New York City’s misguided policies continue to showcase the disastrous effects of being a sanctuary city, as the ongoing border crisis has resulted in waves of processed and released migrants arriving on a daily basis. The city is now grappling with a fresh battle over space, as it seeks to establish a relief shelter in Queens despite vocal opposition from community members who do not want single adult males housed near a YMCA, elementary school, and playground.
City officials have been desperately using hotels to house the migrants, though this approach is constantly at capacity and has regularly had issues with the migrants acting out in disorderly ways. “We’ve run out of hotels. We’ve reached the bottom of the barrel. That’s where we are. We’re out of good options, we’re out of even OK options,” Deputy Mayor Fabian Levy was forced to admit. “These are the only options left. And it’s a question of do you want people on the streets or do you want people sleeping on cots?”
“We've run out of hotels…. We've reached the bottom of the barrel. That's where we are… We're out of good options. We're out of even OK options. These are the only options left… Do you want people on the streets or do you want people sleeping on cots?” – @Fabien_Levy pic.twitter.com/KLfMKnJvMZ
— CeFaan Kim (@CeFaanKim) August 15, 2023
So much for the sanctuary city approach – clearly it is not as compassionate as its proponents would have the public believe.
The number of migrants coming from the southern border and then being foisted on New York City has skyrocketed, with officials saying that the city now has to take care of an astounding 60,000. To put this into context, this means that New York City now has to deal with four times the number it was originally told it would have to take on. This is an untenable burden for any city to be made to bear, particularly one that is already struggling with a long list of other issues.
One of the other locations being considered to house homeless migrants is at Fort Wadsworth on Staten Island. However, Borough President Vito Fossella has rightly deemed this proposal as totally unacceptable. He has even called on the federal government to take action and solve this crisis, instead of forcing the people of Staten Island and others to deal with the mess that they created.
It is evident that New York City’s sanctuary city policies are an epic failure. They are putting undue pressure on an already burdened system, and forcing communities to deal with problems that they never should have had foisted upon them in the first place. It is high time that the authorities take action and put an end to the reckless policies that have brought about this crisis. It is clear that the time for immigration reform is now – before it is too late.
