In a sharp escalation, Mayor Eric Adams declared that New York City was being destroyed by an influx of 110,000 migrants from the southern border. His comments, criticized by advocates for villainizing migrants for seeking a better life, underscored how the surge has become overwhelming.

New York City has struggled to provide adequate housing and services to the migrants, as has been required there by law for decades. Roughly 60,000 now occupy beds in traditional city shelters and in more than 200 emergency sites. And about 20,000 migrant children were expected to attend New York City schools when classes began today.

Adams said he didn’t see a way that the city can keep up. Pointing to new projections that the assistance could cost the city nearly $12 billion over three years, he has asked for President Biden to declare the situation an emergency and dedicate federal funds.

Illegal crossings of the southern border have sharply risen in recent months. And the governors of Texas and Florida have bused thousands of migrants to northern cities like New York, Chicago, Philadelphia — but that is just a fraction of the people arriving.

Perhaps as important are the demographics. In contrast to Mexicans and Central Americans, Venezuelans — who now comprise a majority of migrants in New York homeless shelters — are unlikely to have friends and family members to receive them. They also are likely to find it hard to obtain a work permit, a process that Adams has called for speeding up.

Here’s how a convicted killer escaped from prison

The authorities in Pennsylvania released footage showing how a man convicted of murder escaped a prison near Philadelphia last week by wedging himself between two opposing walls and climbing upward.

The man, Danelo Cavalcante, then pushed his way through razor wire installed after another inmate scaled the same wall in May. The police are still searching for him — at one point blaring the sound of his mother pleading in Portuguese for him to give himself up.

A former Trump adviser was convicted of contempt

Peter Navarro, who for years served as a trade adviser to President Donald Trump, was convicted today of two counts of criminal contempt of Congress over his defiance of a subpoena from the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. Each count carries a maximum of one year in prison and a fine of up to $100,000, but Navarro has vowed to appeal his conviction.

Covid cases are rising, but experts are optimistic

When Jill Biden, the first lady, tested positive this week for Covid and the president returned to wearing a mask indoors, it was a reminder that we are in the middle of an uptick in coronavirus infections. Hospitalizations and deaths have increased in recent weeks, but experts have said the country will not see a return to the nightmarish scenarios of previous years.

Instead, health officials want Americans to begin receiving yearly Covid-19 vaccines, much like flu shots. This year’s vaccines may be available as early as next week. In the meantime, if you have symptoms, it’s always good to test for Covid — just make sure the tests aren’t expired.

More top news

For Mattel, “Barbie” paid off more than it believed possible

Mattel’s C.E.O., Ynon Kreiz, wanted the feature film starring its marquee doll, Barbie, to be a cultural event and a truly good movie, but he said he didn’t care if they sold a single additional doll. It went far better than Kreiz could have ever imagined.

“Barbie,” which hit theaters in July, is close to grossing $1.4 billion and could end up near $2 billion in sales, far more than any previous Warner Bros. film. Mattel, my colleague James B. Stewart reported, will earn 5 percent of the box office revenue, along with merchandise sales and a percentage of eventual profits that amounts to $100 million or more.

When is it too hot for tennis?

How about 90 degrees with stifling humidity? Those have been the conditions during many matches at the U.S. Open in New York City this week, and they have brought some of the fittest athletes in the world nearly to their knees. One player planned for a midmatch cold shower, and another changed his shirt about five times per contest.

But for some outliers — particularly those who live or have trained in Florida — the conditions are optimal: “The hotter the better,” said Coco Gauff, the 19-year-old star from Delray Beach, Fla.

Have a toasty evening.

Thanks for reading. Bryan Denton was our photo editor today. I’ll be back tomorrow. — Matthew

A correction: A picture caption with an item on older photographers in yesterday’s newsletter misidentified the person shown. She is Beth Good Wadden, 82, not Mary Frey, 74. (Mary Frey is the photographer who took the image.)

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