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New York declares emergency over migrant crisis
New York City Mayor Eric Adams has declared a state of emergency to address a “crisis situation” over an influx of migrants.
More than 17,000 have arrived in the city from the southern border since April.
Republican states like Texas and Florida have been sending migrants to Democratic areas in recent months.
It’s part of a row with the Biden administration as the number of people arriving at the US-Mexico border grows.
Since September, an average of five to six buses have been arriving in the city each day, Mr Adams said at a press conference on Friday. He said that one in five people in the city shelter system is currently an asylum seeker.
Many of those arriving are families with school-aged children and are in serious need of medical care, he said.
The influx is on track to cost New York $1bn (£900m) this fiscal year, and the mayor is calling for federal and state funding to help with the costs.
“The city is going to run out of funding for other priorities,” Mr Adams said. “New York City is doing all we can, but we are reaching the outer limit of our ability to help.”
Three states – Texas, Arizona and Florida – have announced initiatives to move migrants to Democratic-led ones, which they have accused of being “sanctuary” jurisdictions that fail to enforce immigration laws.
Officials in those states say the tactic is aimed at mitigating the impact of migration flows in local communities.
They have also said the measure is designed to increase pressure on the Biden administration to do more to reduce the number of people crossing the southern US border, which has hit a record high this year.
Mr Adams said that the city’s social services are “being exploited by others for political gain”.
As part of his emergency declaration, the mayor will issue an executive order that allows the city to dedicate resources to support the asylum seekers and expedite any response efforts.
A spokesperson for Texas Governor Greg Abbott dismissed the declaration by the mayor on Friday.
“The true emergency is on our nation’s southern border where small Texas border towns are overrun and overwhelmed by hundreds of migrants every single day as the Biden Administration dumps them in their communities,” said Renae Eze.
Ms Eze said that, as of October, Texas has sent around 3,100 migrants arriving in the state to New York on more than 60 buses.
