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 in order to stem the flow of migrants as much as possible. At least 122,000 people have arrived in the city in less than two years, and the city council is tired of saying there are no funds and resources to manage their reception.
After repeatedly seeking federal aid to cover some of the costs of room and board, the Big Apple will require charter buses carrying immigrants To 32 hours in advance before arriving in any of the city's five boroughs, Adams announced this Wednesday. The buses are chartered by border states' Republican governors – notably Gregg Abbott of Texas – to put pressure on states and cities run by Democrats like New York.
The measure requires buses to arrive between 8:30 p.m. and 12 p.m. Monday through Friday and to drop off passengers at only one location – the Port Authority Bus Terminal in the heart of Manhattan – unless emergency management The city department will inform you otherwise. Adams has pointed out that failure to comply with the order will result in an offense punishable by a fine, as well as the impoundment of vehicles violating the rules.
The new regulations issued by ordinance come at a time when the city is expecting a new wave of migration in the coming weeks, the city council said in a press conference. The measure coincides with a significant increase in border crossings at the border with Mexico, where authorities are overwhelmed by the daily arrival of thousands of immigrants from the most remote corners of the globe. Adams himself tried to manage the flow of migrants at the point of origin with a recent trip through Mexico and Latin America, with no apparent results.
“We cannot allow buses full of people who need our help to arrive unannounced at any time of the day or night,” Adams said. “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 are essentially sleeping in the open because of the restrictions on reception time urban shelters and despite the continuous establishment of facilities to accommodate them, such as warehouses or old factories or gyms. At the beginning of this week, 143,000 people were being housed in the city's emergency shelters.
Attempted solutions without results
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“To be clear: this is not about stopping people from coming, but about ensuring the safety of migrants and ensuring that they can arrive in a coordinated and orderly manner,” he emphasized. Last month, the city registered more than 14,700 new arrivals, the mayor's office said 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 accused Gov. Abbott of using immigrants as “political pawns,” explaining that a few weeks ago the Republican “promised to send 25,000 more immigrants to New York City alone.”
Adams said the city of Chicago has already taken steps to require the orderly arrival of buses. His mayor, fellow Democrat Brandon Johnson, today asked for federal help to deal with the crisis. “The country is now at stake,” he said. Denver City Councilman Mike Johnston joined a virtual video conference Wednesday with his two fellow believers in which they repeated their calls 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 leaving it to the cities and municipalities.” The effort to care for migrants has led to cuts in municipal budgets on several occasions.
Under a 1980s law, New York is theoretically required to provide a bed to anyone who needs one, although Mayor Adams has tried at least twice to repeal it amid criticism from NGOs and activist groups. In addition, the accommodation of migrant families with minors in emergency shelters – or the many hotels set up as such – was limited to 30 days and for men traveling alone to 60 days. She has also tried other methods to ease what she sees as unsustainable migration pressures: dispersing migrants to other cities in New York state – which did not want to accept them – or even sending them on free buses to the border with Canada to be admitted cross foot into the neighboring country. Due to the situation at the border, none of the measures have worked: the more arrivals are registered, the greater the likelihood that tens of thousands of new arrivals will be transported, sometimes without knowing or wanting, to other cities or states of the country.
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