Migrants who keep arriving in the city sleep under tents. Lack of space and budget limited the options of the city, which also fought in court to change the right of refuge law, which is unique in jurisdictions like New York. Floyd Bennett Federal Airfield will house 500 new arrivals under tents.
“We will make sure to do an evaluation to detect chickenpox and tuberculosis, and we will offer vaccines. Our team of social workers will be there to know about their intentions, if they want to travel to another place, or to provide advice on work permits. We will establish a 60-day period with multiple points of contact,” said Ted Long, Vice President of Healthcare for New York Hospitals.
Newly arriving migrants seek shelter elsewhere.
“I asked the woman not to send me to a shelter so far away, that she didn’t want to move me, to leave me in Queens because there was work there and everything,” said Susana, a migrant who recently or just arrived.
“It’s not the same because traveling for children also makes it difficult for us to go and bring them,” said Susana, Migrant.
Pro-immigrant organizations objected to migrants sleeping under tents and demonstrated outside the mayor’s residence in Manhattan.
“We need more investment to ensure that we provide people with the services they need to become self-sufficient, to transition from shelter to permanent housing, and also to obtain legal status,” said Murad Awawdeh, Director of the New York Immigration Coalition.
The mayor said the immigration crisis will force him to implement staggered budget cuts of 15 percent for each of his agencies in the next fiscal year, representing, among other things, 4,000 fewer police officers to patrol the streets and millions of dollars to hospitals, firefighters, and garbage collection.
According to recent data from the city, only 2 percent of the 140,000 migrants who have arrived so far have applied for work permits.
