New York City continues to find out being a sanctuary city is not all that it's cracked up to be with the ongoing border crisis resulting in hundreds of processed and released migrants arriving to the city on a daily basis.
The latest battle over space deals with setting up a relief shelter in Queens despite community members say they do not want a shelter housing single adult males near a YMCA, elementary school, and playground. Hotels being used by the city for migrants are constantly at capacity and have had issues with migrants acting disorderly.
"We've run out of hotels. We've reached the bottom of the barrel. That's where we are. We're out of good options, we're out of even OK options," Deputy Mayor Fabian Levy said. "These are the only options left. And it's a question of do you want people on the streets or do you want people sleeping on cots?"
City officials said the number of people coming from the southern border that New York City has to take care of has gone up from 15,000 to 60,000.
“We've run out of hotels.... We've reached the bottom of the barrel. That's where we are… We're out of good options. We're out of even OK options. These are the only options left… Do you want people on the streets or do you want people sleeping on cots?” - @Fabien_Levy pic.twitter.com/KLfMKnJvMZ
— CeFaan Kim (@CeFaanKim) August 15, 2023
One of the other locations being considered to house homeless migrant is at Fort Wadsworth on Staten Island, which Borough President Vito Fossella says is unacceptable.
"To compel the federal government to put tents on the National Mall before any other federal property is used to accommodate migrants. The federal government should solve it before forcing the people of Staten Island and others to solve their problem that they created," Fossella said, according to CBS News.