Mayor Adams calls for federal help as NYC sees spike in asylum seekers

New York City is making changes to its plan to aid asylum seekers after Mayor Eric Adams declared a state of emergency on Friday.

News 12 Staff

Oct 8, 2022, 1:48 PM

Updated 787 days ago

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New York City is making changes to its plan to aid asylum seekers after Mayor Eric Adams declared a state of emergency on Friday. 
The mayor is calling on federal officials to provide more support in handling the record number of migrants in the city. He says 17,000 migrants have been bussed from Texas.
Previous plans to house thousands of migrants at Orchard Beach were scrapped and replaced with plans of housing 500 at the New Randalls Island location.
The mayor says more than 61,000 people are now in the city's shelter system and that 20,000 are children, with one in five being asylum seekers.  
Immigration advocate Natalia Aristizibal, of Make the Road New York, says more needs to be done to help the migrants.  
"We should be able to figure out as a city that thrives on immigrant labor and have thrived over immigrant stories to be able to provide the best solutions, the best housing and the best services for this population,” she says.  
Adams says the city could see nearly 100,000 asylum seekers going into the new year. He says the city is prepared to address what he labels as a humanitarian crisis.