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NYC migrant crisis: 3 more buses arrive as city struggles to house families

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Updated  May 22, 2023 10:50pm EDT
Immigration
FOX 5 NY

Calls to expedite asylum seeker work authorization

Gov. Hochul and Mayor Adams are calling on President Biden to speed up work permits for migrants in New York City. FOX 5 NY's Sharon Crowley has the details.

NEW YORK CITY - Three more buses carrying dozens of migrant families from Texas pulled into the Port Authority Bus Terminal over the weekend.

It comes as New York City continues to run out of space to house them.

For many asylum seekers, the journey has been long and arduous. After arriving in New York, Saida Palacio said life hasn’t gotten much easier.

Buses of migrants arrive at Port Authority

Buses carrying dozens of new migrants arrived at Port Authority Saturday, as the city continues to struggle to keep up with housing and shelter.

"In the shelter where I was over on 21st St., they told me to come here because there was no more room there," Palacio told FOX 5 NY in Spanish.

On Sunday night, 300 new arrivals were bussed to the Roosevelt Hotel, the city's latest intake center for those in need, where 175 rooms have initially been reserved for families with children.

Migrants arriving at Roosevelt Hotel in Midtown

Migrants and asylum seekers have begun arriving at Manhattan's Roosevelt Hotel, some looking for shelter, others trying to get legal help. FOX 5 New York spoke with some of the migrants about their experiences so far.

According to Mayor Eric Adams, more than 70,000 migrants have arrived in the Big Apple over recent months, and 42,000 are still under city care.

"We received over several days last week alone over 900 migrants. Over two weeks ago, approximately 4,200 in one week," Adams said on CBS’s Face the Nation.

The city has tried to transfer asylum seekers to neighboring counties to help cope with the influx, but the move was met with intense pushback.

The latest place to sound the alarm is Suffolk County, where local officials are pursuing legal action to halt a so-called plan to house asylum seekers in hotels there.

The mayor’s office has not confirmed those plans.

Suffolk County lawmakers come out against housing asylum seekers

FOX 5's Christine Russo reports.

"The residents of Suffolk County should not have to shoulder the burden of the failed policies of the Biden and Hochul administrations," Presiding Officer Kevin McCaffrey said in a press conference.