NYC mayor declares state of emergency over influx of asylum seekers

New York Mayor Eric Adams has declared a state of emergency to help handle a recent influx of migrants, a crisis he says will inevitably cost the city $1 billion this fiscal year, CNN reports.

"We now have a situation where more people are arriving in New York City than we can immediately accommodate, including families with babies and young children," Adams told reporters Friday. "Once the asylum seekers from today's buses are provided shelter, we would surpass the highest number of people in recorded history in our city's shelter system."

Nine buses from Texas arrived in the city on Sept. 18 (the most in one day), and at least 1,011 people seeking sanctuary arrived between Sept. 16 and Sept. 18, city officials told CNN. Texas Gov. Greg Abbot (R) has spent millions of dollars to bus migrants from the U.S. southern border to Washington, D.C., New York City, and Chicago in protest of the Biden administration's immigration policies. In September, Abbott's office estimated they had shipped over 11,000 migrants to sanctuary cities since August.

Adams has requested that the federal government provide New York with more resources, including those related to housing, as the city struggles to handle the new arrivals. The White House has responded by committing FEMA funding and other resources, per CNN.

On Friday, Adams said that while New York is still a sanctuary city, it is unable to handle this migrant influx. The mayor previously denounced Abbott's relocation efforts as politically motivated.

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