NYC struggling to settle migrants being bused from Texas

New York City officials have become overwhelmed by the number of migrants being bused from Texas and are struggling to provide a promised intake center and hotel rooms for those coming.

Given the large number of migrants arriving in the city, the Department of Homelessness Services had planned to open an intake and processing center for the arrivals.

Officials had initially planned to open the Midtown shelter and intake center as soon as August 15—two weeks ago.

Additionally, the department had plans to rent around 5,000 hotel rooms around the city, including 600 rooms at the luxury ROW NYC hotel, to temporarily house the migrants arriving at the Big Apple.

However, the department told the New York Post that it had abandoned its initial plan.

Officials added that they have selected a finalist to operate a Manhattan facility but did not reveal its location or the contractor’s name.

For now, migrants are using the city’s existing shelter system, in addition to 15 “emergency” hotel facilities the city opened to deal with a summer population surge.

“We were already facing a crisis of homelessness in New York City when the flow of these migrant families started in earnest,” said Josh Goldfein, a lawyer with the homeless rights advocacy division at Legal Aid.

“We’ve always had asylum seekers in the New York City shelter system, so that is not new. But obviously, the volume increased.”

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has sent more than 7,400 migrants to Washington, D.C. since April and more than 1,500 migrants to New York City since August 5 in an effort to push back against the nation’s immigration policies.