NYC mayor declares humanitarian crisis over GOP migrant shipments

Oct. 7 (UPI) -- New York City Mayor Eric Adams issued an order Friday declaring a humanitarian crisis over thousands of migrant asylum seekers sent to the city by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.

Adams' Emergency Executive order said 17,429 people were sent to the city from the southern U.S. border over the past several months without any notice from Texas. It said they arrive without "any immediate plans for shelter."

"This is a humanitarian crisis that started with violence and instability in South America and it is being accelerated by American political dynamics," Adams said in a press conference. "Thousands of asylum seekers have been bused into New York city and simply dropped off without notice, coordination or care and more are arriving every day."

Texas has simply shipped these migrants to New York City without any plans to meet their humanitarian needs and without regard to their well-being when they arrive, Adams said.

He added that New York has seen an average of five to six buses each day since September, adding that Texas has indicated it will continue ship migrants north.

"Many of the asylum seekers are coping with the effects of trauma and exhaustion, as well as other physical and mental health concerns," Adams' executive order said. "The stress on the asylum seekers has been compounded by the additional days of travel to New York City, during which time it has been reported that many have been afforded limited food and water."

He directed all agency heads in the city "take all appropriate and necessary steps to preserve health and public safety during this humanitarian crisis."

Mayor Adams said in the order that his city's DHS shelter is at its highest recorded population of 61,000 people and isn't designed to serve the influx of migrant asylum seekers.

On Tuesday, Adams had to move a tent city sheltering migrants after the emergency shelter site flooded.

In September, President Joe Biden blasted GOP governors in Texas and Florida for sending the migrants to Democrat-led states without proper coordination and concern for their well-being.

Biden said the Republican governors are "playing politics with human beings." He urged them to work with his administration instead to find solutions to immigration issues.