The 'American dream' has triggered a big crisis in New York. The quest for a better life and more opportunities has thousands of immigrants moving to the Big Apple. But at what cost? A housing crisis and a big burden on the administration.
New York City received 118,000 migrants since last year, over 60,000 of them housed in the city's shelter system. But officials are struggling to respond to their needs.
Mayor Eric Adams has called it a humanitarian crisis that could "destroy New York City".
Most migrants came to New York from countries in South America and West Africa in hopes of safety, work and stability. But integrating them into a new city isn't an easy task - both for the migrants and the administration.
The migrants are typically housed in hotels, office buildings and school gyms. The city administration has been paying for budget hotels to house them, but it is now running out of housing options.
The migrant influx could cost $12 billion over three years, claims Mayor Adams who has previously looked into housing migrants in parking lots and cruise ships.
Eric Adams and New York Governor Kathy Hochul have both blamed the Joe Biden's administration for not providing enough support for the migrant crisis.
New Yorkers, aware of the acute crisis, seek a humanitarian approach to the issue and strategic allocation of resources.
"I'm not sure if New York is a good place to be for somebody who wants to start afresh. There's a huge housing crisis, so maybe, it's not the perfect place for immigrants," opines a woman, an immigrant herself.
Some others think the "American dream" is turning out to be a "nightmare", but still a lot can be done to help them.
"It's a crisis even for the people migrating to New York. They are coming from horrible places and switching for opportunities - just like the American dream from so many years ago. The American dream is actually being an American nightmare.New York has very limited space but also a lot of fun space. If we allocate some of those places to help the migrants, that'll be awesome," says a New Yorker.
Besides housing, the migrants are also facing difficulties in finding work as well. Before they can officially start working, they must get a work permit which can take up to six months to process. Without a permit, they can only work as undocumented workers, who are often overworked and underpaid.
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