Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo blamed New York City's migrant crisis on the Biden administration, and said former President Donald Trump will be able to say he was correct in predicting the national disaster.
Cuomo, a disgraced Democrat who resigned in 2021 after sexual harassment allegations, gave a Thursday night speech centering on the government's handling of immigration.
Cuomo said Democrats will suffer from Biden's ineptitude in policing the southern border, the New York Post reported.
"It's going to hurt us," Cuomo said. "I'll tell you what Donald Trump is going to say in four words: 'I told you so.'"
Cuomo laid into President Joe Biden and his officials for creating the migrant crisis.
"This was a federal responsibility, period. First and foremost," Cuomo told a crowd at the Thomas Jefferson Democratic Club in Brooklyn. "Not the state, not the city. Immigration law is a federal responsibility."
Cuomo added that if he were in office, he'd go to Washington and demand Biden "take hold of this."
"How do we get to a place where Gov. [Greg] Abbott of Texas is deciding where hundreds of thousands of migrants go around this nation is laughable," Cuomo said in a rare post-office public appearance, the Post reported. "This is a function for the federal government to manage, and make every city, every state do its fair share."
The federal government, Cuomo said, should "pay the bill for the cost of the migrants and don't ask the taxpayers of any city to pick up the bill."
Cuomo said his successor, Democrat Kathy Hochul, and the state need to help Democrat Mayor Eric Adams deal with the influx of migrants – about 10,000 weekly to the Big Apple – that has forced city departments to suffer major spending cuts across city departments.
"Mayor Adams is right — it is unsustainable for New York City to carry this burden," Cuomo said. "There is no legal, ethical, financial, practical way that you can ask New York City to do this. They don't have the financing."
Cuomo suggested a work program for new migrants instead of forcing New York communities to accept an influx of people.
"Let them work," Cuomo said, the Post reported. "Let them pay their way, and once you say they can work, there are a lot of places in this state that need low-wage workers, and it's a totally different story than telling a county, 'You're going to take them, and you're going to pay for them.'"
Charlie McCarthy ✉
Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
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