Gov. Kathy Hochul said Wednesday that she did not talk about the huge inflow of migrants into the five boroughs while unveiling her 2023 legislative priorities Tuesday because the problem is not important enough to New Yorkers.
“In my State of the State, there’s hundreds of other proposals for talking about. I was focusing on my key signature areas that have broad, statewide interest — housing, mental health challenges, the childcare and the minimum wage,” she told reporters about her speech covering topics from rising crime to community gardens.
While Hochul claimed lack of interest, New York City Mayor Eric Adams has warned that the ongoing arrival of tens of thousands of people bussed from other states like Texas could bankrupt the Big Apple considering the cost of housing them.
“This is an expensive endeavor that we are in and we have to find ways of carrying out this task without bankrupting the city,” he said.
Hochul has joined Adams’ call for the feds to pick up the tab while arguing the migrants could give the state a big boost if they were allowed to legally work.
“As we said yesterday, there was much to celebrate in Governor Hochul’s address, and we look forward to continuing to collaborate with the governor on a number of issues, including the topic of asylum seekers, in the upcoming budget,” Adams spokesman Fabien Levy said about Hochul’s comments Wednesday.
Hochul did find time Tuesday to reminisce about her parents starting their “married life in a trailer park” before bragging about her time as governor, including a deal her administration help land to create a new microchip hub in the Syracuse area.
“We’ve had many conversations with the Mayor on what the needs of the city are. We’ll be talking about things as the process plays out, but also we have put substantial — millions of dollars — for providing legal services to the people newly arrived because that’s how they get on the path to having opportunity, the pathway to be able to get the status, to be able to get a job,” Hochul added Wednesday.
Yet, the newly-elected Hochul steered the conversation away from the touchy issue Tuesday while enjoying the soapbox provided by her 47-minute speech to Albany lawmakers ahead of state budget negotiations.
The word “migration” only entered the one-way conversation while she outlined how she would battle the “out-migration” of New Yorkers to other states.
“This issue has gone from non-existent to near-existential, and the mayor should not be the only Democratic elected official pressuring the Biden administration for relief,” City Councilman Joe Borelli (R-Staten Island) told The Post.
“This should have been a blurb at the least,” he added.
A 277-page briefing book provided to reporters made a few mentions about how Hochul might propose that tens of thousands of new residents, many of whom only speak Spanish, might get the social services and support they need to make their way to a new life in New York.
Republican state Sen. George Borrello (R-Jamestown) suggested that Hochul might have her reasons for keeping migrants out of the limelight during her State of the State address while making her arguments about other controversial issues like possible changes to bail reform.
“I think it’s a negative for her no matter how she approaches it. Eric Adams is calling it a crisis that is having a huge negative impact on NYC. But she knows the progressives support the idea of a sanctuary city,” he said.
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