With migrants coming in and out of New York City, Rep. Jamaal Bowman says the biggest conflict has been “lack of communication.”
“Mayor Adams was not in consistent communication with leaders in Westchester and other counties throughout New York state, and it was a last-minute dump job, if you will, that led to some of the frustration around what was happening with migrants coming in,” he said.
Bowman, a Democrat who represents the district covering the Bronx and parts of Westchester County, joined NY1 political anchor Errol Louis Wednesday on “Inside City Hall.”
“This has been a failure at every level of government because we are now using rhetoric on being tough on immigrants and tough on asylum seekers as opposed to taking a humanitarian approach that makes us the great nation that we are,” he said.
On Tuesday night, Mayor Eric Adams officially petitioned a judge to amend parts of the city's right-to-shelter laws.
Gov. Kathy Hochul on Wednesday again said that her administration is looking at making SUNY campuses available to house migrants this summer. A source told NY1 that migrants will stay at campuses in Buffalo, Albany and Stony Brook.
Rep. Dan Goldman, a Democrat who represents parts of Manhattan and Brooklyn, is joining Bowman in the call for city public and private universities to audit spaces for migrants to stay.
“I think we need to rethink our economy and reorient it to working people and those who are most vulnerable in our city,” he said.