WASHINGTON — Biden administration officers hosted main metropolis mayors on the White Home on Thursday to debate the right way to handle the rising variety of migrants, a day after these leaders despatched a letter asking for extra federal support.

Denver Mayor Mike Johnston and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson met with White Home Chief of Workers Jeff Zients and Division of Homeland Safety officers earlier than heading to Capitol Hill for conferences with lawmakers.

“We had a very good sequence of conversations,” mentioned Johnston, who led the coalition. “I feel we shared our sense of urgency and we shared that perception that we’d like funding, however what we actually need is a long-term resolution.”

Different Democratic mayors who signed the letter to President Joe Biden had been Karen Bass of Los Angeles, Sylvester Turner of Houston, and Eric Adams of New York. The assembly was referred to as rapidly and the 5 of them had been unable to carry it.

Adams mentioned he was immediately returning residence from a deliberate journey to Washington so he may “take care of a matter” — an announcement that got here earlier than information that federal brokers had raided the house of a serious Adams fundraiser and longtime shut pal.

Biden requested $1.4 billion from Congress to assist state and native governments present shelter and companies to migrants, after earlier appeals from Democratic mayors and state governors.

However Johnston and the opposite mayors requested for $5 billion together with making work permits extra rapidly out there to anybody allowed into the US. Additionally they put ahead a collaborative strategy to migrant administration, mirroring how Ukrainian refugees are settled.

Many individuals are in shelters and are placing a pressure on budgets as a result of they lack the power to work, Johnston mentioned. If they will work, cities will want much less federal support to assist home them.

“I feel they appear receptive,” Johnston mentioned of federal officers. “I do not know that it is easy. However I do know that they’re open to concepts and see the advantages of the idea.

White Home press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre mentioned the dialogue was productive and officers had been working to expedite work permits.

“That is one thing we took very significantly,” she mentioned. “We’ll proceed to have these conversations. We perceive what they’re going by means of and we perceive what’s going on on the bottom.”