NYC considers closing off city streets to shelter illegal immigrants after Title 42 expiration: Report

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Rockland County Executive Ed Day slams the New York City mayor's 'ridiculous' plan and the federal government's 'pathetic' handling of the border crisis.

As the U.S. braces for the end of Title 42, New York City is reportedly considering closing down some city streets to temporarily shelter migrants after running out of available housing for asylum seekers.

A memo, obtained by CBS2, reveals NYC officials are reviewing plans to block off large sections of the street to aid the thousands of migrants seeking shelter in New York. 

The memo suggested placing shipping containers or foldable tiny homes of 420 square feet in the streets to house the homeless migrants who arrive in the city, according to CBS2.

"Being on the street bed would provide access to water, sewer and electricity and could then support trailers or modular/prefabricated housing," the confidential memo reportedly said.

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A U.S. Border Patrol agent talks with asylum-seekers waiting between the double fence along the U.S.-Mexico border near Tijuana, Mexico, Monday, May 8, 2023, in San Diego. The migrants wait between the fences to be processed by U.S. Border Patrol agents. (Denis Poroy)

Mohamed Ahmed, CEO and co-founder of Hapi Homes, told CBS2 he has been in contact with the city about supplying tiny homes for the project.

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"We currently have a model, currently right now it's 420 square feet. It's a two-bedroom, and it's a foldable unit that can be deployed on site," Ahmed told the outlet.

The office of Mayor Eric Adams did not say whether the city would move forward with the reported plan outlined in the memo, but it did tell Fox News Digital that officials were considering all options.

The mayor's office told Fox that the city reached its limit for available temporary migrant housing, forcing them to use unconventional measures in order to deal with the situation.

"We’ve been clear that the burden of caring for asylum seekers shouldn’t fall on any one city alone. We have reached our limit of new shelters that we can open right now, and we currently have no other option but to temporarily house recent arrivals in gyms," Fabien Levy, press secretary to Adams, told Fox News Digital Wednesday. 

An aerial view of migrants wait to cross the Rio Bravo into the United States before the Title 42 policy, which allows for the immediate expulsion of irregular migrants entering the country, comes to an end, in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico on May 8, 2023. (Christian Torres Chavez/Anadolu Agency)

The new migrant housing considerations come as Title 42, the pandemic-era policy used to manage the border crisis by allowing the immediate expulsion of migrants from the U.S. for public health reasons, is set to expire on May 11.

"With Title 42 set to be lifted this week, we expect more to arrive in our city daily," Levy said, calling for federal support to deal with the situation. "We are considering a multitude of options, but, as we’ve been saying for a year, we desperately need federal and state support to manage this crisis."

Gov. Kathy Hochul, D-N.Y., declared a state of emergency Tuesday evening ahead of the Trump-era policy's expiration, after already dealing with the 60,000 migrants who arrived in NYC from the southern border.

Counties in the New York suburbs, such as Orange County and Rockland counties, also declared a state of emergency after hearing of state Democrat plans to bus migrants to upstate counties across the Empire State.

"We're closely monitoring the situation as the lifting of Title 42 approaches. We've already seen a massive increase of asylum seekers arriving in recent days and seeing over 500 asylum seekers entering our care on some days," Levy said in a statement to Fox.

Migrants cross a barbed-wire barrier into the United States from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, Tuesday, May 9, 2023. The U.S. is preparing for the Thursday, May 11 end of the Title 42 policy, linked to the coronavirus pandemic that allowed it to quickly expel many migrants seeking asylum. (Christian Chavez)

On top of struggling to house the multitude of migrants seeking asylum in the state under their "right to shelter" law, immigration appointments in New York are reportedly booked out until 2033, meaning many migrants may not see an immigration judge to discuss their stay for another a decade. 

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"It’s a little concerning that some of them have to wait to 2033 just to appear before you, and then they have to get another two to three years before they even go to an immigration judge," Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, recently said during an immigration hearing.

According to sources at the Customs and Border Protection, officials are apprehending about 10,000 illegal migrants daily, but are expecting even larger numbers in the coming days.

Fox News' Bill Melugin and Danielle Wallace contributed to this report.