For the first time since the migration crisis began in early 2022, New York Mayor Eric Adams has resorted to an executive order to regulate the arrival of buses from the border and thus restrict the influx of migrants as much as possible. At least 122,000 have arrived in the city in less than two years and the councilor has tired of saying that there are no means or resources to manage their reception.
After repeatedly requesting federal aid to cover part of the costs of room and board, the Big Apple will require charter buses transporting immigrants to give 32 hours' notice before arriving in one of the city's five boroughs, Adams has announced. this Wednesday. The buses are chartered by the Republican governors of the border states – especially Gregg Abbott, from Texas – as a measure of pressure on states and cities governed, such as New York, by Democrats.
The measure will require buses to arrive between 8:30 and 12 p.m. from Monday to Friday and will only allow them to drop off passengers in one place – the Port Authority Bus Terminal, in the heart of Manhattan – unless the city's Emergency Management department says otherwise. Adams has noted that failure to comply with the order will result in a misdemeanor punishable by a fine, as well as the seizure of vehicles that violate the rules.
The new regulations, promulgated by executive order, come at a time when the city expects a new wave of migrants in the coming weeks, the councilor explained in a press conference. The measure coincides with a considerable increase in crossings on the border with Mexico, where authorities are overwhelmed by the daily arrival of thousands of immigrants from the most remote corners of the planet. Adams himself has tried to manage the migratory flow at origin, with a recent tour of Mexico and Latin America, without apparent result.
“We cannot allow buses with people who need our help to arrive unannounced at all hours of the day and night,” Adams explained. “This not only prevents us from providing assistance in an orderly manner, but also endangers those who have already suffered so much,” he added, alluding to the thousands of migrants who sleep practically in the open, due to the limitation of the reception period in the municipal shelters, and despite the continuous establishment of facilities to house them, such as camps or old factories or gyms. At the beginning of this week, the city's shelters were hosting 143,000 people.
Solution attempts without result
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“To be clear, this is not about preventing people from coming, but about guaranteeing the safety of migrants and ensuring that they can arrive in a coordinated and orderly manner,” he stressed. In the last month, the city has registered more than 14,700 new arrivals, according to the mayor's office in a statement. Last week alone, 14 buses arrived in the five boroughs in a single night, the highest number recorded by the center that coordinates the arrival of the city's asylum seekers, Adams said.
The mayor has accused Governor Abbott of using immigrants as “political pawns,” stating that the Republican “promised to send 25,000 more immigrants to New York City alone” several weeks ago.
Adams said the city of Chicago has already taken steps to require the orderly arrival of buses. Its mayor, fellow Democrat Brandon Johnson, today requested federal help to address the crisis. “The country is now at stake,” he stated. Denver Councilman Mike Johnston virtually joined his two co-religionists in a video conference briefing Wednesday, in which they repeated their appeals to Washington. Adams noted that Joe Biden's administration should issue a federal emergency declaration and launch a “national resettlement strategy” in response to the current influx of immigrants. “The federal government must take responsibility and lead this humanitarian crisis instead of letting cities and towns deal with it.” The expense of caring for migrants has caused several cuts in municipal budgets.
Under a law from the 1980s, New York is theoretically obliged to provide a bed to anyone who needs one, although Mayor Adams has tried at least twice to have it repealed, amid criticism from NGOs and activist groups. He has also placed a limit of 30 days of accommodation in shelters – or the many hotels set up as such – for migrant families with minors, and 60 days for men traveling alone. It has also tried other methods to alleviate what it considers unsustainable migratory pressure: distributing migrants to other towns in New York State — which do not want to take them in — or even sending them to the border with Canada, on free buses, to cross foot to the neighboring country. None of the measures have worked due to the situation at the border: the more arrivals are registered, the greater the possibility that tens of thousands of new arrivals will end up being transported, sometimes without knowing it or wanting it, to other cities or States of the country.
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