It’s Big Apple’s problem — yet again.
The record-high number of migrant families that streamed across the US-Mexico border last month is almost certain to end up flowing into New York City’s already overburdened shelter system, Big Apple pols warned Friday.
Illegal border crossings surged to an all-time high in August, with at least 91,000 migrants who crossed as part of a family group being taken into US Border Patrol custody, according to preliminary data obtained by the Washington Post.
“These very same people [will] show up to live in a field in Queens. Mark my words,” City Councilman Joe Borelli (R-Staten Island) told The Post.
The city has long felt the brunt of the nation’s disastrous migrant crisis — with more than 107,000 asylum seekers pouring into the Big Apple since last spring.
Roughly 59,400 of them are currently being put up by the city in one of the 200-or so migrant shelters and tent cities scattered across the five boroughs, City Hall’s latest figures show.
“This has already become New York City’s problem and will continue to be so at an even higher scale,” Assemblyman Michael Tannousis (R-Staten Island) said of the potential influx of migrant families.
“Our federal government continues to fail us by not keeping proper control of our border. We are feeling the effects of this failed policy here in New York City. The number one priority of the federal government should be the safety and well-being of its citizens,” he continued.
“As the son of immigrants, I am not anti-immigrant but I am anti-insanity. Keeping the borders open for anyone to enter is the definition of insanity.”
City Councilman Bob Holden (D-Queens) agreed, telling The Post bluntly: “This will end up being New York’s problem.”
“President Biden’s lack of action on the migrant crisis shows he’s asleep at the wheel, while his administration has literally opened the floodgates, endangering New Yorkers,” he added.
Mayor Eric Adams has repeatedly begged the Biden administration for extra financial aid to help cover the cost of sheltering the tens of thousands of migrants streaming into the city.
Currently, it sets the city back an average of $383 a night to provide shelter, food and other care for a migrant household, according to City Hall. The daily tab for the operation already runs to $9.8 million — $3.6 billion annually, provided the numbers don’t keep increasing, Adams has previously warned.
“It’s only going to get worse, not better,” Assemblyman David I. Weprin (D-Queens) warned of the impact the record-high border crossings will have on New York City.
Migrant families accounted for the largest demographic group crossing the US border last month — surpassing single adults for the first time since Biden took office in 2020, according to the report.
The August tally brings the number of “family member units” surrendering at the border over the fiscal year to more than half a million people.
Officials also saw an increase in the number of unaccompanied minors crossing into the country, though those figures weren’t immediately available.
The influx comes as The Post revealed US officials had welded open 114 huge gates along the Arizona border to allow water to flow freely during the annual monsoon season.