MEXICO CITY — An old Texas saying came to mind as I listened ringside to Mayor Eric Adams’s remarks from the audience here in the Mexican capital this week: “All sizzle, no steak.”
As a lifelong Texan and the leader of Lone Star State’s biggest grassroots organization pushing for border security and sensible immigration reform, I was disappointed that Hizzoner missed the opportunity to get specific on solutions to fix the migrant crisis plaguing my state and his city.
I was hoping to hear some of the straight talk that won the mayor fans outside of New York, such as when he said elections are decided by people on Social Security, not on social media.
Instead, I heard a lot of vague but worthy statements of principles, such as “public safety is a prerequisite to prosperity.”
In Texas, we just call that common sense.
I kept waiting for Adams to take the next logical step and call on Washington to secure the US-Mexico border — the majority of which is in Texas — because the migrants coming across that porous border are threatening public safety in the Big Apple and other cities across the United States.
New Yorkers are now experiencing some of the consequences of an open border and a broken immigration system that Texans have been suffering for years.
The impact of illegal migration cannot be understated.
The strain on law enforcement, health-care systems, school systems and social services is overwhelming for both of our states — and it will only get worse, absent action.
According to the mayor’s office, more than 116,000 migrants have arrived in New York City since April 2022.
Adams estimated that more than 10,000 migrants are coming to New York City each month, costing his city $5 billion this year alone and $12 billion over the next three years.
He stressed that New York City is “at capacity” when it comes to taking in migrants, yet he completely missed the opportunity to explicitly discourage illegals from coming to America at all.
Texas has been at capacity for much longer, with thousands of migrants arriving in our state per day.
The difference is we’re pressing Washington to secure our border, pass laws to fix the most broken parts of our immigration system and really discourage people from coming here illegally.
Adams would have earned more fans in New York and beyond if he’d used his voice to push Washington — including his fellow New Yorker, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer — to pay attention to this important issue.
He could use his voice to push business leaders such as those assembled in Mexico City to push lawmakers to take action.
According to the Migration Policy Institute, from 2006 to 2020, the United States spent more on immigration enforcement than on the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives; the Drug Enforcement Administration; the FBI; the US Marshals Service; and the Secret Service — combined.
Despite all this money, the border remains unsecure and unsafe.
In 2019, a Department of Homeland Security report found that US Customs and Border Protection had to divert up to 60% of its personnel from border security to help process migrants.
This diversion allowed more undocumented immigrants to enter the country.
Fortunately, Texas’ congressional leaders have introduced two bipartisan pieces of legislation that could serve as crucial first steps in addressing the migration crisis and help ease the pain felt by New Yorkers and Texans alike.
The Bipartisan Border Solutions Act, introduced by Texas Sen. John Cornyn, increases resources for processing asylum seekers, boosts the number of Border Patrol officers and personnel and creates emergency procedures to process new asylum cases during migrant surges.
And the Border Visibility and Security Act, introduced by Texas Rep. Chip Roy, mandates the construction of a border highway by the Department of Homeland Security and the implementation of advanced technology to improve the Border Patrol’s ability to catch unlawful crossers.
It’s a shame Mayor Adams skipped his chance to endorse or even acknowledge these initiatives, or the many other promising bipartisan policy proposals on the table during the talk.
New Yorkers, Texans and all Americans living with the consequences of illegal immigration deserve more than just talk to calm the mood: We deserve swift, decisive action on specific policies to solve the problems.
Genevieve Collins is the Texas’ state director for Americans for Prosperity.
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