NEW YORK: Beleaguered by a continuing influx of asylum seekers, New York City Mayor Eric Adams is further tightening shelter rules by limiting adult migrants to just 30 days in city-run facilities — to help ease pressures on the city’s already struggling shelter system and perhaps dissuade more migrants from coming.
The move was immediately criticized by advocates for migrants and homeless people as unnecessary and heartless.
But the mayor called the move “another step in our efforts to help asylum seekers take the next step in their journeys.”
Adams announced the tightened restrictions on Friday, after the Biden administration said last week it would grant temporary protected status to hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans who had arrived before July 31, a designation that would allow them to more quickly gain authorization to work in the United States.
The move by the federal government has long been sought by Adams and other big city mayors, whose shelter systems are buckling under the strain of a growing number of migrants they must care for, a number that continues to grow daily.
“We appreciate the support we have received so far from our state and federal partners, but with more than 60,000 asylum seekers still in our care and without additional help, we will be forced to continue making difficult decisions,” Adams said in his announcement.
New York City says it has more than 60,000 migrants currently in its care, about a fourth of them of Venezuelan origin. Since the spring of last year, more than 116,000 migrants have arrived from the U.S.-Mexico border.
In July, Adams had placed a 60-day limit on shelter stays that critics say would be in violation of a court ruling that mandates the city provide shelter to anyone who asks for it.
Critics questioned the need for the time limit when the mayor had gotten a concession from the federal government that would allow Venezuelans a quicker path to securing jobs and become more self-reliant for housing.
“Any policy limiting the amount of time that our clients can reside in shelter is arbitrary and devoid of compassion,” the Legal Aid Society and the Coalition for the Homeless said in a joint statement.
