Schools in New York City are struggling to keep up with the influx of migrants coming in from the southern border.
As the first day of classes started earlier this month, the line at Newcomers High School in Long Island City stretched around the block as many buildings around The Big Apple were turning away kids in favor of 21,000 children seeking asylum.
“It’s a capacity issue,” one frustrated teacher told The New York Post. “They should have worked this out two days ago!”
Many of the migrant students were proudly wearing their shelter IDs around their necks. Among them was 15-year-old Jose Gonzalez, a Venezuelan migrant who said he wasn’t nervous about starting school in New York.
“This is the best! I’ve been living in a shelter in Queens for a few months and I’ve been waiting for this. I’m so happy to see all these people. This is going to be great!” he said to 19-year-old Bolivian migrant Fernanda Beccera.
While migrants seemed hopeful about going to school in America, others expressed frustration with the Department of Education for a lack of organization.
“Why not have them come in earlier so the teachers could show them where to go and work out all these IDs and paperwork and stuff?” said 38-year-old Rosa Rodriguez, who lives in Astoria and works as a waitress in Manhattan.
Since the Biden administration lifted “Title 42” earlier this year, the number of illegal border crossers has increased to an all-time high. According to the Department of Homeland Security, nearly 2.4 million migrants were detained at the border for the fiscal year ending in September, surpassing the already-historic number of 1.7 million migrant detainees in 2021.
In New York, around 100,000 men, women, and children seeking refuge have arrived in the Big Apple, with more than 57,000 people residing in 198 emergency shelters across the five boroughs.
Locals are suffering as they have to pay the bill in order to accommodate the illegal immigrants occupying the city. Democratic Mayor Eric Adams recently announced that the city will be spending $20 million more to handle the migrant crisis.
