NYC Mayor: Calls for Help With Migrants 'Mostly Ignored'

New York City is bracing for more migrants with the ending of Title 42 restrictions at the southern border this week, including 10 to 15 busloads of asylum seekers arriving in the next two days, and Mayor Eric Adams said Sunday his calls for help from the federal government "have been mostly ignored."

"While the New York federal delegation has repeatedly advocated for funding to be sent back to New York City, many in Congress — both Republicans and Democrats — have refused to lift a finger," Adams said in a statement Sunday, reported the New York Post.

New York submitted a request last week for $1 billion to the Federal Emergency Management Agency for reimbursement for sheltering asylum seekers, but Adams said Sunday that requests for assistance "have been mostly ignored" and "this can't continue."

"With the expiration of Title 42 just days away, we need the federal government — both in the administration and in Congress — to share their plans to move asylum seekers to other cities, to allow asylum seekers to work, and to send aid to the cities that have borne the brunt of this crisis," said Adams.

His comments were made after the administration earlier in the day sent an email to members of New York City Council and their staff, saying that requests for help have been made to President Joe Biden and Gov. Kathy Hochul, along with federal and state partners, "as we cannot continue to address this issue alone."

The message said that the city's shelter system is already at capacity, and because of the lifting of the Trump-era Title 42 restrictions, two buses are due to arrive in New York on Monday, with another 10-15 buses expected over the next two days.

In his statement released later Sunday, Adams said city officials are expecting more than 1,000 new arrivals every week after Title 42, a pandemic-related restriction that allowed migrants to be quickly expelled, is lifted Wednesday.

"We've already received more than 31,000 asylum seekers into our city, and currently have open 60 emergency shelters, four humanitarian relief centers, and two welcome centers," Adams said. "We have been told in no uncertain terms that, beginning today, we should expect an influx of buses coming from the border and that more than 1,000 additional asylum seekers will arrive in New York City every week."

According to city data released last week, about 31,000 migrants have been sent to New York since spring, with 21,400 being put in its overflowing shelter system, and more buses filled with migrants arrived Sunday, Adams' spokesman Fabien Levy told the Post.

The city council will hold hearings Monday and Tuesday to address the migrant crisis, and local leaders on both sides of the aisle slammed Democrats in Washington, D.C., for leaving the city hanging.

"The president's failure means that less money will go to our parks, schools, hospitals, and anything else you can imagine. A billion dollars is a lot of money," City Council Minority Leader Joe Borelli, R-Staten Island commented.

Councilman Justin Brannan, D-Brooklyn, asked if the city will "need to beg."

"Is anyone in Washington listening?" he said. "I have no idea what they are waiting for."

Queens Councilman Robert Holden, also a Democrat, said the city can't absorb more asylum, seekers, considering shelters are full to capacity, there is a financial crisis looming, and taxpayers are leaving.

"We cannot and should not further burden taxpayers for the federal government's failure to handle this crisis," said Holden. "President Biden and the U.S. Congress must resolve this problem at the border."