NYC scrambling to provide resources for migrants arriving from Texas
NEW YORK - New York City is scrambling to provide resources for the thousands of migrants arriving in New York, many arriving with nothing more than the clothes on their back.
City immigration officials testified on Tuesday that some migrants are arriving with medical emergencies, detailing one individual who they say was forced on a bus from Texas to New York, traveling for three days without insulin.
However, adding to this confusion, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott allegedly forced the bus companies transporting the asylum seekers to sign a non-disclosure agreement forbidding them from communicating with the city on when they will be arriving.
"We know they've been arriving to Port Authority, late in the evening and early mornings," Immigration Affairs Commissioner Manuel Castro said. "So we're there with a group of volunteers that have been doing this for some time. It's concerning that we're losing people along the way, if they have immigration appointments here in New York."
Testifying at an emergency City Council hearing, city officials are still struggling to answer exactly how many migrants, including children, are currently living in the city. Officials say they first noticed the jump in migrants seeking shelter in May. They believe that over 4,000 migrants have arrived since then, with about 100 people now applying at the city's intake sites per day.
But the city's shelter system is already overwhelmed.
Castro confirmed that the city will open 11 hotels for asylum seekers and will be designating a new shelter just for migrants.
"Often they come up with a notice to appear in immigration court, so we are working closely with our service providers to meet the demand and increase the capacity to be able to serve this population," Castro explained. "We are very close to opening a service center to be able to provide centralize all the services that they need."
Castro also testified that some asylum seekers were given the wrong shelter addresses after being bused from Texas, leaving some to wander the streets of New York City.
New York is a right-to-shelter city, which means that the city is legally required to provide transitional housing for those looking for a place to stay. But officials admitted that at least four migrant families in mid-July spent the night in a Path intake center, which is illegal in New York.
Officials insist that this only happened on this one occasion but the Legal Aid society said it is investigating numerous reports.
"It's a violation of the law and people are not getting overnight placements for more than one night in a row," Legal Aid Society staff attorney Josh Goldfein said. "We met families who told us that that happened. We will continue to monitor to make sure it doesn't happen again. If it becomes a recurring problem, we're going to have no choice but to intervene."
Mayor Eric Adams said on Monday that he would be speaking with the White House about the need for additional resources, but backtracked the statement on Tuesday saying now he will be speaking with the White House "at some point before the end of the week."
Adams did try to make a dig at the Texas governor, saying that he is considering taking a bus full of New Yorkers to Texas to campaign against Abbott. Abbott is facing Democrat Beto O'Rourke in an election later this year.