DRIVING THE DAY: The Biden administration late Wednesday expanded temporary protected status, or TPS, for Venezuela, making 472,000 migrants in the United States newly eligible to access work authorization — including an estimated 60,000 newcomers in New York, POLITICO reports. The decision was long and loudly urged by New York officials, who celebrated it as a step to getting many migrants on the path to legal work and out of taxpayer-funded emergency housing. MAYORAL PRESSURE: Mayor Eric Adams is hurting for political allies these days. Consider this week alone: — His estrangement from Biden became glaringly apparent when the two failed to meet despite Biden’s three days in the city and despite Gov. Kathy Hochul scoring a presidential chat. — Left-leaning City Council members presenting a united front promised to keep fighting his proposed budget cuts. — And Republicans showed on Capitol Hill how they’ll keep quoting him to make their case against his party’s immigration policies. “It’s very rare that Mayor Adams and I agree, but I do agree that this issue is going to destroy New York City,†GOP Rep. Anthony D’Esposito said Wednesday at a Homeland Security hearing where GOP Rep. Michael Guest of Mississippi played a video of Adams’ statement. There’s near-universal consensus that the city needs more federal funding as it shelters some 60,000 migrants, a herculean feat, but Adams has become the face of the crisis. He has been ostracized for his rhetoric — City Council Member Chi Ossé, as an example, accused him of “xenophobic remarks†— but he’s also being slammed from the right and left for his lack of long-term planning. “The mayor touted the fact that New York City was a sanctuary city, but had absolutely no plans in place to actually serve as that sanctuary,†D’Esposito said. “Let’s be very clear when people cross this border, when people risk their lives, when people come into this country, they don’t want to achieve the American dream living in a vacant hangar in JFK.†The same was noted by Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, a Democrat sitting opposite D’Esposito on the political spectrum. “The mayor believes his role in this is simply to warehouse migrants; that’s so impractical,†Reynoso said in an interview, adding that a proper tracking system on asylum applications and other legal paths could have had migrants already cycling out of the emergency shelters. “He has no plan.†Adams has been defensive about his offensive remarks. “You know my authentic style of communicating. I walk around with that New York communication style,†he told PIX11 on Wednesday. As for planning, he's pointed to the scale of the crisis and the fact that the city has kept families off the streets and managed a national problem effectively on its own. And while Adams is being targeted, he’s not completely alone. State legislators, such as Assemblymember Jenifer Rajkumar, have literally rallied to his cause. IT’S THURSDAY. Got news? Send it our way: Jeff Coltin, Emily Ngo and Nick Reisman. WHERE’S KATHY? Makes an announcement with U.S. Climate Alliance Governors in Manhattan. WHERE’S ERIC? Speaking at the Strong Cities Network’s “Fourth Global Summit,†delivering an address on the future of housing in the city, convening with the First Ladies of Nigerian States and representatives from the Nigerian Governors Wives Forum, meeting with the Israeli Minister of Economy, attending a celebration of the music and voices in the march for civil rights and speaking at a Global Africa Business Initiative dinner. QUOTE OF THE DAY: “This is a direct attack on our nation as far as I'm concerned, and I certainly hope the people of this city don't stand for it.†- Vickie Paladino, GOP City Council member, on the NYC council’s proposal to remove monuments of Washington, Jefferson and Columbus.
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