New York City plans to move some migrants out of shelters Saturday when their 60-day stay ends to free up space and dissuade asylum seekers from coming to the city, Politico reports.
The report comes three days after the New York Post reported that New York City Mayor Eric Adams was considering a new rule shortening shelter stays for single migrants to 30 days, half the current allowed stay.
Thousands will start being evicted from shelters this weekend, according to the Politico report.
"The sense is that people didn't fully understand just how accommodating New York City was to migrants until now, from a lot of these areas, and now it's a big reason that people are coming here," one person told Politico. "But if the understanding is you're not guaranteed a place to stay, that affects the flow."
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul told reporters earlier this week that it was never "envisioned that this would be an unlimited universal right or obligation on the city to have to house literally [the] entire world."
"We want to make sure that no families end up on the streets. We don't want anything to happen to our children, but we also have to let the world know that there have to be limits to this," she added.
New York City Council Member Shahana Hanif, chair of the body's immigration committee, said the plan would face backlash.
"Directives like this that are not fully thought-out and are entirely shortsighted will have really dangerous, harmful repercussions, including street homelessness," she said, according to Politico.
New York City has opened 200 emergency shelters and spent more than $2 billion on the migrant crisis.