New York City is spending $387 every day to house each individual migrant in taxpayer-funded shelters, new data has revealed.
Statistics from City Hall show that the daily bill has been slowly dropping as leaders attempt to slash asylum-seeker spending.
It comes as the ongoing migrant crisis in New York rages on with 64,800 migrants in its care as of last week.
The $387 bill for February was down $5 from October 2023, when there were around 65,400 migrants that required shelter.
New York City is spending $387 every day to house each individual migrant in taxpayer-funded shelters, new data has revealed
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Mayor Eric Adams has been trying to tackle the crisis since spring 2022 amid forecasts that the influx of migrants will set the city back $10billion through next fiscal year.
"In the last two months, Mayor Adams has laid out plans to save billions of taxpayer dollars as New York City manages a national humanitarian crisis, and the numbers show that our efforts are working,” a City Hall spokesperson told The NY Post.
They added that "we expect to save $2.3billion by next summer".
With saving measures in place, City Hall forecasts that the average daily cost of sheltering asylum seekers will top $386 for the 2024 fiscal year but will reduce further to $352 for 2025.
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A City Hall representative said: "As we continue to take action now by implementing the administration’s strategy of managing the population in our care and bringing down per-diem costs, we will continue to advocate for additional support from our state and federal partners."
New York has been a sanctuary city since 1989, a status which forbids city officials from asking questions about a person’s immigration status, or revealing it to federal authorities.
The migrant issue is one of the most polarising in the country and could prove defining at this year’s presidential election.
During Biden’s tenure, more than 6.3 million migrants have been detained crossing into the US illegally - a higher number than under previous presidencies.
Migrants queue outside of the Roosevelt Hotel in New York in July
ReutersFormer Border Patrol Chief, Chris Clem told GB News: "We’re eight or nine months out from election day and it’s important for Biden to at least make a forward-facing attempt to tackle the migrant crisis.
"But there’s been no progress, no significant changes and about migrants showing up in New York City, it’s not a good place to be, to have to use that as an example to open people’s eyes.
"Unfortunately, that’s the reality border communities have been facing the last three years under this administration."