NYC Offers More Than $6 Million to Support Asylum-Seekers Amid Influx

Illegal immigrants board a bus after being apprehended near the border between Mexico and the United States in Del Rio, Texas, on May 16, 2021. Sergio Flores/AFP via Getty Images

The New York City mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs has announced a new multimillion-dollar package to be spent as aid for asylum-seekers.

In total, the office will grant $6.75 million worth of contracts to nonprofit organizations for “case management and other critical services” in support of asylum-seekers, the office said on Aug. 14 on Twitter. The grant doesn’t mention a need to differentiate legitimate asylum-seekers from illegal immigrants.

The office intends to grant the contract to one not-for-profit entity that offers the “most advantageous offer” to the city.

Organizations will be judged on three criteria—experience, proposed approach, and organizational capability/ability to mobilize immediately.

The selected entity will perform service operations and case management services at one NYC Asylum Seeker Service Navigation Center and five to 10 citywide satellite sites. The organization will be tasked with volunteer recruitment, service flow and client management, public information and education, provision of goods, distribution of supply bags, and so on.

The spending package comes at a time when New York City is seeing a significant influx of legitimate asylum-seekers as well as illegal immigrants, as Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has sent buses filled with border crossers to the city. NYC is a sanctuary city that protects illegal immigrants from being arrested and deported by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Abbott justified his decision to send migrants to New York by noting the Biden administration’s failure to acknowledge the immigration crisis.

“New York City is the ideal destination for these migrants, who can receive the abundance of city services and housing that Mayor Eric Adams has boasted about within the sanctuary city,” Abbott said in an Aug. 5 statement.

“I hope he follows through on his promise of welcoming all migrants with open arms so that our overrun and overwhelmed border towns can find relief.”

Illegal Alien Influx

During an Aug. 9 testimony at an emergency City Council hearing, NYC Department of Social Services Commissioner Gary Jenkins said that the city had opened 11 hotels to accommodate the recent influx of immigrants.

From May, the city started to see a rise in immigrants. For the next three months, the city saw more than 4,000 immigrants arrive. By Aug. 9, there were around 17,000 people in the city’s emergency shelter system, including 8,800 children.

A recent report by the Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI) ranked New York City as America’s “Most Dangerous Sanctuary Community,” up from second place in 2019.

In a statement, Dale L. Wilcox, IRLI executive director and general counsel, blamed “incredibly poor leadership” for communities that have earned their place on the list.

“Data overwhelmingly shows that sanctuary policies lead to more crime, fear, and death. The leaders of these communities should not escape accountability for the damage they have caused. Their residents deserve much more.”