Democrats are worried that the worsening migrant crisis in New York could have disastrous implications for the Democratic Party.
"There is no question in my mind that the politics of this is a disaster to Democrats," Howard Wolfson, who was a deputy mayor and political adviser for former mayor Michael Bloomberg, told the New York Times. He described the issue as a "ticking time bomb" for the party. "This issue alone has the potential to cost Democrats the House, because it is such a huge issue in New York City and the coverage of it is clearly heard and seen by voters in all of these swing districts in the suburbs."
The conflict over how to handle tens of thousands of migrants coming from the southern border has brought scrutiny on Democratic leaders, namely Governor Kathy Hochul and New York City mayor Eric Adams.
"It’s just a question of when this all sort of explodes," Charlie King, former Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor, told the Times. "I just don’t know how long you can evade this, and I don’t know that it gets better in the next 18 to 24 months."
The crisis has increased on Hochul to offer solutions, the Times reported:
But with migrants continuing to arrive, Mr. Adams recently escalated his calls for the state to get even more involved. The mayor, as well as a coalition of immigration and community groups, has called for Ms. Hochul to implement a statewide relocation program so that upstate counties share the burden of housing migrants.
And Mr. Adams and advocates have pressed for executive orders to prevent reluctant municipalities from barring migrants after Republicans in the city’s northern suburbs sued when the mayor tried to bus migrants there in May.
The growing pressure has forced the governor to balance upstate and downstate constituencies with opposing degrees of willingness to accept migrants in their communities.
Democrats have pointed the finger at each other amid the crisis. Hochul this week called out Adams, alleging inaction on the part of the city government.
Lawyers representing Hochul criticized the mayor, saying the city failed to accept the state's offers for help and did not coordinate with surrounding communities to set up housing, leading to a crisis-level shortage of housing for illegal immigrants.
Adams hit back at the governor's criticisms this week. He said some of her suggestions are not tenable, such as housing migrants in areas located in flood plains.
"The sites that were given to us, some of them were in flood plains, some of them were not suitable to build," Adams said. "The worst thing you could do is house migrants in a flood plain area and all of a sudden you have an emergency where you have to move people out of that location."
Adams has largely placed blame on the White House. Democratic New York City politicians rallied outside City Hall this month and called on the federal government for more help.
Adams this week called it "unacceptable" that the Biden administration has not expedited work permits for migrants.