The Federal Emergency Management Agency is sending almost $105 million to New York City to help provide services and shelter to the influx of asylum seekers the city has been trying to accommodate, according to Politico.
The funding is part of FEMA’s Shelter and Services Program, which plans to spend about $363 million in total to help cities deal with overwhelming amounts of migrants. New York City alone has seen more than 72,000 migrants pass through since last spring, many of them in need of shelter and basic social services.
This is the second round of funding from the Shelter and Services Program. The first round doled out $332.5 million in early May, of which New York City received about $30 million. That puts New York City’s total at about $135 million, which while substantial, hardly covers the $4.3 billion it expects to spend through next summer on asylum seekers.
While providing housing and social services may not seem like a waste, it’s a cost that should not be incurred in the first place.
In most countries, those seeking asylum must wait for their claim to be adjudicated before they are let into the country. In the U.S., however, asylum seekers can lawfully stay in the U.S. while their claim is pending, a policy Donald Trump temporarily changed with his “Remain in Mexico” policy. In some cases, asylum adjudications can be pending for years.
The border crisis and the country's broken immigration system have many implications, not least of which are financial. The cost to process, adjudicate, and take care of asylum seekers and migrants is skyrocketing with no relief in sight.
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