This morning, New York City Mayor Eric Adams was noticeably absent from a briefing on the immigration crisis, leaving Deputy Mayor Anne Williams-Isom to address the pressing matter.
Williams-Isom emphasized that, as the influx of migrants continues, the city cannot bare the burden alone and urgently requires state and federal assistance, Daily Mail reported.
NYC Migrant Crisis Escalates
On average, 500 people are arriving in NYC daily, with the city's infrastructure nearing the breaking point. Williams-Isom noted that some migrants may be relocating from other US cities, such as Denver and Chicago, after facing closed doors there.
In contrast, New York City has opened 197 sites across the city to assist those seeking asylum. In July's final week, a staggering 2,300 migrants arrived in the city, causing significant strain on resources.
The Roosevelt Hotel, functioning as an 'arrival center' for migrants and the homeless, currently has around 1,000 rooms available. Williams-Isom stressed that New York City is grappling with a national problem, evident in the diversity of languages spoken by the hundreds of migrants outside the Roosevelt Hotel.
She emphasized that the city has already implemented numerous plans to address the crisis, underscoring the severity of the situation. New York City Mayor Eric Adams was conspicuously absent from a migrant crisis briefing this morning, leaving Deputy Mayor Anne Williams-Isom to address the pressing issue.
The scenes outside the Roosevelt Hotel paint a grim picture, with tired and disheveled asylum seekers lining up each day, hoping for entry. Over 97,000 migrants have arrived in NYC since April 2022, and approximately 57,000 are currently housed in makeshift shelters throughout the city.
The situation has reached a tipping point, with hundreds of shelters at full capacity, leaving migrants from various parts of the world to sleep on public sidewalks during the sweltering mid-summer heat in Midtown Manhattan.
Mayor Adams issued a warning earlier this week, acknowledging that the crisis is escalating and expressing concern that the situation will only worsen from here on out. As the strain on NYC's resources intensifies, the call for federal assistance grows louder.
The city needs a united effort from all levels of government to effectively address this mounting humanitarian challenge, as per ABC News.
New York City's Controversial $432 Million Contract
Additionally, New York City purportedly paid a mobile medical services company a staggering $432 million to transport thousands of migrants to upstate towns against their will, according to a Sunday New York Times investigation. This move has sparked controversy and legal challenges.
The no-bid contract awarded to DocGo, which was not subject to the city comptroller's approval, raised eyebrows as the company shifted its focus from offering on-the-go Covid-19 testing and vaccination to transporting asylum seekers to small towns and cities that lacked the resources to handle the sudden influx.
Migrants who were interviewed stated that they were enticed to move upstate by promises of comfortable housing and ample employment opportunities. Upon arrival, however, they were confronted with a distressing circumstance: they were given fake employment and residency permits, some of which bore forged New York City letterheads.
Attempts to use these documents to obtain identification at the local Department of Motor Vehicles were unsuccessful, according to Republic World.
