New York Mayor Eric Adams declared this Friday (17) a state of emergency in the city to respond to the arrival of thousands of immigrants and asylum seekers in the In recent months, many have been sent on buses by Texas state officials.
Adams explained that the city expects to spend at least $1 billion this year to help these people and that the shelter system is practically full, which is why he asked the federal and state governments for help to transfer immigrants to other locations.
According to the mayor, since April more than 17 thousand applicants for asylum seekers, most of them South Americans, were sent by bus to New York from the southern border of the United States.
Adams detailed that, on average, five or six buses have been seen a day since September, with nine arriving on Thursday. Four more arrived this Friday, according to the “New York Post” newspaper.
“Thousands of asylum seekers were transported to New York and simply abandoned here, without notice, coordination or attention, and more continue to arrive every day,” Adams accused, referring to migrant shipments organized by Texas Governor Gregg Abbott and other southern officials.
“This is a humanitarian crisis that began with violence and instability in South America and is being accelerated by US political dynamics,” added the Democratic mayor.
Abbott and other Republican governors began using this tactic of sending immigrants to New York, Washington, and other Democrat-run cities to spread the immigration burden and protest President Joe Biden’s policies.
New York is one of the few cities in the United States that is required by law to shelter anyone and not leave anyone in the street a, but the arrival of thousands of immigrants has put the system to the test.
According to Adams, there are currently more than 61 thousand people in the city’s shelter system, from of which almost 20 thousand are children and one in five is an asylum seeker.
“Our shelter system is operating at a capacity close to 100% and, if these trends continue, we will have more than 100 thousand people next year. That’s a lot more than the system was designed to handle. It’s unsustainable. The city will run out of resources for other priorities”, he warned.
The mayor assured that New York is committed to doing everything in its power to support these people, for example, finding accommodation in hotels or permanent housing, but insisted that resources were running out.
With the declaration of a state of emergency, Adams explained that all municipal agencies will have to coordinate the construction of emergency housing and that certain Land use regulations will be lifted to facilitate this process.
The city is already in the process of setting up camps to house migrants on an island opposite Manhattan and expects them to be operational in the coming weeks to receive hundreds of people, although it is only temporary accommodation for a few days, which is why the tents do not solve the problem.
Additionally, Adams said this Friday that a project will soon be announced so that the new houses Yorkers welcome asylum seekers or homeless people because many citizens “want to help”.
