New York City seems to finally be getting some financial support from the federal government when it comes to the continued influx of asylum seekers.
On Friday, the Federal Emergency Management Agency announced that it had allocated over $330 million to more than 30 cities and organizations in the first round of funding for migrants.
Of the over $330 million allocated, New York City’s Office of Emergency Management was given $30.5 million.
The funds are meant to help fund food, shelter and services the city is providing to arriving migrants.
The funding is significantly lower than the initial $300 million the city was asking for.
In a statement, Fabien Levy, the mayor’s press secretary, called the funding “disappointing and woefully insufficient.”
“Let us be very clear: This is both disappointing and woefully insufficient for a city that has carried the cost of sheltering, feeding, and supporting more than 60,000 asylum seekers in the last year,” Levy said. “New Yorkers have stepped up tremendously throughout this crisis and we look forward to working closely with our congressional delegation to remedy this serious mistake.”
When asked about City Hall’s statement about the funding, White House Assistant Press Secretary Abdullah Hassan said the city should be getting more funding, but added that “we are constrained by Congress.”
“We need Congress to step up. We need Congress to not only provide the resources but also the reforms to fix our immigration system and to end to, you know, reform our laws that were actually able to address this challenge once and for all,” Hassan told NY1.
FEMA in its press release noted that New York City got the largest allocation of any city not directly on the southern border.
Source : Spectrum
