The federal government is on the brink of sending New York City hundreds of millions of dollars in emergency aid to help stabilize its spiraling migrant crisis — after months of pleas for assistance from Mayor Adams, the Daily News has learned.
The cash infusion, which comes as the city braces for a new wave of migrant arrivals, will be sourced from an $800 million pot that is expected to be baked into an annual funding bill Congress must pass by the end of this week to avoid a government shutdown, said a source close to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), a lead negotiator on the matter.
The pot, which is set to be overseen by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, would provide assistance for migrant crisis operations nationwide. An exact dollar figure for how much New York City will get was not immediately available.
However, considering more than 21,000 mostly Latin American migrants remain in the city’s care, the Adams administration will receive the “substantial share” of the new funds, the Schumer source told The News.
In addition, Adams’ administration will likely be able to tap more migrant-related assistance from U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development coffers, the source added.
Still, the expected FEMA assistance falls short of what Adams has for months been asking the feds for — and he hinted Tuesday afternoon that a subset of $800 million won’t be enough funding from his point of view.
“We’re encouraged by the news of hundreds of millions in additional federal funding to support asylum seekers and look forward to receiving the resources we need here in New York City. With over 800 people arriving in the past four days alone, it’s clear that we still need a comprehensive strategy at our border and additional resources,” Adams said in a statement. “We cannot be put in a position where we have to choose between services for New Yorkers and supporting arriving asylum seekers.”
Since Central and South American migrants started arriving by the thousands this spring, Adams has said he expects that the city will need a bailout from President Biden’s administration in the range of at least $1 billion this fiscal year alone.
On Monday, Adams threatened that his administration will need to reduce “every” public service in the city — from policing and sanitation to education and social programs — unless federal help comes soon, citing the intense financial pressure the migrant crisis is putting on city agencies. He did not elaborate on how those potential service cuts would play out in practice.
The aid that’s expected to soon be bound for New York will come from FEMA’s Emergency Food and Shelter Program, according to the source.
That program reimburses municipalities for costs related to providing shelter, food, transportation, health care and other supportive services during humanitarian crises. The Schumer source said the program will this time around also reimburse cities for costs related to constructing or expanding emergency shelter facilities — presumably such as the controversial migrant tent camp Adams’ administration operated on Randalls Island for less than a month this fall.
It’s unclear exactly how much Adams’ administration has so far spent on accommodating and providing services for migrants, most of whom are fleeing violence and poverty in their home countries in hopes of obtaining asylum in the U.S.
Lisa Flores, Adams’ chief procurement officer, testified before the City Council on Monday that the administration has so far shelled out $250 million on just sheltering migrants. To house migrants, the administration has rented up hundreds of hotel rooms across the city and launched five “Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Centers,” including the since-shuttered Randalls tent camp.
Thousands of migrants have also been housed in the city homeless shelter system, whose population remains at an all-time high.
In a counter to Adams’ grim fiscal predictions, the city Independent Budget Office released an estimate Monday showing that the city will end this fiscal year with a $2 billion budget surplus. The prediction also held the city will spend $347 million on the migrant crisis this fiscal year, which ends June 30, far less than Adams has predicted.
Adams’ administration will release its own updated budget forecast next month.
Word of the forthcoming federal aid for New York comes a day before the expected expiration of Title 42, a controversial border policy that has for months slowed down the flow of migrants entering the U.S.
The policy, which was first implemented by former President Donald Trump and has been used by Biden’s administration, too, allows federal authorities to expel migrants from the U.S. without considering them for asylum.
A federal judge recently ruled that the policy was illegally implemented by Trump and ordered Biden’s administration to let it expire this Wednesday. However, the Supreme Court stepped in late Monday to temporarily keep Title 42 in place, likely meaning it won’t expire as early as Wednesday.
Adams said earlier this week that a lapse of Title 42 would result in more than 1,000 migrants arriving every week in New York.
“Our shelter system is full, and we are nearly out of money, staff and space,” Adams said Sunday. “This can’t continue.”
