City Hall abruptly ceased sending out detailed counts on New York City’s migrant population in the weeks leading up to reporting a skyrocketing rise in the number of new arrivals, according to two elected officials.
City Comptroller Brad Lander told Gothamist his office had been among the elected officials receiving regular reports on the exact number of migrants in both the city’s shelter system and emergency facilities created to address the crisis. But the comptroller hasn’t gotten a detailed report from the Adams administration since May 3, a week before Title 42 — the pandemic-era border policy — expired, according to Lander’s office.
Since then, updates on the migrant numbers from City Hall have only provided a rounded estimate of how many asylum seekers are currently in the city’s care, according to Lander, who’s job is to scrutinize the city budget and make fiscal projections.
He called the omission “really unacceptable.”
“The numbers are necessary for budget projections and as a basic matter of public trust,” he said.
Lander, who has been critical of the mayor’s handling of the crisis, added that his office had asked City Hall why the information was no longer being shared but had not received an answer.
The withholding of more granular and precise information comes amid scrutiny over the reporting and accuracy of the city’s data on migrants. It also raises questions over how Mayor Eric Adams has managed the crisis, which is being overseen by at least three city agencies.
City Councilmember Shahana Hanif, who chairs the council’s immigration committee, also attested to the change in the updates.
“As this crisis has continued, we have received less and less information from the mayor,” Hanif said in a statement. “We know hundreds of city employees are working round the clock to serve asylum seekers, but we can’t help unless we know what’s going on.
Kate Smart, a City Hall spokesperson, did not say why the reporting had…
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