NEW YORK (PIX11) — New York City expects to receive at least five more buses of migrants overnight, as Mayor Eric Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul continue to defend the use of public parks to address the crisis.
Meanwhile, the building of giant tents on some of the Randall’s Island soccer fields continues — feet from where youth practices are held.
Closing off the public resource to help house 2,000 adult migrant men is happening, despite intense pushback from the local community.
“This place is packed all year round. Taking that away, it’s going to hurt a lot of people,” said one man passing by on Randall’s Island.
On Tuesday, Adams defended the site selection, saying the large space is needed and the entire city needs to step up with nearly 100,000 migrants having been bused from southern states. More than 57,000 remain in the city’s direct care, according to officials.
“We need every New Yorker that has something to offer to play a role. This is not Mayor Adams’ job. This is the job of the people of the city of New York,” Adams said.
Adams appeared alongside the governor at an event in the Bronx.
The state is paying for the construction and staffing of the Randall’s Island site, and Hochul said more state-sponsored sites are coming.
New York officials continue to have to scramble and pay for the flood of asylum seekers because of a lack of federal action.
For many months, they have been demanded expedited working papers, reimbursement for the billions of dollars being spent, and use of federal facilities like Floyd Bennett Field.
U.S. Rep. Jamaal Bowman said New York’s congressional delegation has been stressing the economic and political consequences of inaction to the White House.
“We need the president to take a leadership role, because here’s the thing, Democrats are looking bad in New York state, and that is unacceptable when we have to win four congressional seats to take back the House, so hopefully the president is listening,” Bowman said.
