NEW YORK, Oct 7 (Reuters) – New York City Mayor Eric Adams declared a state of emergency on Friday in response to the thousands of Latin American migrants bused to the city in recent months from the U.S. southern border, straining the city’s homeless shelter system.
The city expects to spend $1 billion to manage the influx of asylum seekers, Adams said in a speech at City Hall. More than 17,000 have come to New York since April; an average of five or six buses have arrived each day since early September, with nine buses pulling into the city on Thursday, said Adams, a Democrat.
The surge of arrivals has set a record for the number of people in shelters across the city.
“Although our compassion is limitless, our resources are not,” Adams said, calling on the federal and state governments to provide support. “We are at the edge of a precipice.”
The state of emergency will make it easier for city agencies to coordinate their response more quickly, Adams said.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican who is seeking a third term in November’s midterm elections, has bused more than 3,000 migrants to New York as part of a deliberate effort to call attention to record crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border.
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