Dem pols’ angry pleas to Biden
Furious Democratic pols rallied outside City Hall on Monday against President Biden, blasting him for being “asleep at the wheel’’ on a migrant crisis that is now forcing asylum-seekers to sleep on sidewalks.
“In the words of a famous singing duo, Simon and Garfunkel, who grew up in my district, to the tune of “Mrs. Robinson” — Where have you gone, President Joe Biden? New York City turns its lonely eyes to you,” said City Councilwoman Lynn Shulman (D-Queens). “Please help us, Mr. President.”
The protest came as local anger mounts over the Democratic White House announcing last week it would provide relief in the form of a single staffer to try to better coordinate the federal response with City Hall.
The paltry offer comes after a year of requests from Mayor Adams and other top officials for billions of dollars in desperately needed aid, as well as a speedier process to get the recent arrivals work permits.
“The president’s asleep at the wheel on this one, folks, and I’m a Democrat,’’ said Councilman Robert Holden, of Queens.
Holden, who has compared Biden’s tin ear on aid to failed one-term former President Gerald Ford’s controversial decision to initially deny the Big Apple a bailout in the 1970s, added, “Where is the Biden administration?
“This has been going on for years. Have we heard a plan?”
Brooklyn’s lefty borough president, Antonio Reynoso, appeared to decry the White House response, too.
“These other states don’t want them? We’ll take them happily,’’ Reynoso said of migrants. “But with that responsibility, we need partners in the federal government to say, ‘We’re going to help you solve the problems that exist because of the migrant crisis in New York City.’
“All we’re asking is for the federal government to finally show up.”
The rally’s organizer — state Assemblywoman Jenifer Rajkumar (D-Queens), a close ally of Adams — led the charge.
“This is one of the most significant humanitarian crises our city has ever faced, and we cannot face it alone,” she said. “Our city needs help from the White House.”