On Fox News Channel's “Special Report” broadcast on Friday, New York City Councilman Kalman Yeager (D-Ill.) said the influx of immigrants is “absolutely a national problem that's being forced upon cities like ours, and people believe that when they come here, they're given a room at the Roosevelt Hotel, they're given a phone, everybody has a motorcycle, and they're just fine.”
Yeager said: “Well, it's simply wrong for anyone to say that everyone who comes across the border, legal or illegal, is here to commit a crime. But at the same time, it's naive and wrong to say that no one who comes here is committing a crime. And the reality is that in a city like New York, as of two months ago, roughly 205,000-plus immigrants had come to New York City in the last two years. So to say that the results of that policy aren't showing up in the crime numbers is simply not believable.”
He added: “Well, to put this in perspective, the number of immigrants who came to New York City [the] The congressional district I represent and [Joe Borelli (R)] There are about 170,000 people in one New York City Council district. So, over the last two years, we’ve already accepted more than one New York City Council district into the city. This is simply not sustainable. When you talk about this $5 billion figure, think about what New York City could do with $5 billion. We just adopted a budget three months ago. And the biggest fight was whether we could open libraries. That’s the fight. Whether we can afford to keep police on the streets, whether we can afford to hire more police for the police who are retiring, whether we can afford to hire firefighters, whether we can afford to hire teachers. The services that immigrants who are coming to New York City need are enormous. They’re costing us an enormous amount. We just don’t have the resources to continue to pay this bill.”
Yeager added, “This is a national issue. Cities like New York, Chicago and Dallas are not just doing it because of posters. [children] And as we look at this issue head on, this is truly a national issue, imposed on cities like ours, where people come here and are given a room at the Roosevelt Hotel, they get a phone, everybody's on bikes, and it seems like everything is fine. This is policy. New York City doesn't control our borders. All we can control is what happens when people come into our city.”
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