"This is one of the last places we want to look at. None of us are comfortable with having to take these drastic steps," the mayor told NY1 on Tuesday."Each gym, the 20 gyms that we are looking at, we have not made a final determination on all the gyms, but that we are looking at are separate from the actual school buildings. They are independent from the school buildings.
At least 65,000 asylum-seekers have come through the city so far, including 4,200 last week alone, officials said. Adams said the city expects as many as 15 buses this weekend. Orange County officials said that the city was planning on sending seven busses of migrants to the county Tuesday. "We need the federal government to step up, but until they do, we need other elected officials around the state and country to do their part. New York City is out of space and we're only asking Orange County to manage approximately one-fourth of 1% of the asylum seekers who have come to New York City, with New York paying for shelter, food, and services," the spokesperson said in a statement.
Following the lifting of Title 42 -- a pandemic-era rule that allowed the easier expulsion of migrants -- Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has continued to bus migrants to major cities like New York. Local, state and city officials have voiced concerns about a lack of planning to accommodate the migrants as New York operates a shelter system above capacity and vows to send migrants to counties that have already declared a state of emergency.