Cuomo: Democrats must unify around a sensible policy on migrants

We’re in the middle of the NFL playoffs, leading to the Super Bowl. Winning teams focus on perfecting their strategy — they do not rely on the hope that the other team loses. Today, Democrats are too reliant on Trump being unelectable rather than focusing on the positive case for their victory.

To me, the Democratic Party, at its best, doesn’t deny problems, it solves them. It is ideologically driven, but also realistic. It is the “progressive” party because it actually makes progress. We must regain that focus.

For example, the migrant issue is creating mayhem across the country and showing the ineffectiveness and schisms in the Democratic Party.

President Joe Biden’s administration has not been able to solve the migrant problem, primarily because of the divided opinion within our own party. The Republican ploy of putting migrants on buses to blue cities only serves to highlight the Democrats’ failure to anticipate the consequences of Biden’s border policies and continuing failure to fashion a workable solution. 

What is our border policy, and how did we expect to handle the 2 million immigrants and asylum-seekers who came over the border, and are continuing to come? Right now there is no Democratic policy or plan and Americans know it, highlighting Democrats’ governmental ineffectiveness and the ideological divides in our party.

We don’t even have agreement among similar factions of the party. 

For example, New York City and its Democratic neighbor New Jersey have pursued two different policies. New Jersey has been reluctant to accept asylum-seekers, and in fact has rejected President Biden’s proposed sites for migrant facilities. New Jersey sends buses with migrants coming up from Texas to New York City. 

Making the point even more clearly, there are different positions among Democrats within New York State itself. The migrants are housed almost exclusively in New York City. Democratic legislators and executives in other parts of the state, fearing political opposition, have been unwelcoming. New York’s governor also fears the political fallout and has chiefly focused on containing the migrants to New York City. 

To further compound the chaos, city taxpayers shoulder the overwhelming majority of the cost, while the state pays only a fraction, even though it is the state’s constitutional responsibility to care for the needy. The federal government, which is primarily responsible for managing the issue, is all but absent.

Mayor Eric Adams stands virtually alone in accepting the migrants, which has caused significant hardship to his city, and caused the mayor himself much political damage. The people of New York City believe migrants should be housed throughout the state, not just in their city, and that the state and federal government should pay more of the cost. Even the pro-migrant Democratic advocates are displeased, criticizing the poor conditions and accommodations for the migrants.

This is not New York liberals taking a different position than southern Blue Dog Democrats. It’s New York taking a different position than New Jersey, upstate Democrats taking a different position than downstate Democrats, and the Democratic governor taking a different position than the Democratic mayor. 

The lack of logic, practicality, sustainability and fairness in managing the migrant issue is obvious to all. The president, governor and mayor are all blamed by the public for the obvious failure. It must be resolved. 

We have learned this lesson before: Ignoring a problem, no matter how difficult, only makes it worse. Before we can expect the American people to believe in the Democratic agenda, we must have a defined Democratic agenda.

The division of opinion on the migrant issue is replicated on pressing issues such as criminal justice, policing, homelessness, affordable housing, Israel/Palestine and urban policy. Not all Democrats will agree with every position — but, given our diversity, only acting with unanimity ensures paralysis.

Yes, we are a big-tent party, but we must move forward. Our claim to be “progressives” must not be rhetoric but reality. If we want the American people to follow our agenda, we must lead. 

Donald Trump cannot win the election, but Democrats can lose the election. We cannot wager that citizens will vote against Trump, but rather give them a reason to vote for Democrats. We must make the positive case for a Democratic future — the negative case against Trump makes itself.

Andrew Cuomo was governor of New York from 2010 to 2021.