NYC mayor declares emergency over migrant buses from Texas

US – Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, said at a news conference Friday that more than 17,000 asylum seekers have arrived in New York since April. The mayor of New York has declared a state of emergency, saying the influx of asylum seekers brought into the city daily by buses from the US state of Texas is creating a “humanitarian crisis.”

He said the city expects to spend more than $1 billion by the end of this fiscal year on housing, housing, health care and other assistance for migrants, which is draining local resources.

“This is a humanitarian crisis that started with violence and instability in South America that is being accelerated by American political dynamics,” Adams told reporters.“ Thousands of asylum seekers have been bussed into New York City and simply dropped off without notice, coordination or care.”

Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott is sending asylum seekers to Democratic-run cities New York, Washington, D.C. and Chicago to draw attention to the growing number of migrants arriving on the United States’ southern border with Mexico.

Pressure escalated just a few weeks before the US midterm elections, in which migration and the situation at the border took center stage.

Republican officials blaming the administration of US President Joe Biden for a record number of arrivals at the border said that the transportation of migrants is necessary in order to share the burden of accommodating asylum seekers. But human rights groups have called the practice cruel and inhuman, and the White House has accused Republican leaders of using vulnerable migrants as “political pawns.”

Most of the asylum seekers were from Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua, countries to which the US was unable to send people back under a public health border policy called “Section 42”. Under this executive order, most asylum seekers at the border are quickly sent back to Mexico or their country of origin without the opportunity to apply.

On September 9, Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser declared a public health emergency in response to the arrival of migrant buses in the city with a $10 million donation. Chicago, which received fewer migrants, has set up a website for donations and volunteers.