‘Untenable’: Focus on New York’s migrant crisis flares after violence

One of the world’s biggest cities is creaking under the pressure of sheltering thousands of migrants, amid a string of violent incidents.

New York’s Mayor says an “untenable” situation is unfolding at a refuge set up to house thousands of asylum seekers flooding the city after a string of violent incidents.

The camp on Randall’s Island – located in the East River, between East Harlem, the South Bronx and Astoria – opened in August 2023 with room for about 3000 migrants.

It has been the scene for two violent incidents in recent weeks, with security stepped up around the tent city after a man, 26, was stabbed at the weekend.

Emergency tents to house asylum seekers on Randall's Island in New York. Picture: Kena Betancur/VIEWpress via Getty Images

That followed the fatal shooting of a 44-year-old woman Sandra Serrano last month, when a man opened fire into a crowd of people at the shelter.

Local police believe the incident may have been retaliation for an earlier robbery, according to reports.

“We’re going to examine on how we continue to make which is an untenable situation as safe as possible,” Mayor Eric Adams told CBS News.

“It’s a challenge. And you’ve heard me say this over and over again … You can’t put thousands of people in one setting, don’t allow them to work, don’t allow them to do extra-curricular activities and not have a situation that’s going to arise.”

Mayor Eric Adams says the situation says migrants are living in difficult conditions. Picture: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images/AFP

Private security guards have been deployed inside the shelter following the stabbing, and NYPD patrols of the area have been increased.

The Randall’s Island centre was set up last August at the height of an influx of arrivals, with 100,000 people having sought asylum in New York in the previous 12 months.

That number has grown to more than 200,000 people by June 2024, many of whom were bussed to the city from the country’s southern border.

Mr Adams last year said he “did not see an ending to this” and remarked: “This issue will destroy New York City.”

There has been an unprecedented demand on the city’s shelter system – a longstanding legal obligation to provide a bed to anyone who is homeless.

City Hall administrators recently altered that commitment to limit the time adult migrants can stay in the shelter system to 30 days for individuals, and 60 days for families.

The New York Times reports 65,000 asylum seekers are being housed by the system, and a growing number of homeless and rough sleepers camps are emerging around the city.

Young men from Venezuela who live in a tent after reaching their time limits at city-run shelters. Picture: Spencer Platt/Getty Images/AFP

Migrants are living outside on Randall's Island after leaving the shelter. Picture: Spencer Platt/Getty Images/AFP

Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump on Tuesday took aim at the situation in his home city of New York, citing crimes allegedly committed by migrants.

“I saw it today in New York, where somebody was knifed, where they raped the girlfriend of a man that stood there watching in New York in one of the shelters and started pulling out the knives,” he told Elon Musk in their high-profile X interview.

“And bad things happen today, but this is happening every day.

“We’re already overwhelmed. Elon, we’re overwhelmed.”

Donald Trump has used immigration as a campaign point. Picture: Natalie Behring/AFP

The former president was referencing the alleged rape of a woman on Coney Island on Sunday, local time, allegedly by two illegal migrants from Latin America.

Daniel Davon-Bonilla, 24, of Nicaragua, allegedly raped the 46-year-old woman while holding a knife to her throat under the Riegelmann Boardwalk.

Alleged accomplice, Leovando Moreno, 37, of Mexico allegedly bashed the victim’s 34-year-old boyfriend with a pipe to prevent him from intervening, the New York Post reports.

Community members in May called on Mr Adams to shut down the Randall’s Island shelter, saying its operation was “to the detrimental of all”, CBD News reported.

“Those temporarily housed in the park, along with the thousands of New Yorkers being denied access to parkland,” the Randalls Island Park Alliance said.

“Moreover, it is illegal, and it is time for it to end.”

Deputy Mayor Meera Joshi told the network there were no other options available to house the thousands of migrants coming to the city each week.