“Migrant crisis escalates as New York City prepares for up to 1,000 arrivals per day amid political controversy”

More than a week before Title 42 was scheduled to end, a bus arrived at the Port Authority Bus Terminal in midtown Manhattan at 7 am sharp. On board were 41 recently arrived migrants.

Most were families with children and almost all were from Venezuela, said Ilze Thielmann of Team TLC NYC, a volunteer group that offers support to newcomers. A second bus arrived around 1 pm with 50 passengers, the group said.

A year after the first peak in migrant arrivals in New York City, the arrival of buses to Port Authority has become a highly controlled operation: arriving migrants are greeted by volunteers and then rushed to centers organized by the municipality in order to put them in contact with services and shelters that often operate in hotels and other facilities.

Buses arrived a little more slowly at the beginning of the year, but now the city is preparing for many more to come.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, has resumed a program launched last year that sends migrants to Democratic-run cities, including Los Angeles, Chicago, Denver and Washington, D.C.

Manuel Castro, New York City’s immigration commissioner, said up to 1,000 migrants a day could arrive in the coming weeks.

Last week, Castro told reporters at the bus terminal that Governor Abbott is “clearly using them for political purposes,” echoing remarks by Mayor Eric Adams, who is locked in a rhetorical fight with the Texas leader. since last summer. The mayor has also criticized President Joe Biden for not doing more to help cities cope.

“It’s becoming more of a crisis because the federal government refuses to step in to stop what Governor Abbott is doing and bring immediate relief to the people,” Castro added.

For his part, Abbott said last week that his state would continue to “this program needed” to relieve border cities.

Chicago has faced similar pressures and a dilemma similar to New York: Many of its residents welcome their cities’ reputation as a sanctuary for new immigrants, but the arrival of more than 8,000 migrants has tested their willingness. (Almost 60,000 have arrived in New York, but not all have stayed.)

In Washington, DC, a surge in migrant arrivals could worsen an already difficult situation for organizations trying to get housing and services for those who were bussed into the city last week, said Diana Fula of the Congregation Action Network. Fula said that the hotels that have served as temporary shelters are full.

“We will end up seeing migrants sleeping in tents or next to cars because that is how the government is treating migrants who have no other choice; soon this will be our reality in the city, ”she said in a telephone interview.