Temporary shelters to which migrants who arrived from Texas were sent were opened in the Bronx (New York) on Friday, ANDREW KELLY (Portal)
After Texas Gov. Republican Greg Abbott filled the streets of Washington with irregular migrants, he redirected the pressure to New York, where last week he sent the first charter bus carrying undocumented immigrants into a fight against the Democratic government, which in the case of the federal capital threatens to overwhelm social security. So much so that the Pentagon has declined to send members of the National Guard, a reserve organization normally deployed in emergencies, to deal with the migrants, as District of Columbia authorities had requested.
The bus, which arrived in New York on Friday with 54 people aboard, including minors, is not the first Abbott is chartering to the Big Apple, arguing Mayor Eric Adams has promised to make the city “a haven” and wanting to make him a participant in the migration crisis that he believes the border state is going through. Although most migrants stayed on the move, many assured them upon arrival that they did not know the final destination. In addition to logistical issues, such as the challenge of finding housing for newcomers in a network of “shelters already oversaturated with asylum seekers,” Adams said migrants are lugging with them asylum or residency application paperwork that was filed in the states they entered the country through , so that the solution to their cases is now in the air.
Abbott’s action is not an unprecedented move to open and close the spigot of migratory pressures on borders (Ceuta and Melilla, the Greek islands of the Aegean, the border between Belarus and Lithuania, or the Ventimiglia passage between France and Italy, among many others). according to the will of the politicians and their interests. Abbott’s, who began the transfer in early April and was seconded in May by his Arizona counterpart, also a Republican, Doug Ducey, are obvious: to show a strong hand against immigration amid the primary process and respond to the government’s attempt by President Biden to repeal what is known as Title 42, a pandemic-related executive order that provided for expulsion of irregulars on health grounds, which a judge overturned in May, fueling chaos at the border. Immigrant blackmail hides such sad cases as that of the six-year-old diabetic who was traveling on the bus and had to be admitted to a New York hospital for insulin. Or as a Venezuelan family consisting of six adults and four children. Most of the 54 passengers were Hispanic.
Washington and New York aren’t Abbott’s only political targets; any East Coast Democratic city that’s theoretically more open to foreigners than Republican strongholds is likely to become a target to force the Biden administration to act on the border. Abbott’s press office confirmed that the bus, which arrived Friday, carried the “first group of immigrants to travel from Texas to New York City.” But they are not the first. Around 4,000 asylum seekers have arrived in recent months, according to New York authorities. The difference is that the influx had not previously enjoyed media coverage, which a release from Abbott’s office received last week. Groups from the Archdiocese of New York confirm they have ministered to over a thousand foreigners who arrived directly in the city or were previously diverted through Washington in recent weeks. “They come because the ticket is free, because they believe it is better to try their luck than live forever in a state where they are not welcome, and in some cases they have the support of informal networks Having family or friends who do this can help them start a new life here,” explains João Fes, a deacon from a Manhattan church who works at the reception. Speaking of nationalities, he asserts: “There is everything from penniless Venezuelans to Guatemalans or Hondurans fleeing the gangs.”
Abbott and Adams were locked in a bitter controversy for weeks, with particular resonance on social media and in the press. The bus left Eagle Pass two days after Adams announced emergency measures to exponentially increase shelter capacity. It certainly wasn’t a free announcement: Last month, the city broke a law guaranteeing the right to housing by banning people who had applied for admission to Bronx family housing (the Social Housing Network , which is in the city is lacking). In defending himself, Adams blamed asylum seekers sent from Texas and Arizona, and Abbott saw the time to fight back.
Like Washington, Abbott said in a statement this weekend, New York “is the ideal destination for these migrants, who can obtain the wealth of city services and housing that Mayor Eric Adams has boasted about in the city.” I hope he is keeping its promise to welcome all migrants with open arms so our overrun and overwhelmed border towns can find relief.”
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Both Adams and Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser point out that their cities will be overwhelmed by the influx of asylum seekers when the shelter and shelter system for the homeless is already full. In New York, there were 50,000 filled places last week, up from 46,000 in mid-May, although the department responsible has declined to detail how many of the migrants who have arrived in recent months have been accepted into the system. The network of old hotels that New York activated during the pandemic as a temporary housing solution for the homeless is one of the options to accommodate the most urgent cases, such as families with minors. Adams and Bowser have asked the federal government for help and a meeting of New York officials in Congress on the crisis was scheduled for this Monday.
Adams in particular was not spared criticism of the Washington executive’s lack of cooperation. White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre on Monday cited the immigration crisis and minimized complaints from the mayor, also a Democrat, that the White House is not doing enough. Jean-Pierre noted that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is helping. “That’s up to Governor Abbott. He does,” said the spokeswoman.
Washington, one of the cities that, among other countries of origin, concentrates the bulk of Salvadoran emigration, has received the most buses from Texas and Arizona. For both cities, in the middle of Ferragosto, with warnings of extreme heat and in a difficult economic situation where panels are suffering the effects of inflation, the challenge is to support thousands of exhausted people after trips that in many cases have passed in recent months are, welcome, a capital .
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