The governor and mayor are dealing with the migrant crisis by trying to hand out work permits.
Former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s ill-fated push in 2007 to issue driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants had a certain logic to it. If we’re not going to round up and deport an estimated 12 million undocumented people, he reasoned, what was the point of letting them remain in the country but not drive legally?
Mr. Spitzer argued that some would drive regardless, resulting in more unlicensed and uninsured people behind the wheel. Yes, his plan would reward law-breaking and run the risk of encouraging more of it. But public policy always involves trade-offs, and wasn’t road safety the higher priority?
Whatever Mr. Spitzer was selling, voters weren’t buying it. Public outcry ensued, his political opponents pounced, and within a few weeks the plan was ditched.
Today, the Empire State finds itself in the middle of another immigrant uproar. More than 110,000 foreign nationals have arrived in New York City since the spring of 2022 after entering the country illegally and requesting asylum. The city has set up more than 200 emergency sites to house and feed them. Roughly 19,000 migrant children were enrolled in public schools this year. Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, says the shelter system is operating at capacity, yet migrants continue to arrive at a clip of about 10,000 per month. City officials estimate that caring for these newcomers will cost taxpayers some $12 billion over the next three years.
Continue reading the entire piece here at The Wall Street Journal (paywall)
______________________
Jason L. Riley is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a columnist at The Wall Street Journal, and a Fox News commentator. Follow him on Twitter here.
Photo by John Lamparski/Getty Images for Concordia Summit