Hochul won’t consider moving NYC migrants upstate until after election

Gov. Kathy Hochul won’t help New York City move any of its surging flood of migrants to upstate communities until they get work permits — pushing the politically fraught issue off until long after next month’s election.

During an unrelated news conference Thursday, Hochul was asked about the relocation plan proposed by US Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and first reported last month by The Post.

“With respect to upstate, I think the question is, how many more times these people have to be shuffled around,” Hochul, who is in a close race with her GOP challenger, US Rep. Lee Zeldin of Long Island, in many upstate districts, said during the event at Hunter College in Manhattan.

“When there becomes a legal path and work papers and a different dynamic, certainly there’ll be a lot of places that will want to embrace this community.”

On Monday, Hochul pointedly ignored a question from The Post about whether she’d followed up on Gillibrand’s proposal.

Under federal immigration rules, migrants can’t receive permission to work in the US until at least six months after they apply for asylum.

Mayor Eric Adams first revealed the surge of migrants to the Big Apple in July, meaning that the overwhelming majority of the roughly 19,000 the city has tallied still aren’t eligible for work permits.

Gov. Kathy Hochul confirmed that she won't move migrants in New York City to upstate communities until they are able to get working permits.
Gov. Kathy Hochul confirmed that she won’t move migrants in New York City to upstate communities until they are able to get work permits.
Robert Miller

With polls tightening ahead of the Nov. 8 election, Hochul also tried Thursday to further the notion that she was working closely with fellow Democrat Adams, who last week declared a state of emergency in the city over the migrant crisis.

“The mayor and I have been joined at the hip from the beginning in our belief that this is a situation that calls for strong federal engagement, making sure that there is a different strategy at the borders,” she said.

Hochul also claimed credit for Wednesday’s deal between the US and Mexico, under which Venezuelan migrants who arrive at the southern border will be turned back — although 24,000 will be allowed to fly into America if they have sponsors waiting for them.

Recently arrived migrants at the Port Authority bus terminal in Manhattan on October 10, 2022.
Recently arrived migrants at the Port Authority bus terminal in Manhattan on October 10, 2022.

Migrants boarding a MTA bus at Port Authority.
Migrants boarding a MTA bus at Port Authority.

Hochul refused to answer a question about a relocation plan for migrants in New York proposed by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand.
Hochul refused to answer a question about a relocation plan for migrants in New York proposed by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand.

“And now the path that they announced as a result of countless conversations that we’ve had, jointly and individually, with the White House chief of staff, [homeland security] secretary, that … we’re going to start seeing the flow of individuals stemmed,” Hochul said.

Also during the news conference, Adams — who’s in the process of opening a controversial tent city on Randall’s Island to process newly arrived migrants — said he’d considered and rejected using the Javits Center in Manhattan for that purpose.

“We looked, and we are looking, at every place. But at the same time as we house, we cannot harm our economics,” he said.

“The Javits Center is being filled with conventions, so we do not want to harm the economy as we house people. That’s the balance that we are correctly doing.”

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