Senator Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) slammed the decision to send New York $130 million to assist with its migrant crisis on Wednesday, and, in a move that blasted her former boss, claimed the only reason the money went to help the Empire State is because that’s the home of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
Sinema, who recently left the Democrat Party to become an Independent, made the remarks at a roundtable discussion for first responders in the border town of Yuma, Arizona.
Asked why the money from the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Shelter Services Program was “going to New York, and who’s sending it,” Sinema revealed “the truth.”
(Video: YouTube)
“My staff is gonna be really upset but I’m gonna tell you the truth here,” she replied. “The reason the money is going to New York is because … the leader of the United States Senate is from New York. That is how a bunch of money went to New York.”
As BizPac Review has reported, New York City Mayor Eric Adams has repeatedly begged the federal government for help to cope with the flood of migrants into the Big Apple.
Migrants have taken over two converted hotels in the city, including the iconic Roosevelt.
NYC hotel industry seeing a big comeback thanks to Big Apple migrant crisis https://t.co/THDKJE433S via @BIZPACReview
— BPR based (@DumpstrFireNews) July 31, 2023
“We have stepped up and led the nation, but this national crisis should not fall on cities alone to navigate,” Adams said last week. “We need a national solution here.”
Meanwhile, small border towns such as Yuma have been overwhelmed by asylum-seekers.
In her frustration, Sinema also noted that “the Speaker of the House” is also from New York, an apparent mistaken reference to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, as the Speaker of the GOP-led House is Californian Kevin McCarthy.
She noted that “some” of the migrants are being bussed to New York and said she “fought hard” for the money to go to the border states.
“The money was intended, and there’s language that was put in in the law that said it should be going for decompression at the border,” she explained. “The fact that a yeoman’s amount of this money went to New York City in my opinion is wrong because they are not a border state and they are not facing the kind of pressure that we are facing here.”
According to the Daily Mail, “The program was created by Congress to help Customs and Border Protection manage processing, prevent overcrowding at the agency’s short-term facilities, and ease stress on host communities.”
So far, Arizona has received roughly $45.4 million and is slated to receive an additional $23.9 million.
Meanwhile, in the first round of funding, New York received $30 million, but, unlike Arizona, the state is expected to receive another $104.6 million to assist with its migrant problems.
“I am livid that the administration is sending money to a part of the country that, while it has a lot of folks showing up in their shelters, they don’t have folks wandering the streets of our small towns,” Sinema stated. “And communities that are facing heat exhaustion, showing up without basics like formula. People will come across the border with chickenpox.”
“What we’re experiencing here in Arizona, is matched only by what folks are experiencing in southern Texas,” she added. “Those are the two communities that are experiencing this crisis.”
“The rest of the country is seeing some elements of it,” Sinema said, “but we are facing the brunt.”
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Melissa Fine is the former executive editor of Casino Player, Strictly Slots, and Poker
Digest magazines. She is a UCLA graduate, news junkie, and dedicated Stargate SG-
1 fan. Melissa currently lives with her dog and two cats in a tiny town in the Sierra
Nevada foothills.
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