Nine Democratic governors have joined together to urge the Biden administration and congressional leaders to address what they call “a humanitarian crisis” created by the surge of migrants seeking refuge in the United States.
The governors, led by Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York, asked in a letter to the White House and Congress for “a serious commitment” to overhauling the immigration system that would include federal coordination on a strategy to relieve pressure on the southern and northern borders, as well as for more funds for states.
“It is clear our national immigration system is outdated and unprepared to respond to this unprecedented global migration,” reads the letter, which is signed by Ms. Hochul and the governors of Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, New Mexico, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Maryland.
Last year, President Biden proposed a $106 billion package that included aid to states and localities as well as more funding for border security and deportations, along with aid to Ukraine. But like so many other immigration-related proposals of the past, his effort failed to garner the bipartisan support necessary to pass a divided Congress.
A strong Biden ally, Ms. Hochul has until now been reluctant to take a leadership role in pushing the White House for more federal aid, even as New York has been a focal point of the migrant crisis. Mayor Eric Adams of New York City has not hesitated to lobby, and his attacks on the Biden administration have been met with brusque criticism of how the city has handled the crisis.
Since last spring, 170,000 migrants have arrived in New York City, and the city is still housing about 70,000 of them. Many of those seeking refuge came to New York on buses paid for by Republican governors who saw the move as both a way to ease the burden on their own states and a potent political message for Democrats who in their view had played down the situation at the border for too long.
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