Big City Mayors Get Audience with Administration Officials to Pitch a Request for Help with Migrants; Dem Mayors Begging Biden for Help with Migrant Surge Reject $1.4 Billion aid, Want $5 billion Instead

Big city mayors get audience with administration officials to pitch a request for help with migrants:

Biden administration officials hosted big city mayors at the White House on Thursday to discuss how to manage a growing number of migrants, one day after those leaders sent a letter asking for more federal help.

Denver Mayor Mike Johnston and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson met with White House chief of staff Jeff Zients and Homeland Security Department officials before heading to Capitol Hill for meetings with lawmakers.

“I had a good series of conversations,” said Johnston, who led the coalition. “I think we shared our sense of urgency and we shared this belief that we need funding, but really what we want is a longer-term solution.”

The other Democratic mayors who signed onto the letter to President Joe Biden were Karen Bass of Los Angeles, Sylvester Turner of Houston and Eric Adams of New York. The meeting came together quickly and not all five could make it.

Adams said he was abruptly returning home from a planned trip to Washington so he could “deal with a matter” – an announcement that came just before news that federal agents had raided the home of a top Adams fundraiser and longtime confidante.

Biden has requested $1.4 billion from Congress to help state and local governments provide shelter and services for migrants, after earlier pleas from Democratic mayors and governors. —>READ MORE HERE

Dem mayors begging Biden for help with migrant surge reject $1.4 billion aid, want $5 billion instead:

The mayors of Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles and New York have requested $5 billion to aid in the surge of migrants

Several mayors who welcomed a surge of migrants into their sanctuary cities are now requesting the Biden administration give them billions of dollars in federal aid to help support these new residents.

The mayors of Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles and New York have urgently requested to meet with President Biden about getting federal support or resources in managing these migrants.

In a letter obtained by The Associated Press, the Democratic leaders told the Biden administration on Wednesday that they appreciate the $1.4 billion in proposed aid but that they need much more — a whopping $5 billion — to ease the new burden on their cities.

“While we are greatly appreciative of the additional federal funding proposed, our city budgets and local taxpayers continue to bear the brunt of this ongoing federal crisis,” the letter says. “Cities have historically absorbed and integrated new migrants with success.”

President Biden has requested Congress to appropriate $1.4 billion to help state and local governments provide shelter and services for migrants.

The mayors said in their letter that more is needed, and they are asking for $5 billion.

“Our cities need additional resources that far exceed the amount proposed in order to properly care for the asylum seekers entering our communities,” the mayors’ letter says. “Relying on municipal budgets is not sustainable and has forced us to cut essential city services.” —>READ MORE HERE

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