(NewsNation) — Migrants have mailed more than 1,300 asylum applications with the help of New York City’s Asylum Application Help Center since the program began at the end of June.
Officials touted the Asylum Application Help Center after its launch last month, with Mayor Eric Adams saying it can assist migrants through the “complex federal immigration process,” and bring them one step closer to being eligible for work authorization and to support themselves.
“Asylum seekers arriving to our country are seeking to build the American Dream, and here in New York City, we are working to give them a shot at it,” Adams said in a statement Wednesday. “This is an all-hands-on deck issue, and we are doing what no one else has done: Coming together from all corners of our city to help our newest New Yorkers get their applications in.”
A group of higher education institutions led by New York University will provide undergraduate and graduate student application assistance through the fall.
Record numbers of asylum seekers have arrived in the city from across the globe, The New York Times reported, which has nearly doubled the city’s homeless population. More than 100,000 people are currently living in shelters in the city, according to NYT.
Right now, Adams said, the city is currently caring for more than 50,000 migrants. In total, New York City has had more than 90,000 migrants go through its intake system since last spring. An additional 4,000 migrants might arrive by week’s end.
Some migrants were brought to New York City on buses charted by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who was aiming to prove a point about the Biden administration’s border policies. The New York Times notes the vast amount of migrants have also arrived in the city in other ways.
Men, women and children with nowhere else to go have taken to sleeping on the sidewalk outside of Midtown Manhattan’s Roosevelt Hotel after the makeshift intake center for asylum seekers and temporary housing for migrant families with children hit capacity this weekend.
Migrants have expressed complaints of hunger, thirst and a lack of restroom facilities.
Claiming New York City isn’t meeting its legal obligation to provide housing for asylum seekers, the Legal Aid Society has said it may sue.
Although New York City received $100 million from the federal government, officials believe it’s not enough as they’ve already spent more than $1 billion assisting asylum seekers. The cost may surpass $4 billion by next summer.
Dray Clark contributed to this story.