The governor of New York, Kathy Hochul, joined the growing number of state-level Democratic lawmakers demanding that President Biden help the state defray the skyrocketing costs associated with housing and caring for migrants allowed into the country via America’s southern border.

In a letter to Mr. Biden Thursday, Ms. Hochul asked that work permits for the tens of thousands of migrants who have made their way to New York recently be expedited and that financial assistance be provided to the state to help it cope with the crisis. Ms. Hochul wants American taxpayers to pay hundreds of millions of dollars for legal services, health care, housing assistance, transportation, and education for the newcomers.

“It is the federal government’s direct responsibility to manage and control the nation’s borders,” she said in the letter to the president. “Without any capacity or responsibility to address the cause of the migrant influx, New Yorkers cannot then shoulder these costs. I cannot ask New Yorkers to pay for what is fundamentally a federal responsibility and I urge the federal government to take prompt and significant action today to meet its obligation to New York State.”

Ms. Hochul’s letter comes just days after polls emerged showing that a vast majority of New Yorkers of all political stripes believe the state has a “serious” or “very serious” problem on its hands because of the influx of asylum-seekers. So far, it has been Democrats and the Biden administration taking much of the political heat for the problem.

The state of New York is spending $22 million a month for National Guard troops working at shelters housing the immigrants, a figure that is on top of the hundreds of millions of dollars New York City is spending hosting and housing the migrants. The influx of migrants could cost the state as much as $4.5 billion more than expected next fiscal year, the governor said, a figure that could exacerbate what is expected to be a $9 billion budget shortfall for the state during the fiscal year that begins April 1, 2024.

In a video statement to her fellow New Yorkers released along with the letter, Ms. Hochul tried to assure residents outside of New York City that the migrant crisis that has blown up there is not coming to their communities soon. County leaders throughout the state have said they do not have the capacity to deal with the migrants, and 27 of them — half of those outside New York City — have passed emergency orders barring hotels from contracting to accept the refugees.

While stressing that the state has a “moral imperative” to help the new arrivals, she said, “We cannot and will not force other parts of the state to shelter migrants. … Nor are we going to be asking these migrants to move to other parts of the state against their will.” 

In addition to the financial assistance, Ms. Hochul asked in her letter for Mr. Biden to speed up the process by which asylum applicants are given legal permission to work. She said such a move would solve another crisis, that of a shortage of laborers, afflicting the state. “We have countless unfilled jobs that are begging for someone to take them, so we need to do something,” she said.

In language reminiscent of that being used by Democrats in other states and cities affected by the crisis, Ms. Hochul laid the blame for the debacle squarely at the foot of officials at Washington.

“Barring much needed changes at the border, there does not appear to be a federal solution to this problem anytime soon,” she warned in the video. “This crisis originated through the federal government and it must be resolved through the federal government. The border and decisions about who can work are solely determined by the federal government.”