NYC offers migrants free ticket out of town

(NewsNation) — New York City officials are offering airplane tickets to migrants to leave the state as thousands arrive every day amid a housing crisis.

The city has set up ‘re-ticketing centers’ where migrants can secure plane tickets to anywhere in the world. This comes as some migrants are being evicted from shelters.

The city gave adult migrants 60-day time limits to stay in shelters, which was later shortened to 30 days. Migrants were told to reapply at a site in the East Village, but that site was turned into a ‘re-ticketing center’ for migrants to receive plane tickets to leave New York. 

The New York City Fire Department has begun vacating shelters for fire-code violations and has removed hundreds of beds that migrants used to sleep on. 

New York City Mayor Eric Adams has previously urged the Biden administration to declare an emergency over the humanitarian crisis. More than 130,000 migrants have arrived in New York City since last year.  

The city is expected to spend $12 billion in taxpayer funds for the next 3 fiscal years for sheltering migrants, according to Adams.

As the city tries out this new approach, the Adams administration is also asking a state supreme court to suspend parts of the city’s right-to-shelter provisions which require the city to provide temporary housing for every homeless person. 

In Chicago, another city struggling to house thousands of migrants, residents were upset about a planned camp that would house over 2,000 migrants. 

Residents in the Brighton Park neighborhood in southwest Chicago protested a plan by city officials to build a camp for migrants on a 10-acre vacant lot. 

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office said, “The City of Chicago has been identifying viable sites across the city to construct base camps as an alternative to new arrivals sleeping outdoors, at O’Hare and on the floors of police district stations as winter fast approaches.” 

During a meeting, residents voiced their frustrations, saying they are concerned for their children who walk on the streets daily. 

Local officials were not informed of the city’s plan until residents contacted them, prompting a call for greater transparency regarding migrant housing in the neighborhood.