and has led to litigation that might have been mitigated or avoided if the city had acted in concert with the state and with the counties and localities where it sent migrants."

Gay said the Adams administration has "failed to accept the state’s offers of assistance or recommendations for state facilities" and "has not always promptly shared necessary information with the state" on migrant relocations.

She said before the Adams administration relocates migrants upstate, it needs to "ensure that their school districts can support additional children, and that the existing homeless populations in those counties and localities are not displaced because of migrant relocation efforts."

“The city can and should do more to act in a proactive and collaborative manner with the state," she wrote.

The letter, which comes in response to litigation over the city's right-to-shelter obligations, reveals a deepening rift between the two Democratic leaders as the state grapples with more than 100,000 asylum seekers, who have overwhelmed New York City's emergency shelter system.

The Legal Aid Society and Homeless Coalition are pressuring the Hochul administration to provide more resources, coordination, and funding to help New York City accommodate new arrivals to comply with a law requiring the city to provide emergency shelter.

Hochul has defended her administration's response to the crisis, touting that she declared a state of emergency, has provided $1.5 billion in funding for migrants through the recently approved state budget, deployed National Guard troops to emergency housing facilities and met with federal officials to discuss potential sites to house migrants.

"The state will continue to support migrants’ needs statewide through various programs, in collaboration with the city," Gay wrote in the letter. "But the state asks for the city’s cooperation to ensure that state funds are properly managed."

Adams says the cost of sheltering asylum seekers across the city could rise to $12 billion in coming years and has called for more help from the state and federal governments.

Both Hochul and Adams have blamed Democratic President Joe Biden for a lackluster federal response to the crisis, demanding that he provide more federal funding and fast-track work permits for migrants to ease the financial pressure on the state and local governments.