Former NY Gov. David Paterson rips Biden for failing to plan for migrant crisis
Ex-New York Gov. David Paterson ripped President Biden on Sunday for having “no plan” to address the migrant crisis — adding that “terrorists or criminals’’ are undoubtedly crossing into the US.
“There was no plan. There’s not been any guidance from the federal government to the states or the counties or anybody on how to handle this or make the resources available to do it,” the Democratic former pol said on 770 AM WABC’s Cats Roundtable show with John Catsimatidis.
“Nobody knows where the leadership is to try to solve the problem.”
Paterson warned that the strain of thousands of incoming migrants even on a city the size of the Big Apple could be felt for years.
The migrants have applied for asylum, and their cases could drag on for up to a decade because of massive court backlogs.
Paterson also said some dangerous people could slip through the vetting process and increased tensions between the border-crossers and residents could trigger violence.
“With the number of people … increasing almost logarithmically, it would be impossible that some of them would not be terrorists or criminals,” Paterson said.
“I think continuing to let people come in, it’s an injustice to them as it is to the people that live in this country. There’s going to be a point where it starts to become antagonistic and perhaps even violent. It could be that bad,” he added.
The pointed barbs at Biden from Paterson, who also formerly chaired the New York State Democratic Party, parrots criticism that frustrated New York City Mayor Eric Adams has leveled at the White House for failing to step in to manage the flow of migrants, or even cough up federal dollars to help the city deal with the costly issue.
Upset with the friendly fire, the Biden re-election campaign excluded Adams from its national campaign team, sources said.
Gov. Kathy Hochul, who has been more muted in criticizing the White House, is on the list of Biden campaign surrogates.
Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo also has pounded Biden’s handling of the migrant crisis.
Adams has been busing migrants to other localities upstate after claiming that there is dwindling space in the city to house them.
More than 70,000 migrants have been processed in the city since last spring.
Gotham is currently housing 45,800 asylum seekers — or about half the city’s shelter population — spread between 157 hotels, respite centers, transitional shelters, humanitarian relief centers and upstate hotel rooms, city officials said.
Last week, 500 cots were set up and ready for use at a cavernous warehouse at John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens as the Adams administration awaits federal approval to convert the space into a migrant shelter.
Paterson said Biden is the only one to blame.
But he also said everyone from democratic socialists on the left to Republicans on the right have been hypocritical regarding the migrant problem.
“Where are the democratic socialists?” said Paterson, noting that the left-wing activists believe in spreading the burden equally. “They haven’t said a word.”
The White House had no immediate comment to Paterson’s criticism.
