New York mayor offers free one-way ticket to migrants

New York City has ramped up its efforts to get migrants out of the city as its shelter system has reached its maximum capacity, overflowing at hotels, Report informs.

The city is setting up an office to provide asylum-seekers with free, one-way plane tickets to take them anywhere else in the world.

New York City Hall confirmed the establishment of a new "reticketing center" in Manhattan as its latest bid to ease pressure on its shelters and finances following the arrival of more than 130,000 migrants since last year.

The city has stressed that the offer for travel is voluntary.

"With no sign of a decompression strategy in the near future, we have established a reticketing center for migrants," a spokesperson for Democratic Mayor Eric Adams told The New York Post. "Here, the city will redouble efforts to purchase tickets for migrants to help them take the next steps in their journeys, and it helps us triage operations at The Roosevelt for new arrivals."

The outlet noted that the cost of buying a plane ticket is, in some cases, cheaper than the $380 the city pays per day to house a migrant in one of its shelters.
Some of the migrants who have accepted the city's offer have booked tickets as far away as Columbia and Morocco, according to Politico.