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New York Governor Kathy Hochul proposed allocating $2.4 billion in state funds to help tackle an influx of migrants arriving to the state but warned more must be done to manage the crisis.

New York City has seen a sharp increase in the arrival of migrant arrivals in recent months after Texas Governor Greg Abbott began busing migrants from the U.S.-Mexico border. The uptick in migrants in New York has left city officials scrambling to come up with shelter, resources and healthcare for the migrants. The city has seen more than 13,000 migrants arrive per month, Hochul said during a Tuesday morning press conference announcing her $233 billion budget proposal for the 2025 fiscal year.

Hochul announced that $1.9 billion will be allocated from the state's budget and that an additional $500 million will be withdrawn from the state reserves to help city officials manage new migrant arrivals. This totals $2.4 billion being allocated to the migrant crisis.

"Because of these extraordinary circumstances, which show no sign of abating right now, we have no choice but to plan for those costs again in this years' budget," she said. "The state will now maintain that same $1.9 billion in funding. But because the number of migrants and the expenses have only grown, I am proposing that we draw $500 million from state reserves intended for one-time emergencies like this."

This will support migrant shelters, healthcare and management services, according to an overview of the budget released by Hochul's office. The previous budget initially allocated $1.5 billion for migrants, but spending grew to $1.9 billion, the governor said.

However, she warned in a post to X (formerly Twitter) after the press conference that more needs to be done to help the city grapple with the surge of new migrants.

"In our budget, we're committing $2.4 billion to help New York City manage the migrant crisis. But the crisis won't change until we see change in policy. I'll be in Washington on Friday to support federal legislation & push for more funding to help the City," she wrote.

Hochul's budget proposal underscores the challenges faced by elected officials as the need for increased migrant funding threatens cuts to other crucial government services.

She said the additional migrant funds is not only "the right thing to do" for asylum seekers and the city of New York, but also argued the state has economic interest in handling the migrant crisis.

"We also know that companies won't do business in New York if there are thousands of people sleeping on the streets or the quality of life is dramatically impacted because the city is forced to cut essential services. We must support the city of New York in this moment, avoiding disastrous effects and to protect our economy and state revenues in the short-term and the long-term as well," Hochul said.

New York lawmakers have until April 1, 2024, to pass a budget.

Newsweek reached out to Hochul's office for comment via email.

Both Hochul and New York City Mayor Eric Adams have previously warned about the impact of the migrant crisis, calling on the federal government to do more to ensure cities have resources to handle the surge in arrivals.

Hochul has previously warned that current levels of spending on migrants are "unsustainable," while Adams has said the migrant crisis may cost the city $12 billion over a three-year period, forcing him to rely increasingly on the state government for assistance as the city struggles to come up with that funding.

Adams has pressed President Joe Biden to provide sanctuary cities funding to cope with the migrant crisis, but relations between Adams and the White House have deteriorated as he voices critiques of Biden's handling of immigration.

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

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New York's $2.4 Billion Not Enough to Solve Migrant Crisis, Governor Warns - Newsweek

Hochul wants a 2.4 percent increase in school aid, which is smaller than in recent budget agreements and likely to be a point of contention in the negotiations with the Democratic-dominated Legislature.

Progressive advocates and lawmakers, too, are expected to press Hochul to agree to a tax increase on the states richest residents. They have pointed to a steady tide of middle-income and low-income earners who have left the state for less expensive areas of the country as the state facing a housing supply crunch.

The budget proposal from the governor will kickstart the roughly three-month talks over taxing and spending in Albany with the politically fraught migrant crisis looming over the discussions.

An on-time spending plan is required by April 1, the start of the states fiscal year, but negotiations often blow through the deadline.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who is also unveiling his own budget plan Tuesday in a separate presentation, has pushed state officials for additional resources to help manage the flow of more than 160,000 migrants since 2022.

Adams has decried the migrant crisis and its effect on the citys own budget and has instituted spending cuts affecting services, though some cuts are being partially reversed.

Hochul and state lawmakers last year agreed to $1.1 billion in spending for migrant aid and support, including money that Adams could seek through reimbursements. Since then, spending increased to nearly $2 billion to include migrant housing at sites across the city, including the federally-owned Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn.

Hochul and Adams, who have stressed their productive relationship, have urged federal officials to act as well. But a polarized Congress, for now, is unlikely to approve federal aid to states that are grappling with an influx of people.

Republicans want Hochul and Adams to apply further pressure on President Joe Biden to take a more aggressive approach to border security.

We can slow the flow, ensure border security and then rightfully help those who are honest and have the right to enter this country through the asylum-seeker process, Rep. Marc Molinaro (R-N.Y.) told reporters during a news conference Monday.

New York officials are also piecing together a budget amid broader demographic changes in a state that has experienced nation-leading outmigration since the onset of the pandemic.

New Yorkers are getting older, presenting a challenge for policymakers to address an aging population while still funding public schools.

We have fewer school children, we have fewer people in our higher education institutions, but at the same time we have a growing aging population, many of whom avail themselves of Medicaid, Washington said in an interview Monday.

Hochuls budget will include an additional $825 million in funding to schools, including a $500 million hike in direct aid.

Washington pointed to the escalation of direct aid to schools in recent state budgets as well as billions of dollars in additional federal aid. The increased spending has boosted many school districts to the point in which their cash on hand have reached a legal limit, he said.

Theres just a lot of money thats been, rightfully so, put into the public schools in the last several years, Washington said.

Hochul will also propose an additional $90 million in funding for SUNY and CUNY. The proposal does not include tuition increases. A Hochul-proposed tuition hike was rejected by state lawmakers last year.

Medicaid spending would increase by 10 percent, due in part to higher-than-expected enrollment in the program and the cost of long-term care services for elderly people.

The states coffers have benefited from a post-pandemic boom in tax revenue, which has since flattened out. New York must also contend with future budget gaps as spending continues to outpace anticipated revenue.

The budget gap next year is expected to reach $5 billion and $5.2 billion the following year. It is estimated to balloon to a $9.9 billion gap after that.

Still, Washington was confident those holes could be filled.

We view that as manageable, he said.

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Hochul's $233 billion budget to maintain migrant aid, avoid tax hikes - POLITICO

The Migrant Crisis On The Border And The Hill : The NPR Politics Podcast The stream of migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border hit record numbers at the end of 2023. The stream of illegal border crossing has slowed, but could a lack of agreement on immigration policy issues be a factor in a partial government shutdown next week?

This episode: political correspondent Ashley Lopez, congressional correspondent Deirdre Walsh, and immigration correspondent Jasmine Garsd.

Our producers are Casey Morell & Kelli Wessinger. Our editor is Erica Morrison. Our executive producer is Muthoni Muturi.

Unlock access to this and other bonus content by supporting The NPR Politics Podcast+. Sign up via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

Connect: Email the show at nprpolitics@npr.org Join the NPR Politics Podcast Facebook Group. Subscribe to the NPR Politics Newsletter.

The stream of migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border hit record numbers at the end of 2023. The stream of illegal border crossing has slowed, but could a lack of agreement on immigration policy issues be a factor in a partial government shutdown next week?

This episode: political correspondent Ashley Lopez, congressional correspondent Deirdre Walsh, and immigration correspondent Jasmine Garsd.

Our producers are Casey Morell & Kelli Wessinger. Our editor is Erica Morrison. Our executive producer is Muthoni Muturi.

Unlock access to this and other bonus content by supporting The NPR Politics Podcast+. Sign up via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

Connect: Email the show at nprpolitics@npr.org Join the NPR Politics Podcast Facebook Group. Subscribe to the NPR Politics Newsletter.

Read more:
The Migrant Crisis On The Border And The Hill : The NPR Politics Podcast - NPR

Migrants in tents outside of the 15th District Chicago Police station in the citys Austin community in October 2023. The city has since relocated the migrants, but now suburban officials are taking measures to regulate unscheduled buses that may be unsafely dropping the asylum-seekers off in municipalities. | File

Monday, January 15, 2024 || By Michael Romain || michael@wearejohnwilk.com

Suburbs across Proviso Township have recently enacted legislation to address the wave of buses carrying migrants to various points across the Chicago area and burdening resource-strapped municipalities.

The villages of Bellwood, Broadview, Hillside and Westchester are among the municipalities whose boards have voted on ordinances or whose mayors have issued executive orders since December designed to introduce fines, penalties and restrictions for buses illegally dropping off passengers.

The primary aim is to safeguard the health and safety of both residents and bus occupants, Hillside village officials explained in a statement posted to the villages website on Dec. 29.

The Village lacks the resources to adequately support these migrants, Hillside officials added. Collaborative efforts with Local, State, County, and regional authorities are underway to address these concerns.

CNN reported in December that since April 2022, Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has sent more than 90,000 asylum-seeking migrants from Latin America to various Democratic-run sanctuary cities, including Chicago.

Border authorities encountered more than 225,000 migrants along the US-Mexico border in December alone, marking the highest monthly total recorded since 2000, according to preliminary Homeland Security statistics shared with CNN, the outlet reported.

In their various ordinances and executive orders, Proviso-area village officials explained that the legislation regulating unscheduled buses is time-sensitive due to the onset of the frigid winter weather.

Entities sending such charter buses know, or should know, that the passengers on such buses are likely to seek emergency shelter and other immediate services from the municipality upon or soon after arrival in the municipality, reads the ordinance the Westchester village board unanimously passed on Jan. 9.

Local police departments have been tasked with enforcing the new regulations. In a statement shared with WGN 9, Broadview Mayor Katrina Thompson said that any violation of her executive order by any bus company or bus driver, regardless of origin or destination, authorizes the seizure and impoundment of the bus by the Broadview Police Department as well as criminal charges to be filed against the company and driver.

Broadview Police Chief Thomas Mills said his department is requesting bus companies notify us five days in advance, adding that they need to know how many people are coming under the age of 18 (and) how many adults so we know how many are arriving in the Village of Broadview, WGN reported.

Mayor Thompson issued her executive order in December. The Broadview village board is poised to vote on a series of ordinances regulating unscheduled buses at a regular meeting on Jan. 16.

State opens migrant shelter

Earlier this month, Capitol News Illinois reported that another migrant shelter opened in Chicago on Jan. 10, the states latest step in dealing with an influx of more than 30,000 asylum seekers sent to Illinois from states on the southern U.S. Border since summer 2022.

The recently opened shelter is located in a former CVS in Chicagos Little Village neighborhood and is expected to host about 220 migrants. The shelter is part of a $160 million state spending plan for migrant assistance that Gov. JB Pritzker announced in November, Capitol News Illinois reported.

The new site is one of several that houses migrants, mostly from Venezuela, that have arrived in Chicago over the past year. Roughly 250 migrants are currently staying at OHare International Airport and another 280 people slept in city buses at a so-called landing zone facility in the South Loop.

Possible causes of the Venezuelan migrant crisis

Most of the migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border into the United States come from Venezuela. According to data from the Inter-Agency Coordination Platform for Refugees and Migrants from Venezuela, roughly 8 million Venezuelans have fled their homes since the countrys economy collapsed in 2014. Most of those refugees have settled in about two dozen Caribbean and Latin America countries.

Critics of Venezuelas left-wing government have argued that the countrys economic collapse was due to corruption and economic mismanagement.

According to the nonpartisan Council on Foreign Relations, a Washington, D.C. think tank, Venezuela is an example of a petrostate, where the government is highly dependent on fossil fuel income, power is concentrated, and corruption is widespread.

Petrostates are vulnerable to what economists call Dutch disease, in which a government develops an unhealthy dependence on natural resource exports to the detriment of other sectors.

When the price of oil plunged from more than $100 per barrel in 2014 to under $30 per barrel in early 2016, Venezuela entered an economic and political spiral, and despite rising prices since then, conditions remain bleak, the Council argued.

But other experts argue that the United States foreign policy also plays a critical role in the Latin American countrys collapse.

Last year, Juan Gonzlez, a reporter and senior fellow at the Great Cities Institute at the University of Illinois at Chicago, told WBEZ that the influx of Venezuelan migrants to the United States is a relatively new phenomenon. Its only really happened in the last three or four years. But now Venezuelans have become the fastest growing group of the Latino community in the United States.

Gonzlez said that economic sanctions lodged by the United States against Venezuela constituted an economic war against the country. The sanctions have been under Presidents Obama, Trump and Biden, he said.

The result has been an almost complete economic collapse of the country. Besides perhaps war, it is difficult to think of a tool of foreign policy that today causes more economic and humanitarian destruction than economic sanctions, Gonzlez told WBEZ.

For instance, Citgo petroleum, a major petroleum company in this country, is a Venezuelan-owned company, he added. The Trump administration froze all the assets of Citgo. The company takes in about $24 billion in oil revenues in the United States. None of that money, though, can go to Venezuela, which is its owner.

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Proviso Suburbs Are Regulating Unscheduled Buses As Migrant Crisis Enters Harsh Winter - Village Free Press |

OTR: Mayor Wu weighs in on migrant shelter crisis in Massachusetts

Updated: 12:29 PM EST Jan 14, 2024

BOSTONS MAYOR MICHELLE WU. WE WILL HEAR MORE FROM GOVERNOR HEALEY ABOUT THIS A LITTLE LATER THIS WEEK. BUT THE COST OF EMERGENCY SHELTERS IS BECOMING A BUDGET BUSTER FOR THE STATE. IT IS DRIVEN BY A SURGE IN MIGRANT FAMILIES. THE GOVERNOR IS NOW CUTTING SPENDING. SEVERAL PROGRAMS BOSTON, A SANCTUARY CITY, IS IN A DIFFICULT POSITION. WHERE IS THIS GOING? THE STATE SAYS THIS IS NOT SUSTAINABLE IN THE LONG TERME. THIS IS AN ISSUE THAT I HEAR FROM EVERY MAYOR I TALK TO ACROSS THE COUNTRY IS A TREMENDOUS STRESS. WE KNOW THAT NATIONALLY, PEOPLE NEED SERVICES, NEED SUPPORTS, AND WE HAVE A SYSTEM WHERE FOLKS ARE FALLING THROUGH THE CRACKS BECAUSE THE BUREAUCRACY IS IS TAKING SO LONG. SOME OF THIS IS IT IN BOSTON, SOME OF THE INTERVENTIONS THAT THE GOVERNOR AND OUR TEAMS HAVE BEEN WORKING ON TOGETHER HAVE BEEN WORKING. WEVE HAD SEVERAL VERY SUCCESSFUL WORK AUTHORIZATION CLINICS TO HELP PEOPLE APPLY FOR THEIR THEIR AUTHORIZATIONS FASTER AND THEN BE ABLE TO GET TO WORK. BUT THIS IS A LARGER CHALLENGE AROUND HOUSING WHERE WE STARTED BECAUSE HOUSING IS SO EXPENSIVE TO BEGIN WITH. WHEN WE HAVE NEW FAMILIES ARRIVING WHO NEED SERVICES, IT IT ALL CONTINUES TO PILE ON. AND SO WE HAVE TO DO MORE TO MAKE SURE OUR SCHOOL SYSTEMS ARE WELCOMING AND HAVE MULTI LINGUAL, UH SERVICES AND SUPPORTS, BUT ALSO ON THE HOUSING FRONT TO MAKE SURE WERE DOING EVERYTHING WE CAN TO BUILD MORE HOUSING. NEXT. NEXT TOPIC I WANT TO TALK TO YOU ABOUT WAS HARVARD. YOU HAVE YOU HAVE TWO DEGREES FROM HARVARD. YOU YOU ARE THE MAYOR OF OF THE LARGEST CITY IN IN NEW ENGLAND. YOU ARE THE MAYOR OF ONE OF THE LARGEST CITIES IN THE UNITED STATES. YOUR NAME HAS COME UP IN CONVERSATION ABOUT WHO THE NEXT PRESIDENT OF THE ALMA MATER MIGHT BE. WHATS YOUR RESPONSE TO THAT? IS THAT WHAT THE QUESTION IS? I, I THOUGHT WE WERE GOING SOMEWHERE ELSE WITH THAT QUESTION. OKAY, OKAY. I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO PLANS TO LEAVE THIS AMAZING JOB THAT I HAVE. I THIS IS A VERY IMPORTANT DECISION, THOUGH, THAT THE UNIVERSITY IS GOING TO MAKE IN A TIME OF TREMENDOUS STRESS AND CHALLENGE FOR ACADEMIA. OVERALL, THERE ARE MANY, MANY WAYS IN WHICH THE THE CONVERSATIONS NATIONALLY ARE, UM, YOU KNOW, ABOUT WHO BELONGS AND WHAT THE ROLE OF AFFIRMATIVE ACTION IS AND DIVERSITY AND EQUITY AND INCLUSION IN IS BEING DIRECTED AT PARTNERS IN HIGHER EDUCATION. AND SO, UM, YOU KNOW, WE WE KNOW THAT MASSACHUSETTS AND BOSTON IS HOME TO THE, THE BEST OF THE BEST. ITS WHERE THE WORLD LOOKS TO UNDERSTAND WHAT IT MEANS TO LEAD AND TO TEACH, TO EDUCATE AND THEY HAVE A BIG TASK AHEAD OF THEM. AND WELL CONTINUE TO TRY TO SUPPORT WHEREVER WE CAN WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED TO CLAUDINE GAY? I THINK IT IS. UM, I, IM VERY SADDENED. I THINK IT WAS A, A VERY QUICK AND RAPID, UM, SERIES OF MISSTEPS AND MISTAKES THAT SHE TOOK ACCOUNTABILITY FOR THAT GOT WRAPPED INTO A MUCH LARGER CONVERSATION ABOUT ISSUES THAT THAT WERE BEYOND WHAT SHE COULD CONTROL AND BEYOND, UM, THE WHAT YOU NORMALLY THINK OF AS WITHIN THE PURVIEW OF A UNIVERSITY. AND SO THERE ARE, UM, DECISION POINTS ALL ACROSS THE COUNTRY AS WE HEAD INTO THIS NEXT YEAR AND THIS NEXT ELECTION CYCLE, ABOUT HOW WE INTERACT WITH EACH OTHER, HOW WE COME TOGETHER AND UNITE CITIES ARE DEFINITELY IN THE CROSSHAIRS. WAS SHE WRONGED CLAUDINE GAY, IN YOUR OPINION, WRONGED. I MEAN, SHE SHE HAS MADE HER DECISION AT THIS POINT AND SHE HAS SPOKEN PUBLICLY ABOUT THE, UM, STATEMENTS THAT SHE WISHES HAD GONE DIFFERENTLY. SHE I DO BELIEVE, THOUGH, THAT THERE WAS VERY MUCH A TARGETED EFFORT HERE BECAUSE OF WHO SHE WAS. THE INSTITUTION SHE REPRESENTED, AND A MOMENT WHERE THERE ARE PEOPLE TRYING TO DISMANTLE THE PROGRESS TO INCLUDE MORE PEOPLE AND TO INCLUDE ALL OF US IN HIGHER EDUCATION IN LEADERSHIP. THIS WAS A THIS WAS VERY MUCH CONNECTED TO THE SAME, UH, SOURCE OF TRYING TO DISMANTLE DEI AND AFFIRMATIVE ACTION AND RESHAPE WHO HAS ACCESS AND WHO BELONGS HERE. WE CANT LET YOU LEAVE WITHOUT ASKING IF YOU ARE PLANNING TO RUN FOR A SECOND TIME. I HAVE, WHICH IS WHY WE KIND OF TRIED TO ASK ABOUT THE HARVARD PRISON. RIGHT? RIGHT, RIGHT, RIGHT. I KNOW, HAPPY BIRTHDAY. ARE YOU RUNNING RIGHT? UM. I LOVE MY JOB. I HAVE A LOT TO DO. AS AS YOU HEARD EARLIER IN THE WEEK, MANY OF OUR PLANS THAT IVE LAID OUT WILL REQUIRE SOME TIME TO UNFOLD. AND TO REALLY IMPLEMENT AND GET GOING. THERE WILL BE PLENTY OF TIME LATER FOR POLITICAL FRUITION. IS THAT. OH, I WOULD LOVE TO. I WOULD LOVE TO. UM, BUT, YOU KNOW, THERES A LOT OF WORK AHEAD OF US AND IM FOCUSED ON GETTING THAT WORK DONE. AND WHEN THERES TIME FOR POLITICS, WELL GET TO THAT IN THE FUTURE. BUT RIGHT

OTR: Mayor Wu weighs in on migrant shelter crisis in Massachusetts

Updated: 12:29 PM EST Jan 14, 2024

The mayor of Boston also addresses speculation that she will step down and become president of her alma mater, Harvard University.

The mayor of Boston also addresses speculation that she will step down and become president of her alma mater, Harvard University.

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OTR: Mayor Wu weighs in on migrant shelter crisis in Mass. - WCVB Boston