Mayor Adams admits NYC violated law to shelter asylum seekers amid migrant surge

The busy waiting room inside the PATH intake center on E. 151st St. in the Bronx. Photo Courtesy: New York Daily News

(New York Daily News): Mayor Adams admitted Thursday that his administration violated the law by failing to house several asylum-seeking families in a timely manner earlier this week as the city’s shelter system reels from a recent influx of thousands of Latin American migrants.

As a “right-to-shelter” state, New York is required by law to provide same-day housing for any adult who arrives by 10 p.m. with children at a homeless shelter.

But at a Thursday afternoon news conference, Adams acknowledged that four South and Central American families were not admitted to city shelters within the requisite window Sunday night, forcing them to sleep on the floor of an intake center in the Bronx.

Joined by Department of Social Services Commissioner Gary Jenkins and other top deputies, Adams said the screwup was the result of an “unprecedented surge” of roughly 3,000 migrants since May.

Many of the migrants seeking asylum came from Venezuela, crossed the U.S. southern border and ended up in New York.

(News Source: New York Daily News)