New York City council speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, has announced that the city may be working on a system to house immigrant children taken from the US-Mexican Border. Following in the steps of the Mayor of Syracuse, who has offered housing within Syracuse for those escaping issues within Latin America.
Adriela Batista
“These children are facing horrific situations at home which has led them and their families to make some really difficult decisions,” Mark-Viverito said Thursday at an unrelated press conference. “I think we have a responsibility to respond to the humanitarian crisis that we have before us.”
New York City has been chosen as one of the places around the country that will house the children seeking refuge; 3,200 children have already travelled to New York City to live with relatives this year, while 7,000 are projected to enter the states, many also heading to New York. Syracuse has been one of the few cities that have offered housing, and have passed the screening ‘suitable for the task’
Stephanie Miner, the mayor of Syracuse stated in her letter to President Obama in regards to the social issue;
“As a city with a rich immigrant tradition, we feel strongly these children should be welcomed and protected,” Miner said in the letter to the president. “Toward that end, Syracuse would welcome the opportunity to provide shelter while the larger global issues causing them to leave home for such an arduous journey are resolved.
