Adams presents facts of the migrant challenge while Hochul plays politics

In dueling letters as part of the ongoing litigation over the city’s right-to-shelter mandate, Mayor Adams’ Law Department pushed the state to provide additional funding, personnel and sites for housing some of the tens of thousands of asylum seekers in its care, while private lawyers for Gov. Hochul shot back that the city had been slow to coordinate with the state and made questionable decisions.

The letters were directed by the judge overseeing the case. The city’s letter fulfilled what the judge wanted: “Identifying the resources and facilities owned, operated and/or controlled by the State of New York which are necessary to assist the City of New York.”

The city letter, sent last week, but not published until yesterday, asked for the same things that the Daily News has wanted, namely for Albany to send more money, to help spread out the migrants statewide and for the governor to issue an executive order to wipe out the xenophobic local measures adopted by a majority of the state’s other 57 counties blocking migrants.

The state’s reply letter, dated Tuesday, ducks all three requests and says that the court ordered right-to-shelter only applies to the city, not upstate. That’s just silliness, as the right comes from the state Constitution, which last we checked, does apply north of the Bronx and east of Queens. No wonder state Attorney General Tish James withdrew from the case rather than defend the indefensible.

Adams is not looking for Yahoo County (no, that’s not a real one) to pick up the cost of the migrants. Adams is providing the shelter by renting hotel rooms on his tab. He hasn’t been asking for the counties to pay. Their response has to create illegal impediments.

Hochul should, of course, clarify that the right to shelter exists statewide and order that counties cannot take it upon themselves to unilaterally block migrant arrivals. She should then assist with the actual relocation of migrants to areas that can absorb some of the responsibility.

Adams’ earlier busing of migrants upstate with little advance notice and coordination was an error. Starting now, it’s important for Adams and Hochul not only to be speaking in one voice, but acting as one team, on fiscal and organizational issues.

As for that one voice, they should continue directing it towards President Biden, who continues to be notably MIA on the migrant situation (though he did thankfully send top aide Tom Perez to meet with Adams last week). So far, the administration’s strategy seems to be to implement policies to try to prevent humanitarian migrants from even having the ability to seek asylum — a disappointing continuation of Trump-era policy and an abdication of its legal and moral responsibilities to migrants — and then more or less leaving those who do make it in to their own devices — an abdication of its responsibilities to the states and cities that are left to shoulder the responsibility.

In an ideal world, all three levels of government, city, state and federal, would be united in purpose here, with the feds implementing programs to more quickly provide work authorization and place migrants around the country, the state providing funds, land and personnel, and the city coordinating local care. Let’s move towards that.