NEW YORK: New York City Wednesday issued restrictions on arrivals of buses loaded with migrants amid a new wave of arrivals, according to an executive order issued by New York City Mayor Eric Adams, reported Xinhua.
Charter bus companies transporting migrants into New York City were required to provide a 32-hour notice before arrival and information on the passengers, said the order.
Charter bus companies were required to drop passengers off at a designated location in Manhattan only during specified hours, it said.
New York City also sent warning letters to charter bus companies that it has identified as engaging in transporting newly arrived migrants from Texas to the city.
Knowingly violating the executive order constitutes a class B misdemeanour punishable by up to three months’ imprisonment and up to a US$500 fine for individuals and up to US$2,000 for corporations, according to New York state law.
Moreover, companies knowingly violating the executive order could have their buses impounded by the police.
Adams announced the decision in a virtual joint news conference with Brandon Johnson, mayor of Chicago, and Mike Johnston, mayor of Denver, calling for additional federal support to manage the national asylum-seeker crisis.
In November, New York City began to see another surge, with 14 buses of migrants arriving in the city within a single night last week, according to a release by the mayor’s office.
“Today’s executive order will help ensure the city can continue to manage this humanitarian crisis in an orderly way,” said the release.
It’s reported that Chicago recently instituted similar regulations on bus companies.
New York City plans to pursue a 20 per cent reduction in spending on the migrant crisis in the fiscal year 2024 preliminary budget, which will be released in January.
The influx of migrants will cost New York City US$12 billion over three years, according to a city estimate in August 2023. – BERNAMA-XINHUA
