The daily massive arrival of migrants in New York aboard buses from Texas and other border states has forced the city to reorganize its reception network to avoid the collapse of its system.
Evoking the role played by the small Ellis Island, located in front of the Statue of Liberty, as a gateway for millions of migrants to the United States during the first decades of the 20th century, the mayor of New York, Eric Adams, announced that his Government will open emergency centers to receive and guide asylum seekers.
A group of migrants arrive at the Port Authority bus terminal in New York from Texas on August 30, 2022. Bloomberg via Getty Images
"This is not a normal homeless crisis, but rather a humanitarian crisis that requires a different approach," Adams said in a statement Thursday.
"While other leaders have abdicated their moral duty to support asylum seekers arriving [in the United States], New York City refuses to do so," he stressed.
"Like the generations that came to our city before, New York will provide the thousands of people who now come to our city with the foundation to build a better life," she promised.
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Since April, Texas Governor Greg Abbott has bused more than 11,000 migrants who crossed the border to Washington DC, New York, Chicago and other cities run by Democratic leaders, in a political move to denounce the crisis caused in his state by the incessant arrival of asylum seekers.
This move has been harshly criticized by Democrats and human rights groups.
The governors of Arizona and Florida, also Republicans Doug Ducey and Ron DeSantis, have joined this initiative.
Last week, the latter sent fifty migrants by plane from Texas to the island of Martha's Vineyard, in Massachusetts, an action for which he was sued by the migrants themselves, assuring that they were deceived about their final destination.
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"The uncertainty of not knowing what was going to happen to us"
The immigration policy of the president, Joe Biden, and the reproaches of the Republicans have unleashed a political war in which thousands of migrants have been trapped, who are sent to different parts of the country as soon as they cross the border.
Leida, a Venezuelan who left her country, her husband, Kevin, and their daughter, Victoria, turned themselves in to Texas immigration agents as soon as they crossed the border.
But after several hours in a detention center, they were put on a bus paid for by the state government without having been able to decide anything.
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After three days and two nights of travel, they were left in front of the doors of the residence of the vice president, Kamala Harris, in Washington DC
"There was no one there, only three journalists. We were quite hungry and quite thirsty. And the uncertainty of not knowing what was going to happen to us. Until some volunteers appeared and helped us," Leida told The New York Times. .
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"But already there, another journey begins where you don't know what they are going to do with you, you don't know if there is a deportation, you don't know how they are going to treat you," the woman explained.
After receiving food and clothing, they were sent to New York, where no one was waiting to guide them through the immigration process they had to follow.
Finally, after 30 hours searching for accommodation, they were accepted into a shelter in the Bronx.
"We don't know until what day we are here," Leida said.
"We are waiting. We are in uncertainty," added her husband.
discrepancies
Despite the testimony of migrants like Leida, organizations that assist migrants deny that they are forcibly sent by bus to destinations they do not want.
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This is reiterated by the executive director of the organization Rescue Mission of El Paso, Blake Barrow, who states that "almost all migrants arrive with an idea of final destination."
"Around 20% want to go to New York," he said in a letter posted on his group's website.
"The city has chartered buses to New York to help those who want that destination. I don't know of anyone who has been put on a bus to New York who doesn't want to go there," he said.