Democrat leaders across the country have been frustrated with the Biden administration's immigration policies that have led to millions crossing into the United States illegally.
Among them are New York Mayor Eric Adams, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul ,and Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker. On Wednesday, Ron Mariano, the speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, and Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey were the latest Democrat lawmakers to join the fray in criticizing President Joe Biden's efforts in handling the border crisis.
"The guy's running for president. He better start paying attention to this," Marino said, according to Politico, after being asked whether the White House should designate a point person to coordinate states' responses to the migrant surge, which Pritzker suggested in a letter to Biden on Monday.
"We need to put a framework around this from the feds," Mariano said. "We need someone to take charge of this and say, This is what you can expect."
Massachusetts is among many Democrat-run states and that have been besieged by thousands of new arrivals, with their shelter systems being overwhelmed and money running out to handle the crisis.
Massachusetts lawmakers are weighing a request by Healey for $250 million in additional funding for the emergency shelter system that's now housing more than 6,700 homeless families, about half of which the state estimated are migrants.
"We need two things from the Biden administration: We need federal funding, and we need expedited work authorizations," said Healey, who sits on Biden's national campaign advisory board, according to Politico.
Healey's administration estimated if it doesn't gain additional funding, it will exhaust the $325 million budgeted this fiscal year for the emergency shelter program by January, Politico reported.
"The hope is — and it's only a prayer — that cold weather slows the flow of the families coming over the border. But we're not even sure if that will work," Mariano said, according to Politico. "Unless we get help, we are going to have some difficulties."
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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