Andrew Cuomo Eyes Political Comeback as He Calls Migrant Crisis a "Blunder"

Photo by<https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

During a speech at a Bronx church on Sunday, March 10, former New York State governor Andrew Cuomo attacked fellow Democrats Governor Hochul and President Biden by labeling the nation's immigration crisis a “government blunder."

He told Grove Missionary Baptist Church members that Albany politicians "don't want the problem in the rest of" New York, so New York City should not have to bear the brunt of the state's immigration crisis. “New York state says the migrants can only go to New York City, not the Hudson Valley, not upstate New York, not Long Island — only New York City,” Cuomo said.

The Democrat told the crowd, “This is the worst government blunder I have seen in my entire life,” he told congregants at Union Grove Missionary Baptist Church in the Bronx. “You have the federal government, which is where it starts, it’s standing at the border with a sign that says, ‘Come to the United States of America and claim asylum.’ And two million people come. Of course, from Venezuela, Honduras, and Guatemala. They get to the border and they say, ‘Where do you want to go?’ And they say, ‘I want to go to New York.’ What are they going to say? I want to go to Nevada?"

The 66-year-old former New York governor is slowly making his way back into the public eye after resigning his position two and a half years ago amid a sexual harassment scandal.

The ex-governor continued, "Now New York City has over 100,000 migrants who have come to the city. New York City has to provide the housing and the education and the medical care. It makes no sense.

“And then the check comes. You know, when you are in the restaurant, and then the check comes, and nobody moves, everybody just looks at it, everybody puts their hands in their pocket. [New York City] Mayor [Eric] Adams says, ‘Federal government, you should pick up the tab, you started this,’ the federal government says, ‘I left my wallet at home.’ "

However, the former governor is not without sympathy for New York's newest residents. He asserted—quoting scripture—that the state must also exercise compassion, and pointed out that the migrants currently housed at Brooklyn's isolated Floyd Bennett Field are living in a "wind tunnel" and having to live there is "demeaning".

He stated, “Forget how they got here. They are here. They are in our house. They are human beings. They deserve to be treated with dignity and respect."

The address was the most recent in a series of appearances at black city churches for Cuomo, who views their members as a friendly constituency as he approaches a potential political comeback. The speech coincided with the intensifying budget talks in Albany.

A Tuesday poll showed Cuomo would win a mayoral race against New York's current Mayor Adams.