ArcaMax

What could possible explain burdening the city like this? Partly, it's the Democratic Party's confiscatory ideology: squeeze taxpayers to give as much as possible to the needy. But there's raw political self-interest at work, too.

Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.) told a hearing on Haitian migrants in 2021 that she wants them so she can hold on to her seat. "I need more people in my district just for redistricting purposes."

In July 2020, President Donald Trump ordered the census to subtract the number of undocumented immigrants from the headcount. He said, "States adopting policies that encourage illegal aliens ... should not be rewarded with greater representation in the House of Representatives."

New York's Attorney General Letitia James sued. The case went to the Supreme Court, but the justices ducked it, leaving the decision to the future.

Now, Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) and others have introduced legislation to exclude illegal immigrants from apportionment. The bill won't pass in the Democrat-controlled Senate, but Hagerty got to the point: "While people continue to flee Democrat-run cities, desperate Democrats are back-filling the mass exodus with illegal immigrants so that they do not lose their seats in Congress or their electoral votes for the presidency."

That's the cynical reality happening here in New York, as well as in Chicago and Los Angeles. As more and more migrants arrive, these cities spiral downward. Migrant gangs raid stores and terrorize pedestrians, shelters overflow, schools struggle to accommodate migrant children, and city services are cut to pay for it all -- your quality of life be damned.

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Betsy McCaughey is a former lieutenant governor of New York and chairman of the Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths. Follow her on Twitter @Betsy_McCaughey. To find out more about Betsy McCaughey and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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