NYC migrant crisis: Gov. Hochul responds to Mayor's criticism
NEW YORK CITY - New York City Mayor Eric Adams directed some blistering comments at Governor Kathy Hochul and her handling of the city's migrant crisis.
The two, who are usually on the same page and have a good working relationship, are on opposite sides of the city's right-to-shelter mandate.
The Mayor wants the Governor to sign an executive order requiring the rest of the state to take in migrants, something Hochul has refused to do.
"I think this issue, I think the Governor's wrong. 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 0.05 of the land mass in this state, and we have almost 99 percent of the migrant asylum seekers," Adams said.
The city is currently taking care of nearly 60,000 migrants.
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FOX 5 contacted the Governor’s office which directed us to the Governor’s comments she made last week about the city’s right to shelter mandate.
"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," Hochul said.
David Birdsell is a political analyst and the Provost and Senior VP of Academic Affairs at Kean University in New Jersey.
"It doesn’t necessarily ruin the relationship, but it makes it harder and when the attacks are public it makes it that much harder to back down and to find accommodation," Birdsell said.
Governor Hochul’s Press Secretary Avi Small sent a second email to FOX 5 firing back at the Mayor.
"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.