The municipal government of the city of New York seeks spaces to host to thousands of immigrants who continue to be sent from Texas. They continue to create programs to help newcomers to enter the country. But they also continue to insist that the Big Apple is at a “breaking point” to continue addressing this crisis.
It was also confirmed this Wednesday that three buses are on the way, with hundreds of new immigrants. Thousands of asylum seekers arrived last weekend, crossing the southern border with Mexico. And temporary shelters like the Roosevelt Hotel, in midtown Manhattanthey continue to collapse with a long line of men in the street waiting to be put up somewhere.
“At the moment, we do not rule out any place where we can install temporary shelters. Since last spring we have done our best to compassionately address this humanitarian crisis like no other city. We are at the center of a global crisis, although we must reiterate that we no longer have space”, he clarified Anne Williams-Isom, the City’s Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services.
sources consulted by The newspaper ensure that the majority of the new migratory wave comes from Senegal, Türkiye, Venezuela and Central American countries.
In the midst of this complicated landscape, another action was announced to offer independence alternatives to newcomers, especially to expand the options in one of their most difficult priorities to achieve: Obtain legal authorizations to work.
Williams-Isom announced that a consortium of universities will provide undergraduate and graduate students next fall, to help immigrants submit their formal applications for asylum to immigration authorities.
The consortium is made up of four schools from the City University of New York (CUNY): Baruch College, City College, Hunter College, and Queens College.
Each institution will sponsor three full days at the clinic, beginning in September, giving their students the opportunity to volunteer as an application assistant.
In addition, many of the institutions will offer students the opportunity to earn credit for the time they spend at the center, either in the form of courses or internships.
1,300 applications already sent
In all, sponsored days, credit courses, and undergraduate and graduate internships are expected to provide opportunities for Hundreds of students support thousands of families and singles in filing their asylum applications.
so far the NYC Asylum Claims Help Centerhas helped submit more than 1,300 asylum applications since it was installed in late June.
This center advises newcomers to fill out the official form to request asylum in the country. It is the first step to receive a work permit.
Non-profit organizations, 30 private law firms that have been working on a voluntary basis. Now students from various universities are integrated.
Those interested are scheduled individual appointments. Experienced immigration attorneys are on-site to supervise application assistants and provide guidance, with interpreters in multiple languages to provide language assistance in person.
“We continue to do our part, but we need the federal government to speed up the work authorization process to help families to begin their journey towards independence”, stated the Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services.
For his part, Felix Matos Rodriguez, The chancellor of the City University of New York (CUNY), which is part of this plan for legal clinics, described this municipal strategy as part of the “historic mandate” of this House of Studies.
“The goals of this partnership, with the Office of the Mayor, are closely aligned with those of CUNY, a public university serving New Yorkers of all backgrounds and circumstances. Many of our students are immigrants or children of immigrants, fighters who bring a personal understanding of the challenges of arriving in a new country in search of a better life”, highlighted the academic.
“Asylum is very complicated”
Since this crisis awoke 14 months ago, activists for the defense of the rights of immigrants assured that one of the most complicated challenges was precisely for those who wanted to formally request asylum, since They had to do it within the statutory period of one year, since they entered the country.
It is very difficult for people who do not have legal representation to know exactly what to do, since the formal request for political asylum in the United States is a process that requires many arguments. All non-profit organizations have been at the peak and under pressure in recent months.
The trend is that without legal help, thousands of people could be making wrong decisions, as happened with the Venezuelan Rafael Cortés, 28 years oldwho arrived in New York in May 2022, in the first wave of immigration.
“The first year has already passed and for many reasons I couldn’t do anything with the papers. I put myself on lists to help me, but I did it too late. And the wait is months. Finally, it is not anyone’s fault, but one’s own for not doing things with the right information”he stressed.
Now Rafael, like hundreds of people in his country, has no idea howWhat will be the way to achieve legalization at some point.
“Many thought that just because the federal border authorities let you in, that in itself gave you a certain legality. But it is not true. In fact, I have friends who were able to submit their asylum applications as soon as they arrived. and you have been waiting for the work permit for months and it has not arrived”, he counted.
Rafael, who lives in a shelter in Queens, confesses that unfortunately many of his countrymen, they were attracted by “a tale of coyotes” (human traffickers), who made him believe that if they let you go free at the border posts, that was a sign that you were already legally accepted in the country.
“Once here, you hear that there are even people who They have seven and eight years waiting for their cases. Others that have been here for 20 years and have never been able to legalize. Unfortunately one moves by necessity, for the dream of having a better life. There’s nothing left to do but move on“.
According to the immigration authorities of the United States, a person can request asylum if they can demonstrate that in their country of origin they suffer persecution because of their race, religion, nationality, membership in a social group individual or for their political opinions.
The economic conditionsfailures of public services, violence and insecurity are not sufficient arguments under the immigration law, to be able to request this immigration benefit.
Since last June, when the municipal budget for 2023 was being discussed, the City Comptroller, Brad Lander, In a demonstration together with other political leaders of the Big Apple, they demanded that the Administration of the Mayor Eric Adamswhich will include in the spending plan $70 million of additional dollars so that free lawyers help newcomers process their asylum cases.
Once the budget was approved, Lander criticized that they were not assigned funds for legal aid.
NYC reached the limit
Since this unprecedented flow of immigrants began, New York City has taken steps such as opening 194 emergency sites, including 13 other large-scale humanitarian aid centers, with two more humanitarian aid centers set to open in the coming weeks.
The City has also established navigation centers to connect newcomers with resources and enrolled thousands of children in public schools through the Open Arms Project.
But at the rate of the massive arrival of at least 2,300 people each week, city spokesmen continue to warn that a national decompression action is necessary, since the capacity of the City to provide more shelter has reached its breaking point.
According to the update shared this Wednesday, 95,600 people have been received since spring 2022 and 56,200 are still under the protection of the City with lodging, medicine and food.
“It is time for cities in the rest of the country to follow our example. We are 24 hours looking for spaces. We have identified other sites outside of the Big Apple. But, we repeat, like no other city we have responded to this crisis with compassion. It’s time to get help.”concluded William-Ison in the second update on the migration crisis carried out in the last week.
Everything is saturated!
On the outskirts of the Roosevelt Hotel, converted into a reception center, the young Venezuelan Rodolfo Pérez, He specified that he arrived on a bus last week. The immigrant states that although the authorities try to help the newcomers, with “a lot of dedication”, the truth is that “everything is very saturated with people”.
“There are just no spaces. They tell me that they are going to set up some new tents. I came to New York because some relatives told me that everything was easier. But once here everything is different. Let no one think that this here is loin and a five-star hotel. It is hard, very hard!”, blurted out who spent the last night on the sidewalks waiting for a place to stay. A wait that was accompanied by hundreds of people who, like him, came from Africa.
Until August 1:
- 95,600 immigrants have arrived in the Big Apple after having crossed the southern border with Mexico requesting lodging, food and medical care since May 2022.
- 56,200 are still in the municipal shelter system in 194 authorized sites, including 13 humanitarian aid centers.
- 2,300 new people They arrived between July 24 and 30.
