NYC Official: Our Situation ‘Is Quite Different’ from Situation in Border States

On Tuesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “New Day,” Commissioner of the New York City Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs Manuel Castro stated that New York has plenty of experience dealing with migrants and New York’s experience under the migrant busing program “is quite different” from what border states deal with.

Castro said migrants are arriving hungry and thirsty and some need medical care and the influx is different from what they’re used to, but Abbott has made it “difficult for us to know when to expect” when busses will show up and the buses are arriving “at all times of the day.” He also claimed that people were being put on the buses involuntarily, and are “confused, often.” And stated that the city and nonprofits have worked to handle the migrants.

Co-host John Berman then asked, “Have the strains on the system given you an appreciation for the situation in border states?”

Castro responded, “Well, like I said, this is quite different. We understand the needs, the special needs that immigrants have. New York City is 60% immigrant or children of immigrants. I, myself, am an immigrant. I crossed the border when I was five years old. I had the same experience with my family. So, we’re no strangers [to] an immigrant community with a variety of needs. So, it’s quite interesting when we’re told that we, in New York City, the home of the Statue of Liberty, of Ellis Island, and millions of immigrants don’t have this experience. But, unfortunately, what we actually have here is a right-wing political extremist crisis.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett