By Javier Otazu - EFE
New York's local government is offering free plane tickets to other U.S. destinations to immigrants who want to leave voluntarily, in an almost desperate attempt to decongest the city in the face of a relentless flow that since the spring of 2022 has brought 133,400 people to the city, according to city figures.
"We have opened more than 210 emergency shelters in response to the crisis, and we have simply run out of space. As there are no signs of decompression in the immediate future, we have established a center (for them to choose) to relocate the immigrants," a New York government spokesperson told EFE.
"The city is going to redouble its efforts to buy tickets for immigrants and help them take the next step in their journey," they continued, adding that the center is located at the Roosevelt Hotel, a historic site that has been converted into a center for immigration operations months ago.
Although the press is forbidden to enter the Roosevelt Hotel, it is not difficult to speak to the dozens of immigrants who crowd the entrance in search of information.
Colombian Hector P. has been offered a one-way plane ticket to Denver, but he protests: "What did I miss in Denver? I don't know anyone there," so for the moment he has refused, but he hasn't discarded the idea entirely, because "here in New York there are a lot of us for a few jobs."
At his side, Ecuadorian José Luis S. recounts a similar experience: in his case, he was offered tickets "to Denver, Chicago and Florida," but he also turned it down, because when he asked if it was accompanied by a job offer, he received a refusal.
Asylum seekers line up outside the historic Roosevelt Hotel, which has been converted into a municipal shelter for newly arrived immigrant families, in New York City.Anadolu Agency / Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
At the door of the Roosevelt, everyone knows a friend or relative who has been offered a flight, and only those with relatives in other cities are weighing the idea.
The offer of free flights is in addition to the one that the city already made in February of free bus travel. At the time, New York had received 45,000 immigrants and several hundred of them — official figures were never released — left in buses paid for by the New York local government to various cities, in some cases as far as Canada, creating a political problem in the neighboring country due to its lax reception rules.
Increasingly Difficult for Single Immigrants
Héctor and José Luis have just been expelled from a shelter in Long Island City in application of a recent municipal directive to limit their stay in municipal facilities to sixty days precisely to make room for other new arrivals.
[Biden sent inspectors to New York to see how the city is handling the immigration crisis. Here's what they found.]
Although the authorities have not specified it, it is clear that they are giving priority to families with children in their care, and it is common to see groups of minors leaving hotels and shelters in the mornings for schools, where Hispanics usually have support from bilingual teachers who help them in their English immersion courses.
But authorities are being much tougher on single immigrants, whom they have begun evicting from their shelters, according to several testimonies.
In recent days, a rumour has circulated that, once the roofs have been exhausted to accommodate new immigrants, who nevertheless continue to arrive, the local government is considering the option of using tents as an alternative, an idea that has angered immigrant aid organisations for being raised just on the eve of winter.
And while authorities have not confirmed what criteria they will use to send migrants to a tent or whether they will be individual or large collective tents, they have not denied the news either. "All options are on the table," they said in a message sent to the EFE news agency.