New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said the state was "absolutely overwhelmed" by illegal migrants and claimed Republicans were to blame.
Hochul discussed the Empire State's battle with the influx of illegal migrants during a Wednesday appearance on MSNBC with host Lawrence O'Donnell.
“We have 175,000 migrants who came here — they came here for a better life, they came here for a job, but our city and its resources are absolutely overwhelmed," Hochul said. "We need a break. I’m working to get people jobs. They’re here. I’m going to make them work and get them jobs."
Hochul then threw criticism towards Republicans over the border crisis and claimed they may face a reckoning in the upcoming election.
"We need some relief at the border, and those Republicans, even in one state like New York, ten of them can make this happen," she continued, "and if they don’t, this will be a wedge issue, a forceful issue against them this November as well."
"I’m putting them on notice, you broke it, you now own it," she said of Republicans.
The New York governor said she had previously worked with Republicans on bipartisan solutions during her time as a New York representative.
Regarding Congress, she said:I still believe that there can be bipartisan solutions. The institution is capable of it if you get the right people in there. And I’m going to work to make sure that we have the right people in there. And also even before next November’s election when I believe we will pick up the House, the Republicans in the state of New York, and there are ten of them, they have the power to caucus together, march down to Speaker [Mike] Johnson’s office and say, "We demand that you do something about the border, bring it to the floor and we will support it."
“Use the power that has been given to you, because we are being so affected,” she continued.
Earlier this month, Hochul said the group of illegal migrants that assaulted two New York police officers should be deported.
“Get them all and send them back,” she said. “You don’t touch our police officers. You don’t touch anybody.”
Five of the seven illegal immigrants arrested in connection to the assault of New York police officers were arraigned and later released. Hochul said their release was "wrong on all accounts."
"I’m looking to judges and prosecutors to do the right thing," she said, per NBC News. "We have changed bail laws. We have different laws now as a result of what we did in 2022, in the 2023 budgets, and we’re seeing a decline in repeat offenders. We have all sorts of data that shows it’s working, but that situation is abhorrent to me.”
