New York City has long been a beacon for millions of foreign-born citizens settling and their families in all five boroughs.
But a year after increasing numbers of immigrants began arriving with few existing ties, the government is still struggling to space them out, recently installing rows of beds in school gymnasiums, transporting others to the northern suburbs and postponing the general examination procedure to open new shelters.
The latest emergency measures come as Mayor Eric Adams and city leaders prepare for the expected surge in the number of newly arrived immigrants after the expiration of Trump-era federal border restrictions put in place at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic to slow the spread of the virus.
Since the colonial period, New York has attracted other people from all over the world. Foreign-born New Yorkers make up about 36% of the city’s population, according to recent census data.
“New York and New York State have welcomed immigrants for centuries,” Murad Awawdeh, executive director of the New York Immigration Coalition, told WNYC’s Brian Lehrer on Monday. “Every year, every month, every day, other people Come to New York. “
What makes the existing scenario unique is that many of the newly arrived migrants lack “community or family ties” when they arrive in the city, leading them to resort to emergency shelters for short periods, Awawdeh added.
This is putting pressure on New York City’s safety net programs, which have secured little new investment from the federal government for those protections. Various policies, agencies and projects have created a confusing situation.
The mayor’s workplace says about 65,000 immigrants have entered the city since last spring, with a portion of them living in homeless shelters or emergency housing. Adams management to rent rooms in about 150 hotels and create a new network of emergency shelters called the Emergency Humanitarian Aid and Response Centers, or HERRC.
Over the past year, Adams has consistently called on the federal government to step in and provide assistance.
“New York City is overcome by the monetary and virtual burden related to the national challenge that has been placed in the lap of New Yorkers,” Adams said Tuesday in an interview on NY1. “We’re not getting what we deserve here in New York. “. “
But so far, the five counties are largely alone in the challenge.
Early in the pandemic, then-President Donald Trump imposed regulations barring non-citizens from entering the country on publicly available grounds under a segment of federal law known as Title 42. Under this policy, the U. S. The U. S. has temporarily deported millions of migrants seeking to enter the country, adding asylum seekers otherwise legally allowed to stay here.
President Joe Biden tried to eliminate Title 42 after taking office last year, but a federal ruling blocked that decision. Over the past year, many thousands of other people have controlled entry into the United States and, like centuries, immigrants. before them, many have traveled to New York and joined buses sent by Republican officials to southern states to protest the president’s border policies.
City agencies do not track the countries of origin of newly arrived immigrants entering the city’s housing systems, but we know from conversations with dozens of immigrants and immigrant rights advocates that many are from Venezuela.
The country in the far north of South America faces instability, political persecution and a devastating economic crisis. It has also severed diplomatic relations with the United States, leaving migrants and asylum seekers without consulates to search for or documents, such as passports.
Awawdeh said the number of others from Colombia, Peru, El Salvador and other countries has also increased, as well as “others literally fleeing for their lives” from repressive regimes, violence or discrimination.
The expiration of Title 42 on May 11 suggests that even more people will enter the country and New York. This did not happen immediately, as border restrictions remain strict.
Still, it’s unclear what states along the southern border will do if more people enter, said Harold Solis, co-legal director of the immigrant rights organization Make the Road New York.
Solis said states with conservative governors, such as Greg Abbott of Texas, have a duty to treat many immigrants as political pawns, sending them to New York and other Democratic-led northern states under false pretenses.
“States like Texas and anti-immigrant political actors have sent other people here without any point of coordination or attention to the other people they’ve sent,” Solis said. “It’s very different from a coordinated national plan where we help other people resettle and we’re starting to see what the effect of that technique has been. “
All five districts are home to exclusive housing rights rules that form the basis of the city’s safety net and offer the promise of a bed to those in need of housing. This includes tens of thousands of newly arrived migrants who have used the city’s shelters for the past several years. beyond the year.
Last week, Adams issued an executive order postponing some of the housing rights needs, saying the regulations were made with thousands of immigrants in mind. He renewed that order Tuesday.
Adams has established about 150 emergency shelters for families, single men and single women in hotels, school gymnasiums, a cruise terminal and large tents to meet unprecedented capacity needs. Eight of those shelters are considered HERRC and are overseen by the city office. of Emergency Management and Health Hospitals that the Department of Homeless Services.
His management also recently began transporting other people to hotels in suburban spaces north of the city, prompting stern rebukes and lawsuits from elected officials and some residents.
Most of the paintings have fallen on the city, and Adams estimates it will cost about $4 billion over the next two years.
As Gothamist reported earlier this month, Adams’ management is now looking to shift from an ad hoc technique to a more coordinated plan for housing and services, though the effects have been mixed.
His workplace highlighted a plan to enroll new immigrant scholars and integrate thousands of them into schools. City officials point to the Herculean effort to bring new housing capabilities online and say the city is also running to move more New Yorkers into permanent housing despite significant shortages.
These moves are “by far the strategy to lose space” in shelters, said George Nashak, president and CEO of Care For the Homeless, which runs shelters and provides fitness services.
“It’s a double bonus,” Nashak said. You put permanent housing, which is the goal, and you lose space to move into transitional housing. “
However, the city is still trying to keep up with the number of other people who need housing, legal assistance and basic needs, said Make the Road’s Solis.
“It’s been hard to see us as a people locating the most productive way to source here,” he said. “A lot of those other people came here with nothing yet of the clothes they were wearing. “
Great question!
Not much, and it motivates a rift between Adams and Biden.
The Federal Emergency Management Administration recently provided just $30 million in direct assistance to help New York City manage housing and for newly arrived immigrants.
“We have less than those in bordering states and neighboring states use the money, in many cases, they have to do what?Send buses to New York,” Adams said in an interview on WPIX on Tuesday.
The New York City congressional delegation is also urging Biden to allow asylum seekers to download legal documents without waiting six months first.
“New Yorkers need to welcome and are willing to employ for the benefit of many of the new people coming here,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told Documented. “And what we’re asking for is that the federal government go our way, so that our economy can serve and we can integrate new Americans like New York and New York have. “
It is each village by itself, it seems.
Suburban New York has attempted to block or turn away immigrants bussed from New York by issuing emergency orders or filing lawsuits to prevent relocations.
“The city is a self-proclaimed sanctuary city; Orange County is not,” Orange County Director Steven Neuhaus said, according to Patch. “We do not have to bear the burden of the immigration crisis created by the federal government and Mayor Adams, and I will continue to fight for the citizens of Orange County in this vital way. “
On Tuesday, a state ruling issued a transitional order that allowed 186 asylum seekers to stay at two hotels in the Orange County city of Newburgh until June 21, but barred additional travel.
New York lawmakers earmarked a billion dollars for New York City’s immigrant relief efforts in the recently approved budget. Last week, Gov. Kathy Hochul signed an executive order aimed at getting money quickly by circumventing certain contract requirements. He also sent a letter to Biden requesting that FEMA direct the Department of Defense and the National Park Service to help build new migrant shelters on federal property, adding at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn.
“Given the scale of the humanitarian crisis, the state lacks the infrastructure, amenities and resources necessary to meet the prompt demand for housing and other fundamental desires of the large numbers of migrants arriving,” Hochul wrote.
However, he has yet to publicly dissuade cities from blocking immigrants leaving New York and says his management is reviewing the legality of the move.
For much of the past year, New Yorkers have mobilized to welcome, feed and even make room for others who have just arrived in the five boroughs.
Camille Napoleon, president of the Baruch Houses Tenants Association, makes a donation to her housing complex and has even allowed others to stay in her apartment.
Along with their networks of volunteers, aid staff Adama Bah and Power Malu continued to greet others at airports and the port authority’s bus station and offer recommendations and meals.
And “very strong devout communities” have provided must-have and networking connections, said John Chin, a Hunter College professor who specializes in urban policy and planning.
Make the Road’s Solis suggested New Yorkers continue to empathize and advocate for more welcoming policies.
“New York is special because immigration is close to most of us here,” he said.
If you’d like to get involved, get a list of resources compiled through the City Limits and Documented data sites.
Labeling
David is a housing reporter for Gothamist and WNYC. Email dbrand@nypublicradio. org or Signal 908-310-3960.
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