New York City Mayor Eric Adams declared a state of emergency on Friday in response to the arrival of thousands of Latin American immigrants across the US southern border on buses that have overwhelmed the housing system in recent months.
Speaking at city hall, Adams said the city expects to spend $1 billion to manage the flow of refugees. More than 17,000 people have arrived in New York since April; Democrat Adams said an average of five or six buses had arrived each day since early September, and nine had arrived in the city on Thursday.
The increase in arrivals set a record for the number of people in shelters throughout the city.
“While our compassion is unlimited, our resources are not,” Adams said, calling for support from the federal and state governments. “We’re on the edge of a cliff.”
Adams said the state of emergency would make it easier for city agencies to coordinate their response more quickly.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican running for a third term in the November midterm elections, has moved more than 3,000 immigrants to New York as part of a deliberate effort to draw attention to record border crossings between the United States and Mexico.
Adams criticized Abbott for failing to alert city officials when he sent immigrants north.
“Thousands of asylum seekers were taken by bus to New York and left without notice, coordination or care,” Adams said on Friday, describing the episode as a “made-up crisis”.
The Democrat-controlled city of El Paso has transported nearly 7,000 immigrants to New York by bus since the end of August, but city leaders say they are in coordination with New York officials, unlike Abbott.
source: Noticias
