Governor Hochul is proposing to draw hundreds of millions of dollars from the state’s reserves to help “manage” the migrant crisis, she announced Tuesday, furthering a sharp reversal from her previous encouragement of sanctuary protections and suggestions that illegal migrants are “good for our economy.” 

Ms. Hochul’s budget proposal will allocate $2.4 billion toward New York City for handling migrants and asylum seekers, adding onto $1.9 billion in previous funding. 

Her announcement comes as immigration was the top issue among Iowa GOP voters — with some 40 percent ranking it as a no. 1 priority — and New York shaping up as a prime battleground state that could determine who controls the House later this year. 

Citing New York’s “burden of sheltering more than 69,000 migrants,” she said the crisis was the responsibility of the federal government, ABC 7 New York reported. Ms. Hochul said she will head to Washington, D.C., on Friday to seek to “restore the rule of law at our border, fix our asylum system, and provide relief to states like New York, who have been shouldering this burden for far too long.”

“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,” she said. “We must support the city of New York in this moment to avoid these disastrous effects.” 

Ms. Hochul’s announcement follows increasing desperation from Democrats to address the flow of migrants to sanctuary cities, with the Biden administration and Mayor Adams turning to the courts for support, as the Sun has reported. 
Texas’s governor, Greg Abbott, recently announced that the state has transported more than 100,000 migrants to sanctuary cities, including more than 37,000 to New York City.