The Case of New York City Shows That Every Community is Now a “Border” Community

Due to Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s Operation Lone Star – which has bused several thousand illegal migrants northward – large sanctuary jurisdictions, such as New York City and Washington, D.C., are beginning to feel the impact that border states have been disproportionately experiencing because of Joe Biden’s border crisis. And, needless to say, they are not happy about it. Clearly, lecturing Americans in other parts of the country about the need to be more “welcoming” to illegal aliens is one thing. But facing the concrete consequences of mass illegal migration is quite another.

The reaction of Democratic New York City mayor Eric Adams has been a mix of condemnation and virtue signaling. Adams complained about the supposedly unfair burden Texas is placing on the metropolis (and sympathetic media outlets have picked up on this talking point and run with it as well). At the same time, he told New Yorkers that they will have to face additional burdens and foot the bill, whether they like it or not, for foreign nationals who have no legal right to the in the U.S. in the first place.

During a late July press conference the mayor minced no words, stating that “We’re here, we’re receiving them [illegal aliens bused in from Texas] and everyone is going to have to be on board. And we can’t have the (…) ‘I believe people should be housed but just don’t house them on my block.’ Everyone’s block is going to be impacted by this. And so we have to add our advocacy with our ability to help our neighbors. We need everyone on board with this. As I said last week, our schools are going to be impacted, our healthcare system is going to be impacted, our infrastructure is going to be impacted … we’re going to need all New Yorkers to be with us on this.”

According to a recent New York Times story, “The influx of migrants to the city this spring and summer (…) has tested New York’s reputation as a world sanctuary,” and “has strained a social safety net already on the brink.” Yet, in spite of these realities, Mayor Adams is lavishing the newly-arrived illegal aliens with extensive city resources. New York City might end up dishing out $300 million annually to house the migrants in hotels. The city is booking – or planning to book – approximately 6,000 rooms in often high-priced hotels, including the Row NYC. Moreover, as the New York Post reported, “Hundreds of migrants (…) lined up outside Lincoln Hospital in the Bronx (…) to get health care coverage, food and other items including school supplies and free phones.”

But wait, there’s more!

The city also plans to enroll approximately 1,000 young illegal aliens in its public schools while New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan mentioned possible scholarships for them to attend Catholic schools.

Mayor Adams has asked for federal help. However, that simply means that, in addition to New Yorkers, American taxpayers outside of the Big Apple would have to share the cost. Of course, Adams has also remained silent on the federal government policies under Team Biden that are leading to the migrant influx to begin with.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the drama surrounding Operation Lone Star is that the Democratic mayors and their media allies are raising a fuss over a few thousand illegal migrants, which is a drop in the bucket compared to the impact being experienced by Texas or Arizona. After all, since Joe Biden took office a total of 4.9 million illegal aliens – including 900,000 “gotaways” – have crossed our borders, which translates into almost 8,500 per day.

Rather than castigating border states like Texas, Democratic big city mayors should call out the Biden administration for unleashing a tidal wave of illegal migration into the United States and refusing to do anything substantive to stem it. Policies have consequences, and the Democrats’ approach to the border ensures that more illegal aliens will keep coming.