NY.- New York City has begun turning to state universities for their students to help with the complicated asylum application process for the thousands of immigrants who continue to come to the city in search of housing and work.
Students who participate in this initiative in the fall will earn credits, Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Anne Williams-Ison announced today at the weekly conference to discuss immigrants who have arrived in the city since last year.
He indicated that shortly after the city opened the Assistance Center for asylum applications a month ago, more than 1,300 immigrants have already been assisted, who have also received help from thirty law firms that do pro bono work, as well as of interpreters.
“Throughout this crisis, New Yorkers have made an effort to help their brothers in need and continue to do so,” said the deputy mayor, who was accompanied by representatives of the various public and private universities, led by the University of New York (NYU ).
“These colleges give students the ability to get credit for their time helping out at the center. That’s the real-world learning experience, said Williams-Ison, who announced that more than 95,600 people, including children, of whom 56,600 are in the care of the city, have arrived in New York in a year’s time, that it provides includes shelter, meals and other aid, which has created a humanitarian crisis
This figure rises to 107,900 if homeless New Yorkers are included, and, according to Williams-Ison, no option to house them is ruled out, including parks or islands next to the city.
“Everything is on the table and we will continue to look at all the options we have as these (arrival) numbers grow,” he said.
Adams has called on the federal government to speed up the work permit for the thousands of immigrants since the city is investing millions of dollars to provide them with shelter, meals, medical assistance, among other aid.
“Asylum seekers coming to our country are looking to build the American dream, and here in the city we are working to give them a chance,” Adams said in a statement.
He recalled that the Help Center for asylum applications, which he announced on June 20, is an “innovative model”, the first in the US “to combine (the work of) the government, private law firms and non-profit organizations”.
A year ago the city received the first bus with immigrants sent by the Republican governor of Texas Gregg Abbott, who in a tweet on Tuesday indicated that he has sent more than 10,000 people to this city. Some have also arrived with the support of NGOs and churches or on their own from other states.
The city has had to open 194 places to house newcomers and has implemented some measures such as limiting the stay in shelters for single men to 60 days and has also launched a campaign on the border to discourage them from coming.
However, the flow has not stopped with three buses that arrived last night from Texas and others that were expected today, while the line of immigrants -albeit shorter- that over the weekend arrived at a processing center in Manhattan, where Hundreds, with a notable presence of Senegalese, have slept for days outdoors and without bathrooms, waiting to be sent to a shelter.
