On Monday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “The Story,” New York City Councilman Robert Holden (D) stated that there has been “a big crime spike” around migrant shelters and this was predictable and will keep getting worse unless the city changes its sanctuary policy and engages in more aggressive prosecution. He also argued that the city is incentivizing migrants by giving them generous benefits.
Holden stated that residents “don’t fear the cops. They don’t respect the cops. And you know why they’re instituting this…curfew now finally in 20 of the migrant shelters? Because they’re seeing a big crime spike around these shelters. It wasn’t hard to figure that out that that would happen, by the way. If they can’t work and they don’t have jobs, they don’t have money, what are they going to do? They’re going to turn to crime. And that’s what’s been happening.”
Host Trace Gallagher then said, “But, Councilman, the problem here is not just the fact that crime is rising. It’s the fact that the City of New York, the State of New York, and other states, like California, are actually providing the resources to allow these migrants to commit these crimes, to create these criminal organizations, everything from housing, to food, to these credit cards. It goes on and on.”
Holden responded, “And then they prevent ICE from getting involved, until, by the way, the person is convicted. But they keep plea bargaining these things down. They’re not charged with shoplifting. … It’s a vicious cycle. And it’s only going to get worse, Trace, because, again, you have…D.A.s that are not prosecuting crimes.”
Gallagher then stated, “The Mayor, Eric Adams…he’s trying to gloss this over now. It’s bad. And he’s acting like nobody has managed this better in the country than New York City.”
Holden responded, “Yeah, he’s got to stop doing that. He’s got to — he actually has to say, the right to shelter that we have in New York City…that was meant for homeless New Yorkers, not for migrants from around the world, we shouldn’t have to put them up. And he has to announce that, we’re not going to put you up in a shelter, we’re not going to give you food, we’re not going to give you credit cards, we’re not going to give you a phone, you have to make it on your own if you get to New York City. And that’s what he has to announce, then you’ll see fewer migrants coming here.”
After Gallagher discussed concerns that the curfew around migrant shelters can’t actually be enforced due to a lack of NYPD resources, Holden stated, “And, by the way, because of my colleagues [on] the City Council, who are anti-police, they’ve created a war on police, we have fewer cops.”
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