New York City is intensifying efforts to transport migrants out of the city as its shelter system reaches capacity, setting up a dedicated office to provide asylum-seekers with free, one-way tickets to anywhere in the world.
Quick Read
- New York City is ramping up efforts to move migrants out due to shelter capacity issues.
- The city has established a “reticketing center” to offer asylum-seekers free, one-way tickets to any location globally.
- Over 130,000 asylum-seekers have arrived in the city since last year.
- Mayor Eric Adams describes the situation as a crisis, warning of potential street sleeping with the winter approaching.
- While the city has offered migrants transportation before, this dedicated center indicates a stronger focus on this solution.
- The travel offer is voluntary.
- Restrictions have been set: adult migrants can stay 30 days in shelters and migrant families with children get 60 days.
- Migrants can reapply for housing if they don’t find alternate accommodation.
- Adams’ office claims only 20% of those who have exceeded the stay limits remain in city shelters.
- Mayor Adams seeks to suspend a legal agreement mandating emergency housing for the homeless in NYC.
- The city has set up over 200 emergency shelters, with 65,000 migrants currently in them.
- The migrant influx is expected to cost around $12 billion over the next three years.
The Associated Press has the story:
New York City sets up office to give migrants one-way tickets out of town
Newslooks- ALBANY, N.Y. (AP)
New York City is intensifying efforts to transport migrants out of the city as its shelter system reaches capacity, setting up a dedicated office to provide asylum-seekers with free, one-way tickets to anywhere in the world.
City Hall confirmed the establishment of a new “reticketing center” in Manhattan as its latest bid to ease pressure on its shelters and finances following the arrival of more than 130,000 asylum-seekers since last year.
Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, has described the situation as a crisis and has begun to warn that shelters are so full that migrants will soon be forced onto the street as winter approaches.
“I cannot say this enough. You know, we are out of the room,” he told reporters this week. “And it’s not ‘if’ people will be sleeping on the streets, it’s when. We are at full capacity.”
The city’s plan to offer migrants transportation builds upon previous efforts to send the asylum-seekers elsewhere, though the establishment of the dedicated reticketing center marks a renewed emphasis on the strategy.
The city has stressed that the offer for travel is voluntary.
The mayor’s office has recently limited adult migrants to 30 days in city shelters and 60 days for migrant families with children. Migrants, most of whom arrive without the legal ability to work, can reapply for housing if they are unable to find a new place to live.
A spokeswoman for Adams said about 20,000 people have received either 30- or 60-day notices. Less than 20% of people who have exceeded the limits are still in city shelters, she said. City Hall officials have said such statistics are proof that their policies are promoting migrants to find alternate housing.
Adams is also seeking seeking to suspend a unique legal agreement that requires New York City to provide emergency housing to homeless people. No other major U.S. city has such a requirement, and the mayor’s office has argued in court that the mandate was never meant to apply to an influx of migrants. A judge this month directed the city to enter mediation discussions with homeless advocacy groups to find a solution.
The mayor’s office said it has rushed to set up more than 200 emergency shelters to house migrants, including renting space in hotels and erecting large-scale facilities. More than 65,000 migrants are in city shelters.
Adams said he expects the influx to cost about $12 billion over the next three years.
