New York City’s migrant crisis is driving some Asian-Americans to shift politically, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday.
The largely Democrat-leaning community is shifting towards voting Republican in local races over the city’s migrant surge, which has resulted in the arrivals of roughly 100,000 migrants since the spring of 2022, the WSJ reported. Protestors from a largely Chinese community in the city recently aired their dissent with a new migrant shelter coming to Sunset Park in August because they can no longer use the site’s recreation center.
“Look at us now. Where are we supposed to go?” Yon Chen, a Chinese immigrant who’s lived in Brooklyn for more than 30 years, said in Mandarin Chinese, according to the WSJ.
He says he’s voting for Republicans going forward, the outlet reported.
“It’s the number one thing that is front and center for voters as we’re heading to poll sites,” Yiatin Chu, president of the Asian Wave Alliance, a nonpartisan group in New York City said, according to the WSJ.
“It appears that the overwhelming majority of New Yorkers of every stripe think that the recent influx is a serious problem that the state needs to address,” Siena poll spokesman Steve Greenberg said, describing a recent poll that showed New Yorkers are becoming increasingly concerned over the city’s migrant influx, according to the WSJ.
Ying Tan, a Republican candidate for City Council in the largely Asian district and a first-generation immigrant herself, said that the border needs to be closed over the issue, according to the WSJ. Susan Zhuang, the Democratic candidate for the city council seat, is against using the park for migrants in an effort to “make up for federal failures.”
Zhuang started a petition to move the shelter out of the park that’s garnered roughly 500 signatures, according to the WSJ.
Chinese immigrant Fanny Chen, 45, who’s resided in Brooklyn for more than 10 years, said that the recreation center was the only place for the community to socialize and that it was where her dance group met, according to the WSJ. Chen previously wasn’t registered to vote, but she’s considering voting Republican in an upcoming City Council race.
via wnd