NEW YORK CITY (TND) — Several members of Congress from New York slammed the use of taxpayer funds to support illegal migrants in a letter to President Joe Biden last week.

The use of tax money for this purpose, they wrote, will only worsen the crisis created by poor immigration policy. Signing the letter were New York Reps. Nick LaLota, Nicole Malliotakis, Elise Stefanik, Andrew Garbarino, Nick Langworthy Michael Lawler, Marcus Molinaro, Claudia Tenney, Brandon Williams and Anthony D’Esposito.

New York’s migrant crisis is the result of two policy choices,” they wrote. “1) Your Administration’s open border policies; and 2) New York State and New York City’s sanctuary policies and taxpayer funded housing and healthcare for migrants.”

Their comments referred to a decision by New York City leaders to issue pre-paid credit cards to migrant families to assist them with food costs. The program would offer cards to 500 migrants to pay for $12 worth of food per day, although families could receive more.

The lawmakers also knocked New York Gov. Kathy Hochul for proposing "significant" cuts to certain school districts in her latest budget despite pushing taxpayer-supported programs for migrants.

READ MORE | Hochul wants to fast-track migrants for government jobs: 'Get this moving quickly'

Continuing, the Republicans shared a list of actions the president could take without congressional approval to end the migrant crisis. These included detaining inadmissible aliens, using expedited removal and issuing a proclamation to restrict migrant entry to the country.

To suggest you need additional authority to do your job is untrue and insulting to the American People,” they wrote. “And to suggest House Republicans have not taken this issue seriously is an outrageous accusation. House Republicans passed one of the strongest border packages in history on May 11, 2023 to require you to take actions you already have the authority to take but refuse to.”

Their sentiments echoed those of other Republican leaders calling for action on the border crisis.

“There’s no better time to be an illegal immigrant in America than today,” Rep. Wesley Hunt, R- Texas., wrote via X, formerly known as Twitter.

“Whether it's prepaid debit cards or credit cards, money is money,” Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., wrote. “The U.S. government should not be handing out money to illegal immigrants when American citizens are struggling to survive.”

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