The New York City Department of Education’s Project Open Arms is expanding amid the influx of migrants to New York City.  

The program is dedicated to helping those seeking asylum assimilate into the school system.

Schools Chancellor David Banks and Bronx elected officials gathered outside P.S. 16 in Wakefield. The school has seen a 37-student increase, with students from places such as Venezuela, Chile, and Ecuador.  

Project Open Arms is planning to add more transitional bilingual programs in schools with new students and to provide more funding to allow schools to add staff as they welcome new students.  

The DOE is also actively recruiting Spanish-speaking social workers to assist with mental health for new students who come from families seeking asylum.  

Officials say that school districts 9 and 11 have seen the largest increase of multilingual students, and the DOE says the plan is to place them in schools close to their temporary housing.