Chatanooga, Tenn. overwhelmed by migrant surge from Texas

It’s not just New York City.

Tennessee officials also have had to scramble to accommodate busloads of migrants getting dropped off without notice in Chattanooga, they told The Post Tuesday.

In a 48-hour period over the weekend, Chattanooga helped 51 immigrants that were aboard buses shipped to the Big Apple by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.

“A lot of folks are just lost,” said Ellis Smith, Chattanooga’s director of special projects.

“They come from another country where they speak another language and they’re dropped off in the middle of America. Many of them just need help or need a finger pointing in the right direction to get to their next step.”

Smith said four of the migrants that stopped in his city were picked up by family, while the rest headed for the airport for final destinations in Ohio, Chicago and Florida.

The city did not track how many immigrants were passing through before last weekend.

New York has also been faced with an influx of migrants relocated from the Lone Star State — with Mayor Eric Adams planning to convert a luxury Times Square hotel into an intake center and shelter for as many as 600 migrant families.

Like Gotham, Chattanooga officials did not get a heads up from Texas that the migrant buses were headed their way, Smith said.

Instead, officials in the southeastern city learned of the sudden drop-offs after hearing reports that asylum seekers were seen near gas stations and hotels, where charter companies stop to switch out drivers, Smith said.

In one incident, immigrant children were spotted getting off the bus and asking for money and food when the bus stopped near a McDonald’s, according to local TV station WTVC.

The city said it’s working to coordinate with the charter bus company so city officials and nonprofits can be at the drop-off location to assist the immigrants if they do stop in Chattanooga. Nonprofits in the city are providing immigrants with blankets, snacks or rides to the airport.

“These are migrants that have been screened by the Department of Homeland Security. They are legally seeking asylum — which is a protected legal status,” said Smith who added that the immigrants are not staying in town overnight.

The migrant surge comes as the arrests at the US-Mexico border is on pace to top 2 million for the first time ever — after already shattering last year’s record.