There was some consensus on immigration a generation ago. We are a nation of immigrants but immigration also has costs often borne by the least fortunate among us. Low-skill immigration in particular is known to lower wages, which is why union leaders once fought for stricter immigration enforcement.
But over the last 20 years, agreement has evaporated. Now, the Democratic Party wants voters to believe that mass immigration costs nothing and is a win for everybody. That is why Democrats not only push for mass amnesty for illegal immigrants already here, but also want to decriminalize what is currently considered illegal border crossing.
The Biden border crisis has, however, exposed Democratic reasoning as a fraud. New York City Mayor Eric Adams has issued an executive order stopping charter buses carrying migrants from entering the city at certain times. He is also suing 17 bus companies for the costs of housing migrants dumped in New York. He wants $700 million in damages.
So much for immigration being free.
Adams’s suit only singles out bus companies that have participated in Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s “Operation Lone Star,” which the mayor claims has the “evil intention” of “shifting the costs of the care” to New York City.
But as the lawsuit admits, Abbott is not targeting New York City. In addition to sending 33,600 migrants to the Big Apple, Abbott has sent 28,000 to Chicago, 12,500 to Washington, D.C., 13,800 to Denver, 3,400 to Philadelphia, and 1,300 to Los Angeles. Crucially, he isn’t forcing immigrants to go anywhere. He is only busing migrants where they want to go.
“This lawsuit is baseless and deserves to be sanctioned,” Abbott told reporters. “Every migrant bused or flown to New York City did so voluntarily, after having been authorized by the Biden administration to remain in the United States.”
That is the real problem. President Joe Biden is releasing hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants into the United States every month, millions every year. Until the chief executive does his duty and turns off the spigot, New York and other cities will continue to suffer.
As smart as Abbott’s decision was to pay for some bus journeys, it has also made him a scapegoat for Democratic mayors. The reality is that even without Operation Lone Star, New York would still be overwhelmed with migrants. Since spring 2022, the city has received more than 165,000 migrants. Abbott’s 33,600 accounts for only a fraction of the total.
Don’t expect Adams’s executive order to keep migrants out. Bus companies are now dropping migrants in New Jersey where the state transit police help them board trains to New York City. Not coincidentally, New York City Democrats aren’t blaming them.
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“The governor of New Jersey is doing the right thing,” New York state Assemblywoman Jaime Williams told reporters. “He has to protect the people of New Jersey. Right now it’s a free-for-all. We’re not a third-world country. The Biden administration needs to do better.”
If Biden doesn’t change course soon, we will be a third-world country.