New York City Mayor Eric Adams has been all over the map in his public comments regarding the Biden administration's disastrous border crisis, boasting at first about New York's "compassionate" sanctuary policies while attacking Republican governors – then pivoting to critiquing the federal government's handling of the problem. On numerous occasions, he's whined about the various stresses the influx of illegal immigrants has placed on his city's resources, with little apparent awareness of how much worse it has been for border communities. He even explicitly stated at one point that this ought to be Texas' problem to handle, assailing the Lone Star State's governor for rudely exporting a small fraction of the crisis to a number of deep blue cities around the country. As Julio noted yesterday, Adams is still complaining about the "burden" the crisis is placing on New York officials and taxpayers. There's "no room" left for them in the Big Apple, he's said. I'd imagine Gov. Abbott and a number of border city mayors would like a word, even as Adams has started to partially understand what they've been experiencing in their communities in recent years.
We've also seen elected Democrats and unelected Democrats in the news media attempt to frame efforts by Republican chief executives in Texas, Arizona, and Florida to relocate illegal migrants to sanctuary jurisdictions as a form of "kidnapping" or "human trafficking," worthy of performative and partisan investigations. Such characterizations were never used to describe the Biden administration's routine practice of transporting large numbers of post-processing illegal immigrants to their US cities of choice, nor were such howls of outrage nearly as common when Democratic officials in places like El Paso or Colorado made similar moves. Was Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who smeared Abbott as a bad Christian for sending migrants to her city, called a 'human trafficker' when she promptly shipped many of those migrants to other communities? Apparently, it was "human trafficking" when Ron DeSantis sent a plane of illegal immigrants to Martha's Vineyard, but not human trafficking when Massachusetts officials removed them from that high-end, left-wing enclave about a day later. How confusing. Pretend, for a moment, that Mayor Adams and Governor Hochul were Republicans. What would they be calling this?
Ticket to ride: Democrat NYC mayor gives free bus tickets to Canada for asylum-seekers https://t.co/d2VvStQqnJ
— Pradheep J. Shanker (@Neoavatara) February 6, 2023
The hustle and bustle of New York City are just too much for some illegal aliens, so they are taking advantage of free tickets to Canada. Free to them, of course, but no one is saying exactly where the money is coming from for the tickets. Mayor Adams and Governor Hochul are keeping quiet on how this move is being financed. Governor Hochul has confirmed that National Guard members have been deployed to Port Authority. They greet the migrants upon arrival and answer questions. They also hand out free tickets for shuttles that will take them up to the Canadian border. From there they can walk across the border to be met by Canadian police. City Hall officials call it a ‘re-ticketing’ plan to help migrants work their way to Canada. Justin Trudeau has been outspoken about building a haven for people in need so New York is taking him up on his claim.
Perhaps Gov. Abbott should fly and bus migrants directly to the Canadian border to both highlight Trudeau's preening and make this a bipartisan initiative. Canada's immigration laws are arguably more stringent and sensible than America's in a number of ways, but Trudeau is one of the loudest panderers and virtue signals in the Western world. Perhaps Canadian taxpayers can start to finance a lot more of the so-called "compassion" he preaches about by accepting much higher numbers of illegal immigrants unlawfully entering the United States from all over the world. How about it, Justin? Might the Trudeau government get on the phone with President Biden if this starts to pick up steam? If that happened, maybe officials wouldn't "run out of time" to discuss the border catastrophe at the next US-Canada-Mexico summit. Incredibly, a number of these migrants now find themselves eager to settle in Canada because they find New York unpleasant and dangerous:
Numerous migrants traveling to Canada reported being disgusted by the conditions they faced in NYC, where they felt at risk from homeless people and drug users. ‘I wanted to live in New York because I thought it would be a better future for my daughters,’ said 33-year-old Peruvian Susy Sanchez Solzarno, who was traveling with her family. ‘But as the days went by, I saw insecurity, many homeless people, many people who shout and are disrespectful, and many people on drugs.’ ‘I am going to Canada for the safety and future of my girls,’ she told The Post. ‘I only ask God that everything goes well and that Canada is not like the United States.’ Manuel Rodon, a 26-year-old from Venezuela, said he was kicked out of the Times Square hotel where he’d initially been housed and sent to a shelter where he felt unsafe. ‘A lot of the Americans used drugs there,’ Rodon said. ‘I feel like Canada will be safer. It is a much quieter country than America.’
Maybe New York Democrats can start to take credit for doing their part to deter the border crisis by making their city unpalatable and unsafe in the eyes of illegal immigrants – those who aren't contributing to the crime problem, then getting let out with no bail, that is. According to the same Daily Mail story, this operation has become turn-key. Why not massively expand it in light of Trudeau's munificence?
Those buses travel as far north as Plattsburgh – just shy of the Canadian border – where local van and taxi services bring them the rest of the way and drop them where Canadian police can gather them. ‘There’s gotta be 100 people a day,’ driver Tyler Tambini, 23, told The Post. ‘I do this all day. They get dropped off and I take them the rest of the way.’ The service Tambini drives for charges up to $50 to transport individuals, and families for $90.
Over at HotAir, Karen Townsend notices a former elected New York Democrat offering a compare-and-contrast critique:
The US should be prioritizing its own homeless population rather than migrants from other countries, former New York Gov. David Paterson said on Sunday — while claiming that the asylum process is “starting to become an industry.” The Democrat, in an interview on WABC 770’ “Cats Roundtable’s,” brought up the recent standoff outside a Manhattan hotel where a group of migrants camped out last week when they were told to relocate to a new processing center at the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal in Red Hook. “What bothered me last week … was when the migrants who were asked to go to the facilities in Brooklyn said that they would rather stay at the one in midtown Manhattan,” he told host John Catsimatidis, saying the city had good reason to want to move them. “Not two blocks away from that hotel there were other people out on the street who are homeless,” he said. “They have problems too. And they are citizens of the United States. They live here,” he said.
Since we're spitballing, might the Trudeau government want to care for some of America's homeless population, too? If not, why not? I'll leave you with a dark and mostly sarcastic thought: Is this affront to human dignity a potential risk of sending too many would-be "burdens" to Canada's welfare state?