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https://nypost.com/2023/12/05/opinion/nycs-migrant-crisis-is-one-of-its-own-making-we-cannot-house-the-world/

NYC’s migrant ‘crisis’ is one of its own making — we cannot house the world
By Social Links forSeth Barron
Published Dec. 5, 2023, 7:34 p.m. ET

Migrants wait outside building
Migrants wait in the cold to go into a shuttered Catholic School on the
Lower East Side.
Kevin C. Downs for NY Post
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as lawyer says asylum-seekers are ‘at least middle class’
Mayor Adams once again heading to DC for meetings on worsening migrant
crisis —after last trip cut short by FBI raid
New York City’s migrant crisis is turning into something out of a Marx
Brothers movie, only it’s not funny and has no end in sight.

The city is facing a massive hotel and food bill for its “newest
neighbors” at the same time tax revenue has plummeted.

But instead of pulling in the welcome mat and saying, “Sorry, no
vacancies,” we are getting ready to cut spending on police, libraries
and other municipal services.

Calling the situation a “crisis” is a misnomer. A crisis comes from
something unexpected, like an illness or a widespread financial collapse.

But New York City’s problem — accepting hundreds of thousands of
migrants from around the world and taking on the responsibility of
feeding and housing them indefinitely — is totally self-imposed.

It’s like lighting your bed on fire and wondering why the house burned down.

Almost a half-century ago New York, facing a series of public-interest
lawsuits, agreed to provide shelter to a few hundred homeless hard cases.

That original consent decree mushroomed into the multibillion-dollar
shelter system that, until just a few years ago, cared mostly for local
New Yorkers — especially single mothers and their children — who
couldn’t afford a place to live.

The “right to shelter” is totally unique in America. Until recently, no
other jurisdiction accepted the premise it is the public’s
responsibility to house and feed anyone who demands it.

The possibility of abuse has always existed, of course, but was balanced
by the fact the shelter system was inconvenient and relatively unpleasant.

Nobody, the thinking went, was going to take advantage of the city’s
generosity who didn’t absolutely need it as a last resort.

That was until Joe Biden came to the White House promising to reverse
his predecessor’s supposedly harsh immigration policies.

His Day One promise to suspend deportations of illegal immigrants and
end the “Remain in Mexico” rule prompted a rush of migrants parroting
bogus claims of “well-founded” persecution.

Millions of people from all corners of the globe have streamed across
the southern border, and a solid percentage of them have headed straight
to New York City, where we were foolish enough to rent entire hotels in
the middle of Manhattan to shelter these migrants.

SEE ALSO
Brad Lander
EDITORIAL
NYC Comptroller Brad Lander keeps grandstanding on migrants, making
crisis worse
News quickly spread down the line that New York City — where we cared
enough to make sure that the free food was “culturally appropriate” and
the Internet and laundry service were prompt — was the place to come.

There’s an old saying that a luxury indulged in twice soon becomes a
necessity. That applies to social services, too.

Once the city established a high standard of accommodation for the
“newest New Yorkers,” any cuts to the program were regarded as inhumane.

Mayor Adams’ efforts to draw reasonable limits around migrants’
expectations have failed miserably, as advocates and elected officials
condemn time limits on shelter stays as a human-rights violation.

Progressives latch onto proposed solutions that achieve nothing. Turning
Floyd Bennett Field into a migrant-housing center was hailed by Gov.
Hochul as a slam dunk, but migrants have refused to move there, and the
Legal Aid Society calls the facility “not humane.”

Expedited work authorizations were supposed to solve the problem, but it
turns out few migrants have applied for them. Why should they?

New York is a sanctuary city, after all, and has always tolerated people
working “off the books.” Why sign up to pay taxes when you can work for
cash, and there’s no penalty for doing so?

Mayor Adams and the rest of the city’s elected leadership have begged
the White House to cover the cost of housing the migrants, but the Biden
administration’s attitude is that this end of the mess is our
responsibility.

101
What do you think? Post a comment.
And it isn’t wrong about that. Nobody forced New York to promise to
house, feed and clothe the world’s poor, in the middle of the most
desirable real estate on Earth, forever.

Adams has the right idea in limiting shelter stays. But until the city
ditches the outdated “right to shelter” requirement it has imposed on
itself, the trend is totally unsustainable.

The old paradox has finally been realized: You can’t have open borders
and a welfare state without collapsing the system.

Seth Barron is managing editor of The American Mind and author of “The
Last Days of New York.”

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FILED UNDER ERIC ADAMS ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS IMMIGRATION KATHY HOCHUL
MIGRANTS 12/5/23
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tippytoes
17 hours ago

Adams has been talking about amending the Right to Shelter since last
Spring. He's not doing much besides dangling the solution and taking as
many opposing arguments as possible. Even IF the Right to Shelter
remained unchanged (which it should NOT), Adams has no basis to apply it
to non-US citizens...

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DJM123
7 hours ago

So perhaps it is time to accept that blather for the mouths of NYC
politicians is just that - unless you have to believe what they say.
Stop electing these people.

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T O
4 hours ago

Stop electing these people is correct but in doing so voters need to
start at the foundation by not re-electing Biden.

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Zeno
4 hours ago

He did acquire many new fancy clothes and a diamond ear stud.

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Kim Mary
4 hours ago

Here in Texas we are shipping illegals up to nyc as fast as possible.
Especially the single males with face tats. You are welcome.

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Tun O'Reilly
9 hours ago

Why should NY City get Federal money? That would mean millions of
Americans across the country end up paying for New York's failed
policies and keeping their mayor in office. We never voted for their
mayor; New Yorkers did. So the billions of dollars it will take to
support the migrants should c...

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Leeann
7 hours ago

Did you vote for Biden who created this mess?

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Kxyzzy
6 hours ago

I am against giving FED Money to any Sanctuary City. It was their
choice, not the rest of the nation's and to force us to finance their
decisions is unacceptable. If NYC goes into bankruptcy then it will be
necessary for the administration to detail how they plan to get in good
fiscal shape. It ...

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