For a very long time now, the U.S. has experienced increasing numbers of migrants entering the country. The amount of people illegally crossing the U.S. – Mexico border has increased recently and many of these people are being sent to large cities, such as Chicago and Philadelphia. However, the biggest place for migrants and immigrants like these is New York City. New York has long been known as a welcoming place for migrants and immigrants alike. According to certain sources, about two fifths of all residents are from other countries. While this has been something that the famous city has prided itself on for centuries, New York is close to reaching a breaking point after nearly 50,000 new migrants entered the city within the last year. 

Some states such as Texas and Arizona recently began to pay for buses that were traveling north so that they wouldn’t have to, as said by the New York Times, carry “the financial burden of caring for the migrants.” Many people who traveled by these buses ended up in New York, thus leading to this huge increase in new migrants. Within just a week, New York saw nearly 3,000 new migrants enter the city. New York is currently trying to maintain its promise to help shelter those who need it and they are including migrants in this, at least for now. The city has had to open a lot of new shelters all over. This is not cheap. These programs have cost around 300 million dollars within less than the last year. This is quite an expensive program for New York, both financially and socially, as this is changing the way the city functions, which is affecting many, many people. 

All of this is causing many political debates. Some say that states such as Texas and Arizona are acting in completely appropriate ways, while others say that they should foster an environment that supports migrants better and not make cities like New York have to take care of such huge numbers of migrants. 

Cites

nytimes.com 

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/30/nyregion/migrants-protest-shelter.html