WASHINGTON – With the migrant housing crisis growing, Chicago Democratic Reps. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, Delia Ramirez and Mike Quigley will visit New York City on Friday with other House members looking for solutions.
The trip is being organized by two New York House Democrats, Reps. Adriano Espaillat and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
The 13 House members involved in the meeting come from Illinois, New York and California — states grappling with new arrivals flooding the Democratic cities of Chicago, New York and Los Angeles, many bused or flown from Texas under orders from Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott.
As of Thursday, the members will visit several facilities housing and supporting the new arrivals, with many seeking asylum in the U.S.
Their stops include:
· A meeting with New York Mayor Eric Adams and other city officials. Adams has been a vocal critic of the Biden administration. He said the flood of migrants in a city not prepared to handle them will “destroy” New York.
· A tour of the Roosevelt Hotel, in Manhattan near Grand Central Terminal, in the news because hundreds of homeless migrants earlier this year were sleeping outside of the hotel.
· A visit to a Red Cross asylum seeker application center.
· Meetings with non-profits.
· A visit to the migrant shelter at JFK Airport.
Garcia said in an interview the New York trip is a chance to “get a first hand account of (the New York) situation and how they are addressing the arrival of migrants.”
Compared to the combative Adams, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has been far more muted in his pleas for extra federal help from the Biden White House.
Some Democrats like Garcia are concerned that Adams is playing into the hands of anti-migrant Republicans.
Garcia said that, when the House members meet with Adams, they want to “convey to him our perspective on this” and how Chicago and Mayor Johnson “have been especially welcoming to migrants, and, you know, to keep the conversation realistic and not play into Gov. Abbott’s hands. So the short of it is, both cities need resources.”
Ramirez said she is interested in building partnerships with other cities, such as Los Angeles and New York, “so we can maximize resources to provide shelter and support.”
As for Adams, Ramirez said “instead of pointing fingers and creating fear-mongering, we should be figuring out how to get more money into places like New York and Chicago.”
With need to provide shelter, health care and food increasing, Quigley said he wants to learn how New York and Chicago can “work together, including efforts to lobby the administration to get more assistance to our cities.”
