Sinema ‘livid’ about New York receiving federal funds for asylum seekers

Editor’s note: This report has been updated to correct the timing for the announcement of Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funds to assist in New York City’s response to the surge of migrants.

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) said Wednesday that she is “livid” that New York City is receiving more than $100 million in federal funds to help cover the cost of providing services to asylum seekers.

“What we’re experiencing here in Arizona is matched only by what folks are experiencing in southern Texas,” Sinema said during an event in Yuma, an Arizona city near the U.S.-Mexico border. 

“Those are the two communities that are experiencing this crisis,” she continued. “The rest of the country is seeing some elements of it, but we are facing the brunt. And it is wrong and unfair that the [Shelter and Services Program] money is going to places other than south Texas and south Arizona.”

New York City is set to receive $104.6 million in Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funds to assist in its response to the surge of migrants, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) announced in June, according to Politico.

More than 95,000 migrants have passed through the city’s system since the spring of 2022, and over 56,000 remain in its care, according to the city’s deputy mayor for Health and Human Services, Anne Williams-Isom.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) has repeatedly warned in recent months that there is “no more room” in the city and has urged the federal government to help.

However, Sinema argued on Wednesday that the FEMA funds were meant to support “decompression at the border.”

“The fact that a yeoman’s amount of this money went to New York City, in my opinion, is wrong because they are not a border state and they are not facing the kind of pressure that we are facing here,” she said.

“I want you to know that I am continuing to fight this, and I am livid,” Sinema added. 

–Updated on Aug. 16 at 11:39 a.m.