NEW YORK (NewsNation) — New York City Mayor Eric Adams estimated the cost of the current migrant crisis in the city for the next two fiscal years, claiming that if state and federal governments don’t step in and help, caring for asylum seekers will cost billions.
If the federal government doesn’t step in and assist with the migrant crisis in New York City, Adams estimated that housing migrants could cost the city at least $4.73 billion in 2024 and $6.13 billion in 2025.
These estimates come as the city nears the arrival of 100,000 migrants since the spring of 2022. Since the beginning of the 2023 fiscal year, the city has already spent $1.45 billion to provide shelter, food and other services for asylum seekers.
A breakdown of the estimates revealed that it costs the city $383 a night to care for just one migrant.
Without additional support, the city has the potential to spend upward of $12 billion over three fiscal years (FY23, FY24, and FY25) on migrant support without policy changes, the press release said.
“Immigration is the New York story. It is the American story. But as I declared nearly a year ago, we are facing an unprecedented state of emergency due to the asylum seeker crisis,” Adams said. “We are past our breaking point. New York City has been left to pick up the pieces of a broken immigration system — one that is projected to cost our city $12 billion over the course of three fiscal years without policy changes and further support from the state and federal governments. Our compassion may be limitless, but our resources are not.”
The city laid out some solutions for the state and federal governments to help prevent the city from potentially spending over $12 billion on migrant relief. One solution even stated for the federal government to officially declare a state of emergency to manage the crisis at the border.