What Does the New York City Migrant Crisis Mean for Democrats?

Image By: New York Times

Prompted by the unprecedented scale of humanitarian crises across the globe, over 120,000 migrants have arrived in New York City over the past eighteen months in search of refuge, work, and the opportunity to establish a new home for themselves. The overwhelming number of arrivals are fleeing the political turmoil and socio-economic instability of their homelands, with the hope of finding better living and working conditions in New York. The sheer volume and needs of the arrivals have placed an enormous strain on the city’s financial and housing resources. This has created tension between the mayor, the state, and the federal government, raising questions about the larger political implications of this migration. 

Over the course of the last year, political instability and economic decline in regions of Latin America have caused extreme displacement and motivated large numbers of civilians to flee their home countries. Confronted with increasingly authoritarian governments, hyperinflation, food shortages, and high crime rates, over seven million migrants have left Venezuela with large numbers of people fleeing from Colombia and Ecuador following suit. While Latin American asylum seekers make up over 75% of the new arrivals, refugees from the West African countries of Mauritania, Senegal, and Chad constitute a portion of the refugees as well. Their governments are entangled in allegations of corruption and human rights abuse, prompting many to evacuate in search of safer living circumstances. 

The influx of migrants is weighing heavily on New York City’s shelter system and financial resources. Over 60,000 migrants are currently being housed in over 200 shelters, while the city pays for others to be kept in hotels. The city is also operating a tent city off of Randall’s Island, a makeshift facility in the East River. While New York City has a legal obligation to provide shelter to anyone who requests it, the overburdened system has prompted Mayor Eric Adams to file for the suspension of the right-to-shelter law. The mayor’s file asserts that the number of adults in need of shelter is too high for the city to keep up with, and that the right-to-shelter law was never designed for a humanitarian crisis. 

The migrant crisis has not just impacted New York’s shelter system— all of the city’s agencies are bearing the weight of this issue. After predicting that the city would have to spend $12 billion on the crisis over the next three years, the Adams administration implemented the Program to Eliminate the Gap (PEG), a measure ordering every agency in New York to reduce spending by 5% each year to conserve the city’s financial resources. The New York City School District has also taken on a large responsibility; approximately 20,000 new students were enrolled in New York City’s public school system this year, many of whom do not speak English. The district lacks a sufficient number of English Second Language (ESL) teachers and is not equipped with enough resources to manage the volume of new students. In addition, many students are affected by mental health issues stemming from their displacement and the novelty of their new environment. The budget cuts implemented by the city promise to take additional resources away from the wellbeing of the children and further strain an already underfunded, overcrowded school system. 

The migrant crisis poses a significant issue for Democrats, who up to this point have been largely unified against the hard-line immigration policies of many Republicans. When immigration issues primarily affected far away small towns in southern border states, it was easier for Democrats to take a synchronized stance on immigration. Now that the issue affects larger blue cities, it has become more divisive. Democrats are being forced to reckon with the country’s dysfunctional immigration system and their struggle to manage it as more and more Americans shift to agreeing with Republican stances on immigration. Accordingly, Mayor Adams’ sentiments towards incoming migrants have varied as he has reckoned with the impact of the influx. While he has touted New York’s status as a culturally diverse refuge and sought to appear welcoming to new arrivals, Adams has been adamant that the city cannot handle the rate or volume of migrants. On a trip to the southern border of the United States on October 5, he delivered a mixed message, initially declaring, “We are neighbors. We are family. Mi casa es su casa. Your struggles are my struggles” and later stating “There is no more room in New York.” The mayor has walked a delicate line between projecting an embracing attitude towards immigration, while firmly communicating the city is not equipped to handle any more arrivals. These competing messages have ruffled the feathers of activists who believe his anti-immigration rhetoric villanizes migrants and will engender hostility towards the newcomers. Evidently, the issue has divided Democrats and suggests problems for a party whose theoretically liberal attitudes towards immigration have proven ineffective in practice. This has motivated politicians such as Adams to adopt more aggressive, hard-line rhetoric which in turn angers liberal constituents and exposes deep internal partisan division. 

Adams’ criticism of the federal government’s response to New York’s struggle has created further friction within the Democratic party. Over the past year, he has desperately requested that President Biden aid New York City with funding and expedited work permits, calling the federal government’s lack of action a “failure.” Migrants must wait six months after filing their asylum application to apply for a work permit, a law which places the burden of housing costs on the city until the migrants can legally work to support themselves. Under severe pressure from Adams and New York Governor Kathy Hochul, Biden finally responded in September by granting half a million Venezuelan immigrants temporary protected status and permission to seek immediate work-authorization. 

The partisan turmoil engendered by the migrant crisis will almost certainly carry consequences for Democrats in power in the upcoming 2024 election. Adams’ first term as mayor has been defined by his handling of the migrant crisis, for which he has faced criticism both for doing too much and too little. In the federal election, incumbent President Biden is struggling to rally voters, largely due to age-related concerns, and his party’s discord over immigration matters will only hinder his reelection chances. Already, Democrats are already polling behind Republicans for both the presidency and the Senate, and this gap could increase depending on the significance of the immigration issue to voters. While the United States has enjoyed a long reputation as a haven for refugees, the current crisis promises to change both the external perception of the nation as a refuge and affect the country’s internal governance and politics.