New York City residents already pay some of the highest taxes in the country. On top of federal and state taxes, many also pay county and city taxes on their goods and services. All these taxes add up, and for many, it’s simply just the cost of living in “the greatest city in the world” as many like to call it.
These taxes have all required the city to meet, and its representatives to agree on how much needed to be paid and how it would be collected. Now, without any representation, NYC Mayor Eric Adams will be tacking on $600 million somewhere to cover the costs of being a “sanctuary city.” This newly developed cost likely isn’t being paid for anywhere already, and it isn’t something the city or its people can easily absorb.
With Gov. Greg Abbott (TX-R) sending busloads of illegal immigrants to this sanctuary city, Mayor Adams had two choices. Either admit that NYC (of all places) isn’t set up to be a sanctuary city like it was 70+ years ago or tell the people of NYC to go along with the program and support the illegals. Never mind the immensely overburdened schools, infrastructure, homeless shelters, and public transportation systems in the city.
Adding in these new illegals simply makes the system and the groups who support it have too much on their plate. Like any “good” Democrat, he’ll never admit it, though. He needs to save face for the left agenda, especially with AOC watching. If he doesn’t take it on the chin for her, she can’t push her immigration ideas in Congress. So now he needs to figure out the costs.
Illegal Immigrants to Cost NYC $600 Million in the Next Year
The Independent Budget Office (IBO) handles the money for NYC. Per their estimates, 24,000 new illegals and border jumpers will cost the city $600 million over the course of the next year, but if another 10,000 show up, it will jump an additional $250 million.
The IBO report states, “We estimate that this per‐person/household could range from about $1,900 for an individual who does not enter the city’s shelter system and receives some health and basic legal services to nearly $93,000 for a family of four who enters a shelter for a year and has two children enrolled in the city’s public schools, along with receiving some health and basic legal services.”
Costs like the IBO accounts for becomes even worse when you consider that many of these families have more than four people and just two kids. Many also need more than just “basic” legal services or “some” health care. The fight to become legal is hard if you immigrate to the US legally and with people to sponsor you. As an illegal without a citizen to sponsor you is even more difficult and more expensive.
Mayor Adams seems to believe the city will be okay shouldering these costs. With their failed attempt at an 84,000 square-foot migrant tent city located on Randall’s Island costing the city $750,000, you would think he might consider that an expensive lesson in what not to do. Then again, it’s not like he has a blueprint for the situation he created for himself.
What Mayor Adams has done, that nobody seems to have noticed, is make a blueprint for how a sanctuary city could operate, with the taxpayer picking up the tab with no say in the matter. NYC never expected busloads of immigrants, but Gov. Abbot made that happen. He wanted NYC to have a taste of what Texas has had to endure, and Adams has swallowed every bite of that s*it sandwich.
Then again, he could simply do the intelligent thing and simply say “No more. NYC cannot take more illegals.” However, that would require admitting this horrible attempt at leftist socialism is the failure of a dumpster fire we all see it as.
