ABOVE PHOTO: New York Mayor Eric Adams, left, and city officials listen to a reporter’s question during a City Hall press conference, Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023, in New York. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
By Bobby Caina Calvan
ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK — With thousands of migrants still arriving in New York City, Mayor Eric Adams on Wednesday renewed his appeal to the federal government to help the city avert a budgetary crisis as expenses mount — now projected at $12.2 billion by the end of next year — because of the influx of people coming from the southern U.S. border seeking temporary care and shelter.
“Our compassion may be limitless, but our resources are not. This is the budgetary reality we are facing if we don’t get the additional support we need,” Adams said during an address that sought to put the onus on the Biden administration to help relieve his city from the growing financial burden.
“New Yorkers did not create an international humanitarian crisis. But our city’s residents have been left to deal with this crisis almost entirely on our own,” the mayor said.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security recently dispatched a small team to New York City to help determine how the federal government should respond.
The federal government has so far promised the city $140 million to help, although the city has yet to receive any of that money. A city spokesperson later clarified that requests for that money have been made but the delay could be because of routine bureaucratic reasons.
Since the spring of 2022, nearly 100,000 migrants have arrived in New York City seeking shelter.
With the city’s shelters near capacity and more migrants arriving, the crisis is unlikely to abate anytime soon. As of Sunday, the city said it was housing more than 82,000 people, including nearly 30,000 children.
The Legal Aid Society and the Coalition for the Homeless, among the mayor’s most vociferous critics, echoed the mayor’s plea for help.
“This is a moment that requires the full resources and authority of government from all levels, and the city should not have to shoulder the response without meaningful assistance from both the Biden and Hochul administrations,” the groups said in a statement.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul does not dispute the city needs more money, saying “it is far more expensive than anyone had imagined.”
She said she expects to ask lawmakers in Albany to provide another $1 billion to help the city, on top of the $1 billion already allocated.
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