‘No More Room’: NYC Posts Fliers at Southern Border Discouraging Illegal Immigrants from Coming to City

New York City has begun distributing English and Spanish fliers at the southern border warning asylum seekers that there is “there is no guarantee we will be able to provide shelter and services to new arrivals.” 

NYC Mayor Eric Adams explained the policy on Wednesday by noting simply that “We have no more room in the city.” Roughly 55,000 migrants are currently under the City’s care. Add the homeless population, and the total number of people currently sheltered in city jumps past 105,000.

Adams also announced policy changes designed to make space for families with children in NYC housing. The city will now require single adult migrants to reapply for housing after 60 days.

The flier distributed to migrants at the border notes that “housing in NYC is very expensive,” and that “the cost of food, transportation, and other necessities in NYC is the highest in the United States”

NYC comptroller Brad Lander criticized the flier distribution, warning against depleting “the defining role of New York as a beacon of promise inscribed at the base of the Statue of Liberty.”

The flier concludes by asking migrants to “please consider another city as you make your decision about where to settle in the U.S.”

Adams also recently called on the Biden Administration to provide additional federal resources to New York City: “If we do not get these urgently needed resources, we may struggle to provide the proper level of support our clients deserve, while also facing challenges as we serve both a rapidly growing shelter population and new clients who are seeking asylum.”

In May, Commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs Manuel Castro noted that the number of migrants arriving daily was rising: “We’re seeing 800 to 1,000 people arrive, right, in recent days, when they arrive in multiple buses, and then by airlines, we can see over 1,000 people a day arrive.”

New York City is a “sanctuary city,” which means city officials and local law enforcement do not cooperate with federal efforts to detain and deport illegal immigrants. Adams defended the city’s sanctuary policy in a May radio interview, pushing back on reports that he planned to reverse the policy.

“Let me be very clear on what I stated. We have [been] a sanctuary city for over 40 years, and when you think about … the law that was put in place or the agreement that was put in place, no one anticipated having 4,200 people come in one week to the city,” Adams said.

The city is involved in an ongoing lawsuit with several upstate counties which are objecting to the city’s efforts to relocate illegal immigrants to hotels in their jurisdictions.