“A Migrant Wave Tests New York City’s Identity as the World’s Sanctuary“ (New York Times, August 20):
New York wants to welcome new immigrants. Its economy and vibrancy depend on them. But an influx has strained a social safety net already on the brink.
The influx of migrants to the city this spring and summer, most fleeing crime and cratering economies in Central and South America, has tested New York’s reputation as a world sanctuary. And it shows no sign of slowing, thanks in part to Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas, whose decision to send busload after busload to Washington and New York to goad Democrats on border policy has helped turn the normal north-flowing river of humanity into a wave.
New York City has long been powered to a large extent by the sweat and toil of immigrants, but its ability to help them get on their feet has been increasingly strained.
The delivery of 129 migrants to the Port Authority Bus Terminal on Wednesday was the biggest one-day total so far in Mr. Abbott’s campaign. But it was just part of the larger migration of thousands: According to the city, the shelter system now houses 4,900 asylum seekers.
Never mentioned in this article: New York City is home to more than 8 million people, nearly all of whom evince a Progressive political point of view, which includes #NoHumanIsIllegal. If we consider the metro area, the total size of the welcoming committee is 20 million. Given the above numbers, there should be roughly 5,000 New Yorkers assisting each asylum-seeker. How do the 4,900 compare to the overall flow across the border? Here are the numbers for the subset of migrants who are apprehended by La Migra:
The Progressives of New York City, in other words, are currently hosting 1/400th of the total quantity of apprehended migrants so far in FY2022.
Department of possibly low skill, but certainly not low intelligence:
“Imagine that we came all this way walking,” said Carolina Flores, 31, who fled Venezuela with her husband and four children and has settled with them at a shelter in Brooklyn. “Everything is very good, a hotel and house for free — that is something that would never happen in our country.”
The above comment raises a question: Why did she and her children have to walk? If we are are eager to provide asylum to those who need it, why do we insist that the asylees and refugees be fit enough to walk to the U.S.? Why not send a daily Airbus A380 to Caracas to pick up those who say that they need asylum? Mkm, a reader from NYC, asked the same question in a comment:
Why not just run free flights from Central America to JFK. Cut out all the misery in between.
From a reader in Harvard Square:
It seems much of the ire aimed at illegal immigrants is their getting something for free and straining local economies. Interesting that no one comments on the true freeloaders: the wealthy who proportionally pay significantly less in taxes than the middle class and the working class. But their venality is camouflaged by propaganda.
Wonder what all those taxes could do to repair our infrastructure and to create a safety net that serves all who deserve aid. No one seems to complain about the skimming done by the 10 percent. But give a poor person a break, and people scream.
If only the rich would pay their fair share, all of our dreams would come true and, also, all of the dreams of every non-working migrant who chooses to come through our open borders. But what stops New York City from being a shining example of fair taxation? Even many of the richest New Yorkers identify as Progressive and espouse Progressive political points of view. There are no Republicans in positions of power in NYC. Nothing would stop New York City voters from imposing higher property taxes, higher income tax rates, and/or a straight-up wealth tax. (Same question for San Francisco! With no Republicans in the way, what stops the implementation of every Progressive dream, including universal housing and health care?)
Circling back to the “unrich” (as our kids say), employers in New York City depend on migrants to keep wages low:
The city’s desire to absorb these migrants as it has earlier waves reflects the fundamental fact that New York has always relied on immigrants in every sector of the work force, from restaurants and health care to the arts, technology and finance. When New Yorkers move away, immigrants take their places, often working essential low-wage jobs that others do not want.
Progressives claim to follow Rainbow Flagism, but have neglected to build housing specifically for the 2SLGBTQQIA+ migrant community:
The newcomers’ reviews of the shelter system have been unenthusiastic. “I don’t feel good at the shelter because I’m gay,” said Pedro Gutierrez, 30, who arrived from Venezuela on Aug. 4 and was assigned to a shelter on Wards Island. “Some people there are saying bad things about me, harassing me.”
From the reader comments, Lucia Gutiérrez of New Jersey:
I work in a domestic violence shelter and now refugee women from South America are coming more and more frequently to use ours services and we are straying from our original mission to help true survivors of domestic violence. As a member of the middle class and wife to a legal immigrant, whom we had to wait 2 years for the whole process to proceed, it’s frustrating to see all these people shamelessly coming through the border and asking for services, like subsidized housing, free school supplies, free healthcare, etc., all at tax payers’ expense. The worst part of all is that they lie about their employment status. Many do work but for cash, which makes it easy to hide their income, and hence qualify for services. As a person who’s always followed the rules, it’s so unfair. The worst part of all is that if we even mention any hint of criticisms towards these migrants, we are viewed as racists and non compassionate.
Meena, from California:
I cannot believe I am agreeing with Trump era policies.
Hazelmom:
Welcome to our reality in Texas! I can’t believe y’all are whining about a measly few thousand migrants-some months we get 60K crossing the border. Good to share the burden.
Sue from NJ:
But wait, I’ve heard time and again that migrants don’t cost American taxpayers anything. And yet now NY is saying they need federal dollars to house, feed, provide medical care for the influx. Oh, and also need to find room for 1,000 kids (so far) to enter the school system.
A physician echoes Milton Friedman on whether a open borders and a welfare state are compatible:
I run a mid size ICU in Iowa currently. 2-10% of our ICU patients are undocumented. … every hospitalization runs between $15,000 -$250,000. … The cost is passed on the paying patients. The labor & Delivery dept. also has its share of undocumented who deliver newly minted US citizens who qualify instantly for Medicaid. In New York, the hospitals rent apartments to keep patients who cannot be discharged home( strokes, brain injury)and Nursinghomes wont take these non citizens. They stay in the apartments indefinitely. … can we sustain this welfare state model?
From Nevada:
The spend per student in NYC public schools is $25,000 and even more for special needs and ESL students as most of these students will be. The cost of the hotel room or apartment is at least $4k per month. The cost of health care is at least $25K for a family (even if they don’t have actual insurance they do get cared for and that care costs money). So a family with 3 kids creates a minimum $150K public spend. No amount of labor will ever pay this back. And the tragedy is $150K per year could provide basic education health care and and housing for an entire village in Guatemala or El Salvador. This does not make sense.
Gulf Coast Cynic:
The only change I would make to Abbott’s policy is having the busses unload at the front door of the New York Times & Washington Post.
From Gotham:
In 1986, we were promised that if we accepted a ONE TIME ONLT amnesty, immigration issues would be effectively addressed with workable, humane legislation, strict enforcement with sufficient BP staff and a robust employer verification system. Well, we got the amnesty but none of the rest.
(The above is unfair, in my opinion. The U.S. welfare state, as it has evolved since the mid-1980s, made the employer verification system irrelevant because there is no longer any need for a migrant to work or, certainly, to work a non-cash job.)
Joe (from Arizona) and I can team up:
I would be willing to pay for the airfare to fly an immigrant family of four back to their own (country of origin) or to any sanctuary city in the USA.
(He will pay for transportation to the sanctuary city and I will pay for food from Costco for any migrant family that a Progressive homeowner wishes to host in his or her home for at least one year.)
From a variety of commenters:
Why aren’t New Yorkers sending their own buses down to Texas to pick up more immigrants?
I’m unclear as to why we have immigration laws.
A poem on a statue is not a reason to keep expanding our society beyond carrying capacity.
From the Nest: I still do not care about Black Lives Matter!
I really don’t hate the very ignorant people of NYC. I recognize that as liberals they are largely immune from proof of their own hypocrisy (whether that proof is rigorous in nature or trolling in nature, like Abbott is doing).
If Texas shipped a million illegals into New York a handful of people might say, “Wait a minute–this obviously horrible policy is obviously horrible!” And then what do you get? A few reformed New Yorkers, but a million illegals injected deep into the interior. Great.
Oh well. It’s all over now baby blue.
Well, well. One of the core tenets of American “liberalism” is helping poor and disadvantaged — and somebody else’s expense. Scratch a liberal and you will find a hypocrite. They only do charity out of their own pockets very publicly – to gain more from P.R. and virtue signaling than they actually spend. Oh, and they don’t mind threatening you to “share” under the threat of prison or worse.
I applaud Abbott for rubbing their noses in their own hypocrisy. Fuck every single bleeding-heart liberal, and all the little ponies they rode in on. I have yet to find a single genuinely charitable soul among them.
@averros: that’s a rough sounding post but it’s pretty accurate. If they’re spending Other People’s Money, the sky is the limit. There are no boundaries except for what they think they can get away with and pry loose. I’ve got several in my extended family and I know them well.
The most important questions you should first ask about any liberal/progressive idea are:
1) What is the approximate state of delusion and fervency?
2) Where will the Other People’s Money come from?
3) If the intersection of their delusion+fervency is at a point where Other People’s Money can be extracted and used, that’s the answer.
They would let their own family members – their own flesh and blood – starve to death in front of their eyes rather than contradict those shibboleths. I have other examples from literally TODAY that I could show, but it would take another long post in this thread. I know the thinking very well.
It doesn’t surprise me – and never has – that all the people who are asking for more immigration in Texas have absolutely zero concern for the problems people who live with the consequences of our effectively “open border” policy every day. They have literally no concern for how it impacts their lives, livelihoods, economic wellbeing, or anything else. It’s a huge Dead Zone in their minds.
Of course, the other big Dead Zone is the most obvious one – that mass immigration facilitated by the effective “Open Border” policy is designed to permanently change the demographics of this country, further enrich the administrators, and guarantee their continued political dominance. They are actively encouraging the invasion for their own benefit. 1 in 100 will admit it, and only under duress. They’re liars, in other words – spending Other People’s Money.
@averros: By the way, one of the extended family members is pretty wealthy and has a spouse/partner who is a graphic design artist who has worked for NASA and many other government agencies producing some of their nice glossy books and docs that are for sale in places like the Air & Space museum. In addition to side projects he’s tried to sell on Amazon!
Well, they have an ongoing beef/dispute with Amazon because several of his pieces – which he sells to make extra money – have basically been lifted, stolen, replicated and sold by people from places like China! That makes them mad! I had a fun argument with him a couple years ago and it almost turned ugly when I said: “Why the f**k are you complaining? This is what you’ve encouraged! You asked for it, you got it, bubba.”
He shut up for a while afterward but he doesn’t really like me any more. I hurt his feelings.
Living in a civilized European country all this “but they take my moneeee” talk is just super hilarious. I wonder why you even put that much energy and anger in issues nobody in the US will ever be able to solve, the incentives are so misaligned that nothing is fixable.
But I found your aviation related content interesting, so thanks for that!
Frank: The post is not about anyone complaining that A is taking money from B. In fact, it is about the opposite: 20 million folks who say that they WANT to give things that cost money, e.g., housing, to an unlimited number of migrants. But then when 4,900 migrants show up…