Mayor Adams warns that NYC is still ‘dealing with a silent crisis’ as two new mega migrant shelters open
New York City is still reeling from a “silent crisis” of more than 2,500 asylum seekers pouring in weekly, Mayor Adams said Tuesday — with the total number of arrivals since last spring topping a staggering 87,200.
The mayor opened two new mega shelters just to help cope with the relentless migrant influx, bringing the total to 186 emergency sites set up across the five boroughs.
“Our shelter system has doubled in size and although it’s no longer on the front pages of our daily tabloids, we are still dealing with a silent crisis,” Adams said. “The numbers are increasing and it’s continued to be a heavy lift for this city.”
In March, there were 103 shelters, meaning 83 new facilities had to be created within five months.
The mayor pleaded, yet again, for Albany’s help combating the “unsustainability” of the migrant crush, taking a not-so-veiled swipe at Gov. Hochul.
Adams said the city has always had the state’s back when it comes to disasters — pointing specifically to this week’s catastrophic floods that devastated parts of the Hudson Valley and beyond.
“I would like to just really allow people to know that when the storm hit upstate, they called New York City. New York City has always been here for the entire state,” the mayor griped.
“The storm of migrant asylum seekers have hit us for over a year now. We need help.”
The two new large-scale shelters just added to the city’s growing roster of emergency sites include the Crowne Plaza JFK Airport hotel in Queens.
As of Tuesday, the hotel was changing from a short-term respite center to a humanitarian relief facility, which can cater more than 330 asylum-seeking families, Adams said.
Migrant crisis by the numbers:
- There are 2,500 migrants a week in New York City.
- More than 87,200 asylum seekers have come through the NYC intake system since last spring.
- More than 53,000 asylum seekers are in NYC care.
- NYC has opened 186 emergency sites, including 14 large-scale humanitarian relief centers.
- NYC pays $385 a night for housing/care per migrant family.
- About $140,535 is spent to care for each migrant family a year.
In the coming weeks, another short-term emergency site near Downtown Brooklyn will also be converted to serve as a relief center to support roughly 1,400 adults.
It costs about $385 a night – or $140,535 per year — to put up and feed a migrant family in one of the city’s shelters. Based on those numbers, the crisis is setting taxpayers back about $7.9 million every day.
Currently, there are more than 53,000 asylum seekers being sheltered in the city-run sites, City Hall figures show.
Hizzoner insisted the Big Apple was doing “more than any other city or state” in taking on the migrants flooding into the US, arguing it was time for others to step up and share the burden.
“We need help on the national government, we need help on the state government,” the mayor said, adding that Hochul had “given us some assistance.”
“We need everyone to be on board with this. And we are nowhere near a resolution. Matter of fact: this is unsustainable.”
The number of migrants under the Big Apple’s care continues to swell even after President Biden’s administration reported a 70% decrease in illegal border crossings since Title 42 was lifted in early May.
“We’re still getting close to 2,500 people a week,” Adams said. “This has not gone away for New York City — and that’s what people need to understand.”
Earlier Tuesday, Hochul doubled down on the state’s support of the Big Apple, saying Albany had forked out $1 billion to help with shelter.
“We’re going to continue helping identify sites to help people with the city’s responsibility to house them, plus picking up a significant amount of the cost of the housing,” she said at an unrelated event in lower Manhattan.
Meanwhile, State Sen. George Borrello (R-Jamestown) argued the Big Apple would continue to be a “magnet for migrants” until the city rescinded its sanctuary status.
“So until New York City has the guts to buck the far left and rescind its sanctuary city status, we shouldn’t be spending a dime on this,” he said. “It’s what’s bringing migrants from the border states, but it’s also bringing them to the United States to cross illegally and go to New York.”
