NYC Mayor Eric Adams visits El Paso as migrant crisis strains city's shelters

Mayor Eric Adams traveled to El Paso, Texas this weekend to survey how the Southern border city is handling the ongoing migrant crisis.

The visit comes as New York City continues to see an influx of asylum seekers arriving at bus stations and airports, straining the city’s shelter system as officials struggle to house and care for the new arrivals. City officials report roughly 40,000 migrants have arrived in the five boroughs since last spring.

Adams on Saturday night visited an area of El Paso where asylum seekers took refuge in tents on the street. The scene was similar to the homeless encampments in New York the mayor ordered to be removed after taking office last year.

The Texas city sees about 900 people arriving each day from across the U.S. Mexico border, according to El Paso city officials.

On Sunday, Adams planned to tour a shelter and a support center for migrants, talk with community residents and visit a U.S. Customs and Border Protection processing facility.

The visit comes as New York City struggles to keep up with the steady stream of people arriving from the Southern border.

More than 3,000 people arrived in New York in the first week of January, and 835 people arrived on a single day last week, the most since the crisis began, city officials said.

On Friday, Adams called on New York Governor Kathy Hochul to help the city, and open a 500-bed shelter for incoming asylum seekers. Hochul has said she’s reviewing the request.

Since last spring city officials have opened more than 70 emergency shelters for asylum seekers. The mayor’s office reports roughly 26,700 migrants are currently staying in city shelters.

The city’s Independent Budget Office estimated in November the cost of caring for the migrants would top $600 million. More than 15,000 asylum seekers have arrived in the city since the report was published, and the mayor’s office has said the cost will exceed $1 billion.

Federal immigration authorities tracked 2.4 million encounters with migrants over the 12-month period ending Sept. 30, the highest number on record, The Texas Tribune reported.

Some $800 million in federal funding was approved in a spending bill in December to assist cities that were accommodating asylum seekers, but Adams has called for further state support, and federal immigration reforms, like granting people temporary work permits.