There is still no light at the end of the border crisis tunnel for New York City. As the influx of illegal immigrants and asylum seekers continues, the city is struggling to accommodate the arrivals. Despite the pleas of New York City Mayor Eric Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul, the Biden administration is not offering much in the way of federal assistance.

To make matters worse, only a small percentage of those being housed in the city are working.

A mere 2,100 migrants in the Big Apple’s care have applied for work permits — with not a single one yet to receive federal approval, city officials admitted Wednesday.

City Hall also still has no solid figure for how many of the more than 40,000 adult asylum seekers it is housing are even eligible to legally work here, officials conceded at a city council hearing.

The revelation frustrated even Mayor Adams’ fellow Democrats on the council.

“This migrant strategy is going nowhere fast: We have to secure the border,” Council Member Robert Holden (D-Queens) said.

The lack of action on the part of the city has not only frustrated Democrats in the Big Apple, but it also highlights a glaring issue that is threatening the stability of the city: An overwhelmed shelter system that is breaking at the seams combined with an ever-growing number of idle asylum seekers and illegal immigrants.

The fact that a paltry 2,100 people are working is a tremendous problem because it means the city is shouldering the burden of the rest of the 40,000 people. The fastest way to address this problem is to allow these folks to work. Some have pointed out that employment would quicken the pace at which asylum seekers are cycling out of the city’s shelters. Adams and Hochul have asked the Biden administration to extend protections for asylum seekers, pointing out that it would help ease the burden on the shelters.

But we already know how that goes, don’t we?

To make matters worse, City Hall has been overwhelmed with the issue to the point that it has made little progress in figuring out how many of the asylum seekers and illegals are even eligible for work permits.

This problem has created a situation in which those coming from other countries are kept in a state of dependency on the government – and taxpayer dollars. This is further exacerbated by the reality that the state-funded center in Midtown has processed 5,600 applications for asylum since June but has been sluggish in translating that into work permits.

If the city wants to lighten the load, so to speak, it must find a way to streamline the work permit process and communicate with eligible individuals that they can and should apply. Without people ready and willing to work, this problem will only grow more severe.

It is also worth noting that New York City’s dilemma further illustrates the fact that the government is woefully inept at solving problems. Layers of bureaucracy and red tape are preventing the city from simply letting these folks find jobs. Instead, it is perpetuating a system that is only costing taxpayers more money while failing to find permanent solutions to address the problem. But this is what happens when the country has a failed and broken immigration system.