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The
centers will provide shelter, food and medical care while
working to connect migrants with family and friends inside and
outside New York City, according to the mayor's office.
The emergency relief centers are part of efforts by Democratic
mayors to deal with thousands of migrants being bused from the
Republican-led border states of Texas and Arizona. Texas
Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican seeking reelection in
November, has bused more than 11,000 migrants to Washington,
D.C., New York City and Chicago since April.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis last week flew about 50 migrants
from Texas to Massachusetts.
The governors, who oppose the more lenient border policies of
U.S. President Joe Biden, a Democrat, say they want to shift the
burden to Democratic areas and have focused on the issue in the
run-up to November midterm elections.
"While other leaders have abdicated their moral duty to support
arriving asylum seekers, New York City refuses to do so,” Adams
said in a statement.
New York is bound by a decades-old consent decree in a
class-action lawsuit to provide shelter for the homeless.
A center for single adults will open in the Bronx in the coming
weeks, the mayor's office said, with the second site being
finalized. More could follow if needed.
The centers for single adults will be climate-controlled tents
with rows of cots akin to those used after natural disasters,
the mayor's office said.
The Legal Aid Society and Coalition for the Homeless said in a
joint statement that they were "deeply concerned" that families
with children could be placed in congregate settings, but were
willing to work with the city.
(Reporting by Jonathan Allen in New York and Ted Hesson in
Washington; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
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