New York City awarded millions in contracts to remove migrants as prominent Democrats lobbied President Joe Biden to declare a state of emergency to grapple with the recent wave of illegal immigrants that entered the city. The contracts awarded by New York Mayor Eric Adams (D) were used to send the migrants to other parts of the Empire State.
The Adams administration awarded $432 million in a no-bid contract to the medical company DocGo in May in order to send more than 1,500 migrants across New York State. City documents reveal that the company previously utilized by the city for coronavirus testing has given the migrants medical care and room and board paid for by taxpayers.
New York estimates that more than 90,000 migrants entered the city since last spring.
New York currently pays an average of about $250 per day to care for the migrants, including the cost of a hotel room. Some of the hotels cost as much as $385 per day.
While homeless Americans sleep on the streets of #NYC, 2 blocks away migrants attacks New Yorkers? What is going on in New York City? 😒 pic.twitter.com/H2QtvG4Fjt
— Curtis Sliwa (@CurtisSliwa) July 24, 2023
The city currently faces a financial challenge due to the strain of the migrant wave. Adams previously stated that New York may be forced to cut back on services for citizens to pay for the increasing cost of housing and handling the illegal immigrants.
Last month, Adams said that the city may cut hours at its libraries, daycare services and meals for senior citizens. New York plans to spend more than $4 billion between 2022 and 2024 to care for the migrants.
The current immigration crisis sparked more than 50 New York Democrats to call for Biden to declare a state of emergency to aid the city.
According to the letter to the president, the Democrats wrote that the city “is experiencing an unprecedented migrant influx, with a surge of asylum seekers arriving here in numbers never seen before in history.”
The officials described the current situation as “at a breaking point.”
In seeking the emergency declaration, the New York Democrats seek additional resources to help cover funds to manage the current situation.