Ted Cruz Mocks NYC Migrant Shelters Filled With Xboxes, TVs: 'Really Sucks'

Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz is reacting with scorn to the amenities included in the sprawling new emergency shelter constructed by New York City in response to the influx of migrants, suggesting city leaders aren't prioritizing homeless Americans.

Cruz on Thursday reacted in a tweet on a news story describing how the 84,000-square-foot site on Manhattan's Randalls Island included couches, Xboxes, around-the-clock snacks and other comforts. A day earlier, New York City Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, unveiled the shelter, calling it a humane response to red-state governors busing migrants to the city. Previously, city officials sounded the alarm that the surge in migrants threatened to overwhelm New York's already strained shelter system.

The city constructed the facility in weather-resistant tents that include 500 cots for single men bused to the city from border states, according to a report by Fox News affiliate WNYW referenced by Cruz.

The shelter also includes laundry facilities, a cafeteria, phones, televisions and phones, the station reports. Families with children will be housed in hotels, while the men at the shelter, primarily from Latin America, will have three meals a day of culturally familiar food, as well as snacks.

"Really sucks to be a homeless American in NYC," Cruz said in his tweet. "#DemsAreAmericaLast."

Texas Governor Greg Abbott in April began busing thousands of asylum-seekers to New York City and Washington, D.C. Abbott, a Republican, has justified sending the migrants to the Democratic-led jurisdictions, pointing to previous statements by city leaders proclaiming to welcome immigrants. Abbott has also complained his state has been overwhelmed by the migrants and criticized the administration of President Joe Biden over its border policies.

Adams said this month that New York City faced a "crisis" after more than 61,000 people had entered its shelter system, including homeless New Yorkers and bused-in migrants.

The Legal Aid Society and New York's Coalition for the Homeless on October 12 issued a press release calling out that days earlier, New York's shelter system had reached a new one-day record with 62,174 people being sheltered. The groups called on Adams to "commit to financing at least 6,000 apartments per year for homeless [families] and 6,000 apartments per year for households with extremely low incomes."

Jacquelyn Simone, policy director for the homeless coalition, told Newsweek in an interview that before the influx of migrants, the city's shelter system already had a low vacancy rate. She said shelters were already seeing increased demand after the eviction moratorium enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic expired and rents continued to skyrocket.

Now, she said, the average length of stay at shelters has risen to more than 500 days across all populations.

"More people are coming in and fewer people are moving out of shelters," she said.

Simone said the new shelter on Randalls Island was set up outside of the city's regular shelter system, and it's not clear if the "stop-gap" will address the lack of beds. The new site is intended to provide temporary housing for migrant men to determine their needs and help with transportation if New York City is not their planned final destination, she said.

"But I think that there's also a very significant portion of people who are coming from the southern border who will need to enter the larger shelter system because they don't have stable housing or other long-term shelter options in the city," she said.

Simone added that migrants will have a difficult time finding permanent housing without subsidies or work authorization.

Reacting to Cruz's tweet, she said the temporary and permanent shelters have room for improvement, saying, "I don't think it's useful to pit disadvantaged groups against each other."

Newsweek has reached out to Adams' office for comment.