As we noted in this space yesterday, the city of El Paso, Texas, has joined some Republican governors in shipping migrants to Northern cities, including and especially, New York City.
At the other end of the migrant pipeline, NYC Mayor Adams has been frantically trying to deal with the influx. We reported on September 27 that hizzoner was opening a tent city for 1,000 people in the Bronx’s Orchard Beach community, which didn’t thrill the residents there. Many pointed out that Orchard Beach is prone to flooding, but Adams went ahead and ordered the tents erected.
Then came three straight days of rain, which persuaded the mayor to throw in the towel at Orchard Beach and decamp–to Randall’s Island. That spot is technically in the borough of Manhattan but is conveniently situated in the East River and not served by the NYC subway system. Already the site of numerous public shelters, Randall’s Island seemed like a good place in which to bottle up the growing thousands of “asylum seekers.”
Unfortunately for Adams, it turns out the island may share a proclivity for flooding with Orchard Beach. State Senator Julia Salazar tweeted:
Does anyone else remember that year at Governor’s Ball on Randall’s Island when a mere rainstorm completely flooded the island for days and destroyed the grounds? Anyway, this sounds like a disaster. Please abandon the refugee camp idea and place people in real housing instead.
The mayor is standing firm for the moment, while the buses and the migrants keep coming, more than 1,800 over the weekend, adding up to a total of about 17,000 so far.
This past Friday, while declaring a State of Emergency regarding the influx, Adams complained:
This crisis is not one of our own making, but one that will affect everyone in this city. New Yorkers are angry. I’m angry, too. We have not asked for this. There was never any agreement to take on the job of supporting thousands of asylum seekers.
Actually, Mr. Mayor, you did ask for it, declaring last month:
New York City has always been a sanctuary city. A city with right to shelter. And we’re going to continue to do that. We have a moral and legal obligation to do so.
That’s the down side of virtue signalling braggadocio: somebody might just take you up on it.
For more, see Politico.