Facing an unprecedented migrant crisis, Democratic New York governor Kathy Hochul is now telling immigrants that they're not welcome in the Empire State.
New York has to "message properly that we're at our limit," Hochul said Wednesday on CNN. "If you're going to leave your country, go somewhere else."
Hochul's decision to slam the golden door on migrants sharply contrasts with what she said just four months ago. The governor said in May that "the vast, vast majority of these people … are simply seeking legal humanitarian relief" and thus have "a right to seek asylum in this country." At the time, she went so far as to say illegal immigrants seeking asylum are "absolutely here legally."
New York City mayor Eric Adams (D.), who in 2021 proudly declared that the Big Apple would remain a sanctuary city, has turned similarly hawkish on immigration. He said this month that unrestrained immigration "will destroy New York City."
Hochul's tough words come the same week that the Biden administration announced it would allow thousands of Venezuelan illegal immigrants to work in the United States. Adams and Hochul have been pushing the administration for months to allow the work permits.
Adams and Hochul aren't the only Democrats turning on the illegal immigrants and refugees they claimed to support. The Democratic mayors of Chicago and Washington, D.C., both sanctuary cities, have declared states of emergency in response to the crisis.
The crisis comes as illegal border crossings spike following the Biden administration's May decision to allow Title 42, a Trump-era border security measure, to lapse.