Mayor declares state of emergency for NYC over migrants

New York City's mayor declared a state of emergency on Friday over the thousands of migrants being sent from southern border states since the spring, saying the demand being put on the city to provide housing and other assistance is "not sustainable."

"A city recovering from an ongoing global pandemic is being overwhelmed by a humanitarian crisis made by human hands," Mayor Eric Adams said. "We are at the edge of the precipice. ... We need help. And we need it now."
By the end of its fiscal year, Adams said the city expected to spend $1 billion helping the new arrivals, many of whom are heavily reliant on government aid because federal law prohibits them from working in the U.S.
The administration did not specify what costs are being included in that amount.
Adams, a Democrat, said the new arrivals are welcome in the city. And he spoke with pride of New York City's history as a landing spot for new immigrants.

"New Yorkers have always looked out for our immigrant brothers and sisters. We see ourselves in them. We see our ancestors in them," he said.
But, he said, "though our compassion is limitless, our resources are not."
New York City's already strained shelter system has been under even greater pressure for much of this year because of the unexpected increase of those needing help.
Between five and six buses of migrants are arriving per day, Adams said, with nine on Thursday alone. Many of those buses have been chartered and paid for by Republican officials in Texas and Arizona who have sought to put pressure on the Biden administration to change border policies by sending migrants to Democratic-leaning cities and states in the north.
One out of five beds in New York City's homeless shelter system is now...

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