Migrant Crisis in New York City

"If you're going to leave your country, go somewhere else."  

"We have to let the word out that when you come to New York, you’re not going to have more hotel rooms.We don’t have capacity, so we have to also message properly." 

"The smarter thing is to apply for asylum before you leave your country."

"[It was never meant to ensure] an unlimited, universal right or obligation on the city to have to house literally the entire world."

"[Places like New York] really are at capacity. We have large hearts. You want to be generous and supportive to people who are experiencing humanitarian crisis, but there is a limit to what we can do."

New York State Governor Kathy Hochul

Anti-migrant protesters demonstrate outside the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City on Friday. (Barry Williams for NY Daily News via Getty Images)

"This is a crisis of their own making [Democratic lawmakers]."

"It's very similar to cashless bail. When you create a sanctuary city policy that invites migrants to come regardless of their status, you are going to get a lot of people coming, and now they can't handle the influx."

Republican Representative Mike Lawler

"The No.1 thing I learned as an Army officer: When in charge, take charge."

"We are in a crisis, the president is in charge, and he and his team need to take charge."

Democratic Representative Pat Ryan

"Everybody understands this is a potential liability [the migrant crisis in view of an upcoming general election]."

"I know there's been a lot of finger-pointing and kerfuffles, but there's also pretty good evidence the mayor and the governor are trying to figure out how to solve this."

Democratic consultant Tim Persico

Migrants are pictured outside the Roosevelt Hotel, currently being used as a shelter, in New York City. (Luiz C. Ribeiro/New York Daily News/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

In fact, New York felt so desperately overwhelmed by the ongoing flood of seemingly unstoppable arrivals who accepted the challenge from the Texas border with Mexico to travel on to sympathetic Democratic cities like New York, with its sympathetic credentials, they even bused them there. And New York in turn convinced new arrivals they'd be better off continuing their journey and to cross the New York border in Canada at Quebec, to which purpose they too bused unwanted migrants to the border where taxis were only too eager to bring them to Roxham Road where they could foot it into Quebec.

There, thousands of migrants, making their way to illegal crossings, ignoring the legitimate crossings where they would be questioned and when declaring themselves 'refugees' would be returned to the American side, reflective of a 'safe first border' agreement between the two countries where migrants were to be returned to their first country of entrance. In bypassing the legitimate border crossing and declaring themselves refugees, the RCMP escort them to an official Border crossing where they fill out applications for refugee status.

And then their accommodation and humanitarian social services become the headache of whichever Canadian community they wander into, where their numbers have created problems so great that many are forced to sleep out on the streets of cities like Toronto, unable to support and house any more migrants, and where their presence and humanitarian needs compete with Canadian families in dire need of supported housing and other public social measures.

 

The camping migrants didn’t want to move out of fear they would lose their spot in line CNN

 

During the current election season in the United States drawing ever closer, migrants and the need to give them haven, despite efforts to restrain them from crossing the border from Mexico, has become a conflicting political issue moving to impact the 2024 U.S. election. With Republicans increasingly critical of the Democrats' inability to stem the flow of migrants, hoping to use the issue and the rising tide of voters' anger at the disruptions to give them the political leverage they need to secure the House majority.

New York has seen a rapid arrival of over 100,000 asylum-seekers, wreaking havoc on government budgets, and turning Democrats against one another in their hapless efforts to stem the tide. Republicans whose election status seemed less than assured in a half-dozen districts now view the volatile issue as a lifeline. Where they point the electorate toward the picture of a Democratic party incapable of governing adequately and coping with the dilemma.

For their part, Democratic candidates have clashed with their Republican counterparts, but also with their own party leaders, President Biden included. The lone front-line Democrat who survived the Republican suburban victories in the 2022 midterm elections has made peace with two Republicans, the trio demanding that Biden declare a state of emergency. Paul Ryan broke with his party in support of a bill to discourage schools from sheltering migrants.

Another Democrat trying to take a neighbouring district spoke of the "offensive" aloofness of the Democratic president, on the pressing refugee issue. He was joined by a former Democratic congressman mounting a comeback attempt of his own, warning of "consequences at the polls" should his party not step up to a solution. The issue that drives them, where almost three thousand migrants arrive in a week has shifted battle lines.

 

Migrants accept apples as they camp outside the Roosevelt Hotel.  CNN

 

The irony is that New York while a city acknowledged as a bastion for immigrants has seen a challenge to its political system. It is currently housing approximately 59,000 asylum-seekers nightly, reflecting a unique right-to-shelter mandate dating back decades, while preparing to enroll some 19,000 migrant children this fall in public schools. Temporary shelters in hotels, parks, on public land have prompted harsh protests.

While New York City Mayor Eric Adams repeatedly warns of budget cuts caused by the cost of caring for the newcomers which keep rising into billions of dollars of taxpayer money that could otherwise be used to help New Yorkers themselves, as the Republicans helpfully point out. A recent poll found 82 percent of registered voters consider the migrant influx a "serious problem", with a majority stating that their state had "already done enough" for asylum seekers and should focus on curtailing their arrivals.

"Let me tell you something New Yorkers, never in my life have I had a problem that I did not see an ending to — I don’t see an ending to this."

"This issue will destroy New York City."

Mayor Eric Adams

Migrants line up along 45th Street.  CNN