(Jacob Bruns, Headline USA) New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced that the city would temporarily suspend its sanctuary for illegal immigrants, including so-called Right-to-Shelter Rules, as the lapse of pandemic-era Title 42 protections threatened to bring a new migrant influx to the overburdened metropolis, the New York Times reported.
“This is not a decision taken lightly, and we will make every effort to get asylum seekers into shelter as quickly as possible, as we have done since Day 1,” Adams spokesman Fabien Levy said in a statement announcing the policy change.
Levy said the city was doing what it can, “but without more support from our federal and state partners, we are concerned the worst may be yet to come.”
Joshua Goldfein, a staff lawyer for the Legal Aid Society, which represents the nonprofit Coalition for the Homeless, said that he would be watching keenly to see what the city decided to do without its sanctuary policy in place.
“We all hope that they never have to take any actions that would be in violation of these rules that they’re suspending,” he said.
He also suggested that Adams and the city may now suspend protections for families who have been sheltered in hotels for more than 30 days, removing their immunity to eviction as well.
“They want the ability to turn off their key cards and lock them out,” Goldfein said.
It was the latest stunt from Adams, who has become increasingly critical of the Biden administration’s open-border policy as his city is increasingly overrun with crime and filth.
The Democrat mayor has awkwardly tried to stem the flow of illegals both by accusing red states of racism for sending them to New York and, in turn, threatening to export them from the Big Apple into neighboring Republican districts with far fewer resources.
As Adams flounders in his attempt to control the immigration crisis, Republicans in the state legislature have tried to take matters into their own hands.
Assemblyman Matt Slater, a Republican from Hudson Valley, proposed a new bill seeking to get a handle on New York’s growing migrant crisis by requiring state officials to vet and monitor migrants sent to New York from the U.S. southern border, the New York Post reported.
“It’s not denying the state’s responsibility to helping those who are seeking asylum, but it is providing security checks and balances and scrutiny to make sure that we’re protecting New Yorkers at the same time as protecting those seeking asylum here in our state,” Slater told the Post.
