Top GOP lawmaker slams Hochul for billions in spending on migrant crisis: ‘Putting illegal immigrants first'

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FIRST ON FOX: Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-NY., is accusing NY Gov. Kathy Hochul of "putting illegal immigrants first" after announcing billions in spending to deal with the migrant crisis it is facing -- with Stefanik claiming it’s a result of "far left" immigration policies.

"Kathy Hochul's bloated budget adds $500 million to address New York's raging illegal immigration crisis, a direct result of the Far Left's failed open border and sanctuary city policies, which have rolled out the red carpet for illegal immigrants," Stefanik, who is chair of the House Republican Conference, said in a statement to Fox News Digital.

Hochul announced this week that her $233 billion budget proposal includes $2.4 billion "to continue to support efforts in New York City and elsewhere in the state to safely manage the influx with the appropriate humanitarian response" It's a $500 million increase from the last fiscal year.

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Representative Elise Stefanik, a Republican from New York, during a House Education and the Workforce Committee hearing in Washington, DC, US, on Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2023. Lawmakers on the education committee will grill the leaders of Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology about their responses to protests that erupted after the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas. Photographer: Haiyun Jiang/Bloomberg via Getty Images (Haiyun Jiang/Bloomberg)

"We also know that companies won't do business in New York if there are thousands of people sleeping on the streets, where the quality of life is dramatically impacted, because the city is forced to cut essential services," Hochul said, unveiling the proposal.

She also said she wanted to focus on securing work authorizations for migrants.

"Put them to work, that's exactly what they came here for," she said.

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She said that New York continues to carry the burden of sheltering more than 69,000 migrants. New York City has been hardest hit, having seen 160,000+ arrivals since the middle of 2022 -- some of whom have been bused in by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.

Stefanik said that the crisis is a creation of the "far left."

"While New Yorkers continue their mass exodus from New York City, Kathy Hochul's solution is to ram through a $2.4 billion budget for FY2025 to accommodate a crisis of the Far Left's creation, exposing New York Democrat leadership's true priorities, putting illegal immigrants first and taxpaying New Yorkers last," she said.

WASHINGTON, DC - NOVEMBER 14: GOP Conf. Chair Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), speaks during a post-Conference meeting press conference at the U.S. Capitol on November 14, 2023 in Washington, D.C.  (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Hochul and New York City Mayor Eric Adams blame the federal government for the crisis. Hochul announced she will be traveling to Washington D.C. this week to plead with Congress and the White House to find a border security deal.

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"Since day one, I have said this is ultimately the responsibility of the federal government to address this crisis," Hochul said. "Congress, the House of Representatives in particular and the White House, must remain at the negotiating table until they restore the rule of law at our border, fix our asylum system, and provide relief to states like New York, who have been shouldering this burden for far too long."