In a surprising admission Thursday, NBC's Chuck Todd said that Gov. Greg Abbott, R-Texas, was "right" when he said bussing migrants to blue cities would turn Democratic politicians against the Biden administration and pressure the White House to get control over the border.
During a preview of an upcoming segment on "Meet the Press", Todd discussed New York City's "growing humanitarian crisis" as officials grapple with an influx of migrants overwhelming city shelters and draining its resources. As Todd spoke, images of migrants camped out on New York City streets appeared on screen beside a frustrated Mayor Eric Adams.
"Coming up, New York City's growing humanitarian crisis. The shelter system, slammed by an influx of migrants. New calls for federal help. I guess Greg Abbott was right," Todd told viewers. "He said once he got blue cities to deal with this, that they would be very upset at the federal government."
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Earlier Thursday, Adams renewed calls for increased action from the federal government after warning that the sanctuary city’s ongoing migrant crisis threatens to "decimate" it. New York City has repeatedly declared itself full and overwhelmed by the number of migrants that have entered, both on their own and with assistance from Texas, where Abbott has been offering migrants buses to get to cities like the Big Apple, as well as Washington, D.C., Chicago and Philadelphia.
Adams said the influx of migrants is projected to cost over $12 billion by 2025, reporting that nearly 100,000 asylum seekers have arrived in the city in the last year alone. New York City, Adams said, is "past our breaking point," pleading for additional help from the state and federal government.
His comments come days after Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey declared a state of emergency over a surge of migrants that she says has left social services overwhelmed, while demanding more funding and help from the federal government.
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Healey, a Democrat, announced that a state of emergency exists "due to rapid and unabating increases in the number of families with children and pregnant people — many of them newly arriving migrants and refugees — living within the state but without the means to secure safe shelter in our communities."
Along with Massachusetts and New York City, Chicago and the state of New York have made emergency declarations this year and called for help in response to the migrant wave, despite not being anywhere near the besieged southern border.
Meanwhile, Texas continues to send buses of migrants to sanctuary cities across the country, including Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. Abbott has previously said the migrant relocations will not stop until the federal government fixes the crisis at the Southern Border.
Democrats and the Biden administration have condemned the bussing of migrants as political theater, but Republicans like Abbott say the move was designed to share the burden of migrants while forcing Democratic politicians and the White House to acknowledge just how dire the border crisis has become.
Abbott's transportation tactic was hailed by Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., as "one of the smartest moves made by a governor" in the past decade.
Fox News' Adam Shaw contributed to this report.
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