Gov. Hochul accused of being MIA during New York’s migrant crisis: report
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is being accused by fellow leaders in the Empire State of being missing in action as they scrambled to deal with tens of thousands of migrants that have flooded into the state in recent months.
While Hochul said she is working behind the scenes to address a spike in migrants, leaders have noticed an absence as the state braced for a post-Title 42 surge in migration coming through from the border to New York City in particular, according to a Politico report.
The crisis has caused a number of hot political controversies. New York City Mayor Eric Adams enraged officials outside of the city when he began busing migrants to Orange and Rockland County. Meanwhile, the Big Apple has seen protests and more anger over the decision to move migrants into public school gyms.
Ccounty leaders have been “miffed” about a lack of a statewide approach to the crisis, according to Politico. The outlet obtained an audio recording of Adams on a call with fellow leaders about the crisis saying that he believes that Hochul “should coordinate a decompression strategy.” However, in other comments, he said that Hochul has “been a partner” and communicated with his team. However, Hochul was not on that Thursday call.
One Democratic strategist told the outlet that they would have expected Adams to have received more help from the governor than he has received so far.
Orange County Executive Steve Neuhaus told Adams on the call: “The best way to handle this was to have the governor on the call and every county represented and [say], ‘Who could help. The city of New York needs help. Who is available?’”