(NewsNation) — New York City Mayor Eric Adams told state legislators Tuesday that he needs $1.1 billion in funding for migrant services.
During “Tin Cup Day,” when mayors in New York go to Albany with budget requests, Adams said the city has spent more than $6.9 billion to care for immigrants in three fiscal years — and officials “anticipate spending billions more in the years to come.”
“While we appreciate the contributions the state has made, we urge you to include asylum seeker funding for the city in the state-enacted budget,” Adams said.
A $1.1 billion budget shortfall for the program needs to be closed within 12 weeks, Adams said.
“No city should have to shoulder the cost of an international humanitarian crisis on its own,” he said.
The mayor highlighted the steps his administration has taken to reduce the number of migrants in city care from 69,000 last year to under 47,000 today.
While he said New York City officials have helped over 184,000 asylum seekers to find a path to self-sufficiency, Adams added that the financial strain remains unsustainable without the state’s help. Even with declines in migrant arrivals, the city’s shelter system remains at a breaking point operating well beyond capacity, he said.
However, local media outlets including the New York Post report that Gov. Kathy Hochul’s spokesperson said the state’s FY26 budget “does not include any new funding for the migrant crisis, and our position has not changed.”
Last year, per the Post, New York’s share of funding for immigration services was $4.3 billion. City officials said in the newspaper that the $1.1 billion asked for by Adams is for feeding, sheltering and caring for the roughly 46,000 migrants.
Other topics Adams brought up in front of New York lawmakers included legislation to cut the city income tax for low-income earners; legislation to lower the standard to send those having mental health crises to hospitals and changes to the discovery law, according to City and State New York.
However, City and State New York writes that lawmakers instead wanted to talk about the city’s response to the Trump administration, which has enacted hard-line immigration policies such as mass deportations as well as funding for early childhood programs.