NEW YORK (AP) — With thousands of migrants still pouring into New York City, Mayor Eric Adams on Wednesday renewed his call on the federal government to help the city avoid a budget crisis as spending soars, now projected at $12.2 billion by the end of next year, due to the influx of people coming from the southern US border seeking temporary care and shelter.
“Our compassion may be limitless, but our resources are not. This is the budget reality we face if we don’t get the additional support we need,” Adams said during a speech that sought to hold the Biden administration accountable to help relieve his city of the growing financial burden.
“New Yorkers did not create an international humanitarian crisis. But the residents of our city have been forced to face this crisis almost on their own,” the mayor said in a speech Wednesday morning.
The US Department of Homeland Security recently sent a small team to New York City to help determine how the federal government should respond.
So far, the federal government has promised the city $160 million to help, though city budget director Jacques Jiha told reporters the city has yet to receive a “dollar” of that money. A city spokesperson later clarified that requests for that money have been made, but the delay could be due to routine bureaucratic reasons.
Since the spring of 2022, nearly 100,000 migrants have arrived in New York City seeking refuge.
Bebeto Matthews via Associated Press
With the city’s shelters nearly full and more immigrants arriving, the crisis is unlikely to abate anytime soon. As of Sunday, the city said it was home to 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 vocal critics, echoed the mayor’s plea for help.
“This is a time that requires the full resources and authority of government at all levels, and the city should not have to shoulder the response without significant assistance from the Biden and Hochul administrations,” the groups said in a statement.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul doesn’t dispute that the city needs more money, saying “it’s much more expensive than anyone imagined.”
She said she hopes to ask Albany lawmakers to provide another $1 billion to help the city on top of the $1 billion already allocated.