N.Y. MAYOR SAYS NEW WAVE OF MIGRANTS WOULD STRAIN CITY

4 buses of migrants chartered by Texas arrive in Manhattan

Four buses full of migrants from the Texas border rolled into New York City on Monday amid urgent warnings from City Hall that the cost of absorbing the newcomers was unsustainable.

New York has unveiled a variety of programs to receive the nearly 32,000 migrants that have come so far, opening 60 emergency shelters, mostly in hotels, as well as other centers to help direct people to services and aid.

It was a response to newcomers unlike any in recent memory, prompted by the sheer number of migrants who arrived this summer, most from Latin America, with many from Venezuela.

But with the specter of thousands of people crossing the border this week if a pandemic-era immigration rule is ended, Mayor Eric Adams said that the city would require state or federal aid to carry on such efforts. A recent report estimated it would cost the city $1 billion a year to continue sheltering and offering other services to migrants.

While Adams has repeatedly touted New York City’s reputation as a beacon for immigrants, he expressed frustration Monday that the city was left to deal with the federal immigration system’s failures.

“This is a national problem,” Adams said. “El Paso shouldn’t be going through this. Chicago shouldn’t be going through this. Washington, Houston, cities should not be carrying the weight of a national problem.”

The buses that arrived Monday at the Port Authority Bus Terminal had come from Del Rio, Texas, a border city about 150 miles west of San Antonio. They were chartered by the state of Texas and made stops along the way, according to Adama Bah, who coordinates a team of volunteers that meets the buses.

She and other volunteers cheered and clapped as migrants arrived at the terminal early Monday, welcoming them in English and Spanish.

The group was a mix of men and women, some with small children. Most quickly headed into the Port Authority clutching small bags of belongings. One Cuban family, including a mother and a small child sleeping on her shoulder, went directly into the arms of a relative, Maria Araujo, 57, who greeted them with tears of joy. They were headed to her home in Elizabeth, N.J.

As of Monday, about 21,700 asylum seekers remained in the city’s care, a City Hall spokesperson said. Many of the new migrants do not have family or friends in the New York area, in a stark contrast to usual migration patterns. That has made them more dependent on city services.

The city has established intake centers offering free and confidential help for asylum seekers at the Red Cross on West 49th Street, three hotels in midtown Manhattan and through nonprofits around the city.

They are providing information and referrals for health care, schooling, legal services and enrollment in the municipal ID program. The city offers access to homeless shelters, education and medical care regardless of immigration status.

Asked if the city would reopen its tent shelter at Randalls Island, which closed after just a few weeks in operation, the mayor said that “nothing is off the table.”

While the city has not released a figure for how much it has spent on the migrant response since the newcomers first began arriving in the spring, Adams has said it was in the “hundreds of millions.”

A report from the office of the New York City comptroller, Brad Lander, released Thursday, said that officials anticipate $1 billion in annual costs related to the migrant influx, including $600 million for homeless and social services and $400 million for “humanitarian emergency response and relief centers.”

The city expects that the federal government will provide funding, but it is not guaranteed, the report said.

“Barring a legislative fix, the influx of asylum-seekers is likely to continue,” the report said.

“Without a sound strategy at the federal, state and local levels, it is possible that these expenses will grow even beyond the current need.”

The arrivals Monday came as a Trump-era public health rule known as Title 42, which had closed the border to new arrivals, is set to expire this week.

And if it does, Adams said officials had been told “in no uncertain terms” to expect more than 1,000 asylum seekers a week to be bused in.