The Biden administration has been sending illegal immigrants at the southern border to New York City and giving them incorrect information about shelters.
According to a new report from WNBC News 4, the Department of Homeland Security is giving migrants “paperwork that directs them to the wrong addresses, leaving them struggling on the streets of NYC without food or shelter”.
News 4 obtained documents that are given to migrants that tell them to go to New York City and go to a specific address to receive services.
Many of those addresses, however, are not family shelters or shelters at all. In some cases, migrants have been sent to sites that are office buildings or ones that don’t accommodate families.
A spokeswoman for Customs and Border Patrol told News 4 that the agency was going to look into the matter, and aimed to have more information soon.
Josh Goldfein, a lawyer for the Legal Aid Society’s Homeless Rights Project, said, “It’s clear that somebody at the border is giving people information that is not accurate about why they should come to New York, where they should go when they get to New York — that is definitely happening”.
One family from Venezuela was forced to sleep in a car after being turned away from a Manhattan shelter that doesn’t accept families.
The Urbaez family spent three days on the street before being directed to the Department of Homeless Services’ Bronx-based family intake center.
“We were not going to split up. We just went back to the streets and thank God we met this guy who helped us out to get to the Bronx,” father Crisman Urbaez said.
Earlier this month, Mayor Eric Adams called on President Biden to provide emergency aid to help NYC deal with the unexpected arrival of nearly 3,000 immigrants.
“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,” he said in a statement.
Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser also recently called on the government to help her city deal with the increase in migrants.
Calling the situation a “humanitarian crisis,” Bowser asked that the D.C. Armory be used as a processing center and D.C. National Guard resources be used to help migrants as they arrive.