Food Crisis in Shelters as Migrants Claim Food Shortage

Mayor Eric Adams’ Administration is currently facing several challenging problems including the arrival of approximately 15,000 migrants. The city has been obligated to house and feed the migrants, creating a housing and aid crisis. 

According to reports, the latest crisis is migrant children living in shelters do not have enough to eat. A mother at a shelter recounted how her hungry child gets a single container of milk at dinner time, with no refill. 

“My children are in dire need,” she said as she described the severity of the alleged food shortage situation in an exclusive interview with Melissa Russo for NBC New York. The shelters housing the migrants are said to serve small meals with no baby food or formula provided. A single eight-ounce container of milk is provided for each baby every day and if the milk is about to expire, more is given out to the children. 

It is alleged by migrants in shelters that they have to sign for each container of milk provided. 

Some of the mothers of these children felt as though they were being treated like they were in jail. The provision of food seems to be a problem the city is struggling with according to the migrants. Reports show that demand is high and supply is low. “They don’t have food for the children. These kids are getting hungrier. We are scrambling,” Pedro Rodriguez, who runs food pantries that assist those who need food, said. “This is an emergency in that sense. We’re talking about babies that need food.” 

The children and the families are also struggling to adapt to some of the food they are eating as they are not used to it. According to some reports, a lot of the food given in shelters is Mexican while a majority of the migrants are Venezuelan. 

As previously reported, Mayor Adams called for the migrants to be allowed to seek employment so as to become self-dependent. A mother agreed with that notion as she called on the federal government to create a viable pathway for migrants to work so as to fend for themselves. A large number of homeless people and families may receive food stamps or welfare but the migrants may not. They, therefore, do not have an extra source of income to add to what they receive from the shelters. 

The city has been criticized for not doing enough. The Department of Social Services released a statement emphasizing the point that they were doing everything in their power to assist the migrants arriving in the city. “We ensure that all shelters serving families with children are receiving adequate and appropriate food provisions for all infants on site,” the DSS said in their statement. 

In response to Melissa Russo’s investigation, the Adams Administration’s Department of Social Services issued the following statement: “We ensure that all shelters serving families with children are receiving adequate and appropriate food privileges for all infants on site.”