NYC Mayor seeks emergency aid amid influx of Caribbean asylum seekers
The mayor of New York City, Eric Adams, has asked New York State for emergency mutual aid in order to provide accommodation for what he refers to as a “huge inflow” of arriving Caribbean and other asylum seekers.
According to Adams, these asylum aspirants also come from Venezuela, Cuba, and Haiti.
“Three months ago, I addressed New Yorkers personally about the problem of asylum seekers that has taxed our city and forced our shelter system to record highs. In a statement, Adams stated, “On that day, I declared that we would surpass the biggest number of individuals ever counted in our city’s shelter system and that every day after we would set a new record.
“We are now seeing more individuals arrive than we have ever seen,” he added, “averaging over 400 people per day this last week, with 835 asylum seekers arriving on one single day alone, the highest single-day arrival we’ve seen to date.” “All this is pushing New York City to the brink,” he continued.
According to the mayor, since last year, New York City has stepped up to welcome nearly 40,000 asylum applicants, giving them access to a variety of assistance, housing, and food.
At “breakneck speed, and almost totally on our own,” he claimed, the city opened 74 emergency shelters and four humanitarian relief centers.
“We are on the verge of collapse. Our forecasts indicate that we won’t be able to keep housing new asylum seekers on our own, so we’ve asked the State of New York for emergency mutual aid, which will start this weekend.
This kind of request, which should only be made in the case of extreme situations, asks the state to help the city accommodate newly arrived asylum seekers.
The city has initially asked for housing that can house 500 asylum seekers, but according to Adams, “as New York City continues to see numbers inflate, this estimate will also climb.”
The mayor stated that the humanitarian issue “should not mean that this rests entirely on the shoulders of localities,” as “sorely needed” federal immigration reform is absent.
He stated that in order to tackle the situation, “we need support and assistance from our federal and state partners and look forward to working together.”
Over the weekend, Adams was urged to “stop scapegoating” Caribbean and other asylum seekers and include immigrant New Yorkers in his Fiscal Year 2024 Budget by the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC), an umbrella policy and advocacy group that represents over 200 immigrant and refugee rights groups throughout New York.
The preliminary budget for the city’s fiscal year 2024 was presented by Mayor Adams on Thursday. According to NYIC Executive Director Murad Awawdeh, “very little investment” was made to help Caribbean and other immigrant New Yorkers “completely integrate and succeed in New York City.”
We are startled to see immigrants and asylum seekers omitted from Mayor Adam’s vision for New York City, especially after he proclaimed for a large portion of last year that the city will always be open to immigrants, the man stated.
Instead, Mayor Adams unveiled a budget that offers low-income families the barest minimum and does little to assure that our newest immigrants can successfully integrate and thrive.
