Last week, the Hochul administration called out the federal government to get more assistance for the influx of migrants that have come to New York from other states like Texas. This week, the Biden administration, through Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, responded by sending a letter to Gov. Hochul and New York City Mayor Eric Adams and called out structural and operational faults in New York City’s response.

Westchester County Executive George Latimer, a Democrat, told Capital Tonight that he believes the “criticism of New York by the federal government is misplaced,” and adds that Mayorkas’ response did not “really address the major needs.”

According to the county executive, the county currently has 400 asylum seekers at locations in Yonkers, Ardsley and White Plains. The Ardlsey and White Plains sites are being managed by the company DocGo, which has been contracted by New York City to help assist with the influx of migrants.

Albany County Executive Dan McCoy told Capital Tonight earlier this month that he was “getting frustrated” by transparency issues with DocGo. Latimer said that there have been “lapses” with DocGo, but he believes the work and relationship can be “improved.” Latimer argues that the management of the sites by DocGo has helped the county limit the spread of any potential disease or crime in the community.

Latimer agrees with Hochul’s call for more federal assistance in terms of resources and expediated work permissions. He argues that immigration is federal policy and there’s not much the state, county, or local government can do to govern these asylum seekers.

One of the areas that Latimer has called for help on is the backlog of asylum cases in the federal court system. The process can take a lot of time and to help alleviate the backlog, Latimer has advocated for the establishment of satellite courts to deal with these cases.

Latimer is pushing for expediated federal action, saying “the problem apparently is not going away any time soon.”

Latimer continues.

"There’s no way that the finances of the city of New York, the state of New York, much less Westchester County, is gonna be adequate for night after night of room and board.”