NEW YORK — New York City welcomed new groups of immigrants today, arriving on buses chartered by Texas Republican Gov. Gregg Abbott, at a time when the city is “at capacity” in shelters and resources economic.
The first bus arrived at the Port Authority at 6:30 local time (10:30 GMT), with 41 Latino immigrants, many of them families with children.
The second arrived at 1:30 local time (5:30 p.m.), this time with 50 people, all Latin Americans, of whom 27 were adults and 23 children. Immediately, as has been the case since last August (when the first buses arrived), they were provided with food, immigration guidance, and other services at the same port facility.
The Mayor’s Commissioner for Immigrant Affairs, Manuel Castro, who welcomed the immigrants and shook their hands, lashed out again at Abbott for sending buses without any coordination with the city.
He also criticized the federal government, because, close to a year after the flow of immigrants began, it has done little to support the city with the declared humanitarian crisis due to the arrival of more than 50,000 immigrants who have arrived since May 2022.
“We are disappointed with the federal government because it has not intervened at the border to prevent Governor Abbott from taking advantage of immigrants, who just want support,” he said.
He argued that the sending of immigrants to Democratic cities like New York and Chicago “is creating chaos” and added that “the blame has to be shared with the federal government that has not yet helped New York adequately,” adding that New York only has received 8 million dollars.
“Today we ask President (Joe) Biden, the federal government, to act now. We cannot wait any longer,” he said.
In August of last year, Abbott began sending buses to Democratic cities and immigrant sanctuary cities, including New York, in response to the Biden Administration’s open border policy, which the Republican says is “overwhelming” the entire the Texas border region.
So far, New York has received more than 57,000 immigrants and more than 34,000 are in public shelters and 120 hotels that the city has had to hire. Immigrants have continued to pour into the city on their own by buses or by air, some 1,400 a week, according to New York Mayor Eric Adams.
Castro told EFE this Wednesday that the city’s reception infrastructure “is at its maximum” with more than 120 hotels converted into shelters where “there is no more space” and recalled that the tourism season is beginning soon, which means “less space to accommodate so many people.
“This is a double crisis: the one that those who are arriving are suffering and also in the city because our infrastructure is not enough for more,” he argued.
“We hope that the federal government becomes aware and we do not reach the point where families (immigrants) and others are left on the streets without shelter,” he reiterated.
2023-05-04 07:19:15
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