Michael Bloomberg Demands Joe Biden Save Cities From Immigration Crisis

Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has called on President Joe Biden to tackle the "full-blown" immigration crisis seen in some of the biggest U.S. cities, saying it is costing taxpayers billions of dollars a year.

In an opinion piece for The New York Times, Bloomberg accused the Biden administration of failing to address the "steep price" that many cities are paying "for a system they didn't create" with regards to housing asylum seekers.

In particular, Bloomberg, who ran alongside Biden in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary before dropping out of the race to the eventual winner, criticized current federal law which prevents asylum seekers who have already been admitted into the U.S. from being able to work immediately.

The opinion piece is the second time that a New York Democrat has criticized issues of immigration during the Biden administration. Last week, New York City Mayor Eric Adams warned during a town hall that the influx of migrants will "destroy" the city. The president has also long been criticized by conservative figures for failing to deal with the immigration crisis on the southern border, which has seen record levels of people illegally crossing the border during Biden's administration.

"The process of receiving a work authorization can take a year or longer. In the meantime, how are asylum seekers expected to pay rent and feed themselves and their families?" Bloomberg wrote.

"This amounts to state-enforced poverty and vagrancy—against people who have shown extraordinary fortitude and grit in journeying here, often at great risk, for the opportunity to work and build a better life."

The White House has been contacted for comment via email.

Bloomberg added that in New York, the process of housing asylum seekers has become more complicated as it is following an 1981 act which made it the duty of New York state to provide shelter for homeless people. Bloomberg said the act was never intended to be a "blanket guarantee of housing for an unprecedented flow of refugees," but that is how it is currently being used.

Bloomberg also cited figures provided during an August town hall by Mayor Adams, who said it cost $383 per family, per night to provide shelter, food, medical care, and social services for the around 57,300 asylum seekers under New York state care, equating to billions of dollars a year.

"New York is hardly alone. Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington, Denver and other cities are also experiencing an influx of asylum seekers who have no housing and no means of legally earning money," Bloomberg wrote.

"Think about it: We have a system that essentially allows an unlimited number of people to cross our borders, forbids them from working, offers them free housing, and grants them seven years of residency before ruling on whether they can legally stay. It would be hard to devise a more backward and self-defeating system."

Addressing Adams' August town hall comments that the huge numbers of immigration will "destroy" New York City, Bloomberg said critics seemed "more concerned with his words — spoken in understandable frustration with Washington" than with the problem itself.

"Solving the crisis will not be easy, especially with a divided Congress," Bloomberg said. "But ignoring it will only make it worse, while also elevating the political fortunes of xenophobes and eroding public support for immigration reform."

According to an August Siena poll, 82 percent of New York voters said they think the recent influx of migrants to the state is a serious problem, with 54 percent rating it as "very serious."

More than half (58 percent) also said the state should now work to slow the flow the arrival of migrants into the state, rather than continuing to accept new migrants and working to assimilate them into New York.