New York State Republican Senator George Borrello was blunt in his assessment of how the 2024 session was going to pan out concerning legislation:
“You’re going to expect a lot of batsh*t cray stuff this year,” said the lawmaker from Western New York while on a panel at the New York State Conservative Party conference in Albany.
Borrello began by blasting New York State Governor Kathy Hochul, calling on the Governor to rescind Andrew Cuomo’s September 15th, 2017 Executive Order establishing the Empire State as a “Sanctuary State.”
The Executive Order, not a bill or law approved by the Legislature, bans state agencies or law enforcement from asking an illegal alien about their immigration status, unless they are investigating a crime.
“New York State is still a ‘Sanctuary State.’ This was done by Executive Order. That means, with a stroke of a pen, Kathy Hochul can undo that. Keep in mind though, Kathy Hochul is a chameleon,” said Borrello, who correctly stated Hochul earned an “A” rating from the National Rifle Association when she ran for Congress in a heavily Republican, rural area in Western New York.
When Hochul served as Erie County Clerk in Buffalo she also opposed giving licenses to illegal immigrants.
“Now she rolls out the welcome mat for them,” said Borrello.
As for the 2024 Legislative session in Albany, Borrello expects both bodies to expand and strengthen rights of illegal immigrants and migrants, despite the fact that the cost of caring for them, feeding them, and housing them is busting budgets across the state.
The Governor earmarked more than $2.4 billion for New York City to cover the cost of the migrant crisis so far in her proposed 2025 budget. Big Apple Mayor Eric Adams stated this is a fraction of the actual cost of the migrant crisis in New York City, which he expects to climb to almost $11 billion by 2026.
“Being a sanctuary state sounds great at all their liberal cocktail parties, patting themselves on the back, about how enlightened they are, how compassionate they are. Now they (migrants) showed up and they’re freaking out, they don’t know how to handle it. They need to be held accountable for the crisis they created,” concluded Borrello.