As migrants continue to be bused into the city, Mayor Eric Adams railed against critics of his emergency plan, who say he is creating a “tent city” in a corner of the Bronx.

“We are doing what no other locale is doing. Giving people the services they need. So this is not inhumane. This is New Yorkers stepping up, meeting the crisis and responding appropriately,” Adams said at an unrelated press conference Tuesday.


What You Need To Know

  • Mayor Eric Adams defended his plan to house asylum seekers in tents

  • The mayor said that the new centers will meet the need of the current "humanitarian crisis" as the city's shelter system remains overwhelmed

  • The first location will be Orchard Beach in the Bronx, which began construction on Tuesday. The site will house about 1,000 single individuals and provide medical, social and legal help

Last Thursday, the city announced plans for emergency relief centers to house the thousands of migrants coming into the city that includes using large tents with multiple rows of beds at temporary shelters. The first location is in Orchard Beach, the eastern part of the Bronx.

The plan was immediately met by backlash from lawmakers and housing advocates who say the location is remote and not properly suited to house multiple individuals at once.

However, Adams invoked the medical center in Central Park that opened at the height of the pandemic to show that the city has a history of using tents in emergency situations.

“‘What are people talking about?’ There was a tent in Central Park during COVID,” he said.

The mayor said city officials looked at fifty sites before the Orchard Beach location was finalized and that the location is best suited to process the thousands of migrants arriving weekly to the city. Once completed, the location is expected to house about 1,000 single migrants and will provide things such as food, medical care and legal help.

When asked directly about the potential threat of floods, Adams and emergency officials said that, when necessary, migrants will be evacuated.

“Should a coastal storm come, we would evacuate people as we would any other zone,” NYC Emergency Management Commissioner Zachary Iscol said. “So they would go into the shelter storm system, just like anyone else who is evacuating a neighborhood.”

Meanwhile, Adams is continuing to call on the federal government to provide funds to help with what he calls a “man-made humanitarian crisis.”

“We requested money to deal with the crisis, that’s what we did and that’s what we’re going to continue to do. It’s expensive. And we should not have to trade off dealing with the needs of New Yorkers and dealing with the needs of migrants and asylum seekers,” he said.

City officials are expected to open more relief centers in the coming weeks with a family center expected to be completed soon. Adams said that on Monday another six buses arrived with asylum seekers and that the city has an obligation to provide them with shelter.