Wondering who came up with this idea?
City Comptroller Brad Lander publicly demanded Thursday that the Big Apple get emergency funding to deal with the migrant crisis — after being shamed into acting by Mayor Eric Adams and The Post.
“It is a federal obligation to provide safe haven for those seeking asylum,” Lander said during a news conference outside City Hall.
“And that’s why the resources have to come here to help with that while these people are waiting for their asylum cases to be processed and especially while there’s a work permit so they can work.” The federal government has an obligation.
Lander also said he had a “state duty” to help care for the city’s more than 41,000 migrants.
“The state does not give a dime to the city of New York for the cost of sheltering asylum seekers. That has to change,” he said.
Landers’ scathing remarks came just two days after he was blasted by Adams for not buying into Hitsoner’s repeated requests to the White House for $1 billion in emergency aid.
The mayor said “the first tweet from his fellow Democrat calling for help” came during Gov. Kathy Hochul’s Jan. 10 State of the State address.
City Comptroller Brad Lander has made a request for New York to receive emergency federal funding to help with the migrant crisis. Stephen Young
“People in this city have been going through this for months — for months — and his first announcement was, you know, about a week ago,” Adams fumed Tuesday. “He’s the controller.” He should be concerned about our fiscal stability.
A little later, The Post’s editorial board said Adams was “100 percent right to call out” Lander.
“Given the economic and social effects of unrestricted migration, Lander should be fighting tooth and nail on the same side as Adams, doing inner-city diplomacy and whatever it takes to stem the flow and/or get the resources to to deal with it,” Added editorial.
Lander’s request for federal and state government migrant funding comes after he was publicly called out by Mayor Eric Adams for his inaction. DANIEL WILLIAM McKNIGHT
Although he joined Adams in calling for emergency help, Lander — who mocked the mayor’s handling of the crisis — apparently couldn’t resist disputing Hitzoner’s recent claim that the city “has no more room in the inn” for accommodation of migrants.
“For generations, New York has had a place for newcomers,” Lander said. “There is a place for newcomers in New York today. There will always be room for newcomers to New York.”
Officials have processed more than 41,000 migrants since spring, with more than 27,300 now living in four “emergency humanitarian response and assistance centers” and 77 hotels, according to the latest figures released Thursday by City Hall.
A press conference held by Lander and Public Advocate Jumaane Williams was interrupted by a homeless woman. Public Advocate of New York
Meanwhile, a homeless woman repeatedly interrupted the press conference Lander was holding with Public Advocate Juman Williams and others.
The woman, who is black, angrily complained that the city had “put immigrants over niggers!”
“What about the benefits to us? People who were slaves in this country? she said. “We get nothing! We live in an apartment in New York! No heat, no hot water! Cockroaches! Bugs!”
At one point, Williams said, “Even though she’s interrupting right now, she’s not wrong.”
“We’re now at a point where we’re either saying, ‘You’ve got to get these services, and so have the people who come in and need help,’ but we can’t say either/or, because that becomes dangerous,” he added. . “Because the anger you feel is real, it then turns on other human beings.”
Adams’ press secretary, Fabien Levy, said: “We are pleased to hear that other city officials have finally joined our calls and are now calling on our federal and state partners to support New York as we manage the influx of asylum seekers.”
“As Mayor Adams has repeatedly said, we must all be united in our calls for support from both the federal and state governments,” Levy added.
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