Nearly 2,000 immigrants arrived in New York City over the weekend

Nearly 2,000 immigrants arrived in New York City over the weekend as the shelter crisis shows no sign of abating.

 At least 1,800 Latin American asylum seekers arrived in the city over the weekend, indicating an accelerating wave of immigrants even as Mayor Eric Adams' administration scrambled to house thousands of desperate travelers already in New York.

On Monday morning, the mayor revealed the latest number to reporters on the sidelines of the Columbus Day rally in Manhattan.

"These numbers are incredible - 1,800," Adams said before making a plea for help. "We need every level of government to deal with this crisis that we're facing. For the last few days, receiving these large numbers has strained our system." And we have to make sure we get the support we need."

The weekend influx of refugees means the total number of immigrants in the five boroughs is now at least 19,200, according to data from Adams' office. A spokeswoman for Adams cautioned that the toll is likely higher as the data only covers migrants who have traveled through the shelter system.

Most immigrants in New York crossed into the United States from Mexico in the hope of seeking asylum after fleeing violence and economic devastation in their home countries. Many ended up in New York because Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott sent them into town on buses in a political stunt intended to criticize Democratic immigration policies.

Immigrants have strained New York's shelter system. Nearly 62,000 people slept in the city's shelters last Thursday, the previous night for which data was available. The Adams administration has failed on at least two occasions this year to provide beds for dozens of homeless people in apparent violation of local right-to-shelter law.

To mitigate the crisis, Adams declared a state of emergency on Friday that would suspend some land-use requirements so that his administration could make it easier to build short-term housing for immigrants, such as the controversial tent camp on Randalls Island.

Several council members criticized the tent plan, saying that Adams should house the immigrants in hotels instead. Late Friday, Council President Adrian Adams released a list of 10 hotels she said had thousands of vacant rooms that management could rent.

When asked at Monday's parade if he enjoyed the speaker's request at the hotel, Adams said, "Yes, yes," but did not elaborate.

The mayor told reporters that the city desperately needed funding and assistance from the federal and state governments to deal with the crisis. He suggested that his emergency declaration was an opportunity to inform this.

"I had to explain to New Yorkers what we were dealing with, what we did, what we were going to do, and what we needed because this is a very complex situation," he said. "I wanted to take my time and say to New Yorkers, 'This is what we're dealing with.'"