New York City Mayor
Eric Adams declared a state of emergency over the influx of migrants to the
city. Buses full of migrants who have ventured into the United States primarily
from South America have been coming into New York for months. According to
Mayor Adams, the city is ill equipped to deal with the sudden influx.

What’s going
on in New York?

The New York City
mayor’s office says nearly 17,000 migrants have been bussed to the city since
April. Republican governors from around the country have been filling up buses
with asylum seekers and sending them to New York and other Democrat-led states
to protest the Biden administration’s border policies.

Also Read | Texas sends two busloads of migrants to Kamala Harris’ home

New York,
Washington and several other blue states are currently facing an immigrant
crisis, the kind, Republicans say, they continually face owing to the migrant
influx caused by Biden’s policies.

Emergency,
now what?

Eric Adams, former
cop-turned-New York City mayor, signed an executive order on Friday, October 6,
calling on city agencies to take a coordinated approach to deal with the
influx. The Democrat mayor has called for relief centres to be built around the
city to house asylum seekers.

Adams said Friday
that buses started coming in from April and since September, the city has
received at least six buses per day. “This is a humanitarian crisis that
started with violence and instability in South America, and it is being
accelerated by American political dynamics,” the mayor added.

The cost of
giving asylum

The New York City
mayor said the city will spend nearly a million dollars this year to initially provide
temporary shelter to asylum seekers and then permanent ones as well as to
provide healthcare.

Most of those
coming into the city are adults who do not have the legal right to work in the
United States. Many have school-going children with them and some are in need
of medical assistance, Adams said.

“We have not asked
for this. There was never any agreement to take on the job of supporting
thousands of asylum seekers. This responsibility was simply handed to use
without warning as buses began showing up,” said Adams, adding, “We are going
to do what we have to do in New York, but we do need help to deal with this
crisis that we’re facing.”