NYC NOW - July 15, 2024: Evening Roundup

Episode Date: July 15, 2024

New York is stepping up security across the state in the wake of the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump. Plus, two New York Republicans have snagged speaking roles at this week's Republican National Convention. Also, another brutal heat wave is rolling through the region. And finally, WNYC’s Michael Hill and Jon Campbell discuss a series of emails obtained by WNYC giving a behind-the-scenes glimpse of chaotic days in 2022 when the state of Texas started sending migrants to New York City by the busload.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. I'm Junae P. New York is stepping up security across the state in the wake of the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump. Governor Kathy Hokel says state police will increase their patrols, primarily at government buildings. Let me be clear. Violence in our politics is abhorrent and we thoroughly, thoroughly condemn it. Hockel's announcement came as part of her first in-person remarks since Trump was grazed by a bullet on Saturday.

The Democratic governor says she'll consider lowering flags to have staff in honor of Corey Comparatore, the volunteer firefighter who was killed at Trump's rally. But the governor says she's checking whether that would comply with existing state policy. Despite the assassination attempt, former President Trump arrived in Milwaukee for the Republican National Convention. And there, two New York Republicans have snagged coveted speaking roles. WMYC's John Campbell has the details. Representative Elise Stefonic and former Representative Lee Zeldin both made the cut for the RNC in Milwaukee. That's according to a list released by Donald Trump's campaign.

Stefanik is the fourth-ranking House Republican and represents much of the Adirondacks. She was on Trump's short list for Vice President. Zeldin used to represent Eastern Long Island in Congress before he lost a race for guns. governor two years ago. They're among dozens of Republican officials who will speak at the convention before it wraps up on Thursday. Other speakers include members of the Trump family, UFC CEO Dana White, and former Fox News host Tucker Carlson. It's a hot and humid start to the week for the region as another brutal heat wave rolls through. The National Weather Service is issuing heat advisories for Monday and Tuesday and says another

could come Wednesday. NWS meteorologist Brian Simnecki says people in the area should prepare for high temperatures. Really, it's actually going to be in the 90s all three days. With the highest numbers, really on Tuesday and Wednesday, it looks like with heat in the middle and upper 90s. He says Thursday should start cooling down into the mid-80s. Meanwhile, Mayor Eric Adams is extending hours at Olympic size and intermediate city pools through Tuesday to help New Yorkers cope with the heat wave. Adams did not announce longer hours at city beaches, which close at six in the evening.

In 2022, when the Texas governor started sending buses of migrants to New York, some of those buses were headed to the office of Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Or at least, that's what the city thought. More in the chaotic scramble after the break. The number of migrants arriving in New York City is slowing down. According to City Hall, the city processed about 900 newly arrived migrants through its shelter system the week before last. That's down from a peak of a few thousand migrants a week early this year. But a series of emails obtained by WMYC give a behind-the-scenes

glimpse of chaotic days in 2022 when the state of Texas started sending migrants to the city by the bus load. And some of those buses were headed for the district office of Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Or so, the city thought. For more, my colleague Michael Hill talked with WMYC's John Campbell. Tell us about these emails, John. Who sent them and how'd you get your hands on them? Michael, these are emails between members of Mayor Adams administration and the federal emergency management agency. Most people probably know that as FEMA.

And these messages are from the late summer of 2022, right into the spring of 2023. That was right when Texas Governor Greg Abbott started busing migrants to the city. And we got these emails through an open records request with the federal government, which we just recently got back. It's about 88 pages of back and forth between city officials and the feds. A lot of it is coordinating meetings and arranging for the mayor

to meet with this person or that person. But they also include some more illuminating messages that really give us a sense for what was going on behind the scenes in those early days. I'm intrigued, John. And what do these messages show us? What did you learn about the early response

to the influx? Well, one thing that stands out is really just how chaotic that Texas busing program was. It wasn't just the Texas governor that was sending buses. It was also the city of El Paso's government. And New York City often wasn't getting a heads up about when those buses were arriving. At one point in October of 2022, a top aide in the mayor's office, Tiffany Raspberry, she sounded the alarm. She emailed a pair of White House officials to say, The city had actually intercepted buses of migrants from Texas that were heading for Representative, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's office. And at the time, AOC was calling that Texas busing program a crime against humanity. So this was a big deal, in part because the city was trying to direct all the buses to the Port Authority bus term. But, John, that wound up not being true. Yeah, the best I can tell, that wasn't true.

And I think it kind of speaks more to the chaos of that moment. The emails show FEMA officials turned to the city's office of emergency management to do what they said is called ground-truthing the claim. From there, they spoke on the phone, so I can't tell you what they said, but I did check in with the emergency management office. A spokesperson there told me that they did get a voicemail about these buses headed for AOC's office, but the office investigated that claim and, quote, eventually found it unfounded. I asked the mayor's office about that too, and they tell me it was standard practice in those early days to alert the feds when the city heard about incoming, I'm sorry, incoming buses. Ultimately, no migrants were dropped off at AOC's office. In public, John, Mayor Adams was very vocal about needing the federal government to do more to help the city out in the early days. Was that going on behind the scenes as well?

Yeah, Michael, it was. And one email in particular really stands out on that front. It was from September 2022. This was a few weeks after Governor Abbott started to send these buses. And it came from Deputy Mayor Ann Williams Isam, who's led the city's response to the migrant's arrivals. At this point, there were six to eight buses or so that were coming in a day. And she emailed FEMA's regional regional administrator and basically pleaded with them to help. She said the city was experienced a, quote, humanitarian crisis, which seems to have gotten worse.

and she said the city was at the breaking point. She asked FEMA to step in to better coordinate the buses that were coming from Texas. I didn't see a response in the emails, but we know that the city did end up suing bus companies in an attempt to force them to go to Port Authority. That lawsuit's still ongoing. What's the mayor have to say about all of this now that the number of new arrivals is actually slowing down, as you point out? The mayor really seems to be feeling vindicated. Last week, a reporter asked him about the migrant crisis being used.

used as a political issue. And he said, I never thought I would be quoting Warner Wolf, but let's go do the videotapes. What he meant by that was he was out there early sounding the alarm on this. And he wishes other people listened. The only thing he wishes he could have done better is making clear how much of a national impact this would have. That's WMYC's John Campbell, talking with my colleague, Michael Hill. Thanks for listening to NYC now from WMYC. Catch us every weekday, three times a day.

I'm Jenae Pierre. We'll be back tomorrow.