Nine months after a deluge of migrants began, New York Democrats like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-Queens) are begging President Joe Biden to do something.
“We write to urge the administration to ease the undue delays in granting work authorizations to asylum seekers,” the 13 Democratic members of the state congressional delegation said in a May 12 letter to Biden.
They are demanding Biden eliminate the requirement that migrants wait at least 180 days before the feds allow them to work, a move that would lessen the burden on New York as it grapples with the historic crisis.
Current rules require migrants to wait 150 days after they apply for asylum to seek work permits, which take at least 30 more days to process.
That approach only costs taxpayers money while creating friction between local governments dealing with the arrival of migrants, according to the letter signed by state Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, and 11 Democratic members of the U.S. House.
“Asylum seekers are forced to rely on underfunded community groups to provide them with everything from housing to food to health services,” they said in the letter. “This is particularly troubling given the labor shortages we are experiencing across the country.”
The letter comes as the city nears its breaking point following the arrival of more than 60,000 migrants from the U.S. Southern Border since last August.
Mayor Eric Adams has said the crisis is untenable with roughly 40,000 migrants still depending on the Big Apple for food, lodging, and other services.
Another thousand are arriving each day – a number expected to increase after the federal government lifted pandemic border controls on Thursday that allowed quick expulsions of people who crossed the border illegally.
The congressional letter adds to calls by Adams, Gov. Kathy Hochul, and other elected officials for more aid for the city as well as changes that would allow migrants to get authorization to work legally sooner.
“I have been calling for additional support for months to prevent us from arriving at this juncture, but my requests were ignored by the Biden administration and FEMA. Now, it is imperative they act,” Rep. Mike Lawler (R-Rockland) said Thursday while calling on Biden to declare a state of emergency.
Suburban and upstate counties have resisted a nascent effort to move hundreds of migrants, many of whom are escaping poverty and political dysfunction in Latin American countries like Venezuela, into their communities at city expense.
The New York Civil Liberties Union filed suit on Thursday to void emergency orders in Rockland and Orange counties to ban migrants from lodging in local motels and short-term rentals.
Hochul has also said her team is examining the “constitutionality” of such orders.
Biden spoke with Hochul, Lawler, and other elected officials during his Wednesday visit to the Hudson Valley, but his administration has given no sign yet that it will loosen work rules for migrants as requested by fellow Democrats in their Friday letter.
Getting migrants to stand on their own working feet would reduce the number of people who would need taxpayer-funded services, which in turn would give New York City and neighboring localities additional room to accommodate people who cannot work or find jobs.
“Without work, many are forced to seek services from government and non-government groups, straining resources in a completely preventable manner,” Democratic members of Congress from New York said to Biden in the May 12 letter.