Last week, with the number of migrants in New York City shelters reaching some 60,000, demands for solutions to the long-simmering crisis reached a crescendo – as did the finger pointing.
Mayor Eric Adams, in one corner, renewed demands that the Biden administration step in and address the crisis, while the White House, in another corner, argued that the city needs to do a better job of managing the migrants who are here.
A group of religious leaders endorsed a covenant to support migrants and called on the different governments to work together. And a growing chorus of immigration advocates and others demanded faster federal work authorizations for migrants. In the absence of such action, Gov. Kathy Hochul floated the unprecedented prospect of the state issuing its own work permits.
Against this backdrop, WNYC’s All Things Considered host Tiffany Hanssen discussed the developments – and what’s ahead – with Arun Venugopal, senior reporter in WNYC’s Race and Justice Unit.
Their conversation has been lightly edited for clarity and content.
TH: Arun, so much of the growing outrage over migrants – and the support – comes in the wake of Mayor Adams's earlier remarks that “the issue will destroy” the city. How do you think those remarks have impacted the larger debate around the migrant issue?
AV: The remarks have certainly made waves amongst both his supporters and his detractors. I think for people who are already worried about the number of migrants in New York and the ballooning cost of housing them, his comments seem to confirm their fears. At the same time, you have these red state conservatives like Gov. Greg Abbott in Texas and Gov. Ron DeSantis in Florida who have seized upon the remarks to taunt Adams, noting many more migrants have come to their states. It hasn't really made them empathize, if that's what Adams was expecting.
Members of the Interfaith Center of New York and New York State Council of Churches convene outside City Hall in Manhattan. They called on elected and appointed officials to work in collaboration to address migrant crisis across New York City, on Sept. 12, 2023.
And then you have supporters of migrants, including interfaith leaders in New York who are saying that what we really need now is compassion for newcomers. They're trying to prevent the demonization of migrants. They're also saying that the federal government needs to expedite work permits for these people, which is the same thing that business leaders in New York have been saying in previous weeks: that if migrants come here, there's an enormous demand for their labor.
The Adams administration put a $12 billion price tag on this crisis over the course of three years. We've all been hearing Gov. Hochul and the mayor pleading for relief from the Biden administration. It's been going on for months. So why haven't we seen any more action from the White House to this point?
I think for a lot of Democrats it's been kind of bewildering, and extremely frustrating. Part of the answer can be found in polling. Pollster John Zogby told me it's not just the city and the country at large that are divided on this issue, it's the Democratic Party itself. According to Zogby, “there's no real consensus on this issue. Secondly, even Democrats to a larger degree than one would think are split on the issue. So there's not a clear direction.”
Asylum seekers staying in a city-run respite center at 359 Stockton St. received help from neighborhood residents, who offered use of the showers in their homes. They also welcomed the migrants at the Bushwick City Farm across the street, where they share the community space, enjoy and prepare meals, and past the time.
What he also said is that most independents who he polled in May said they think the situation at the border can spiral out of control if it's not properly dealt with. And an overwhelming majority of Republicans say pretty much the same thing. He said it's almost certain that this issue is going to come up in the general election next year and that this really plays into the extent to which the Biden administration has responded – or hasn't.
I want to talk about some of these policies that are being debated. One of them is state-issued work authorizations, something that Gov. Hochul herself has floated. So how would these work authorization permits help the situation?
It's hard to say. As the governor herself said, state-issued work permits are unprecedented. So I reached out to Gemma Solomene, a law scholar at Fordham University, and she said it's doubtful that having the state as opposed to the U.S. government issue these work authorizations would even withstand legal challenges.
Solomene said, “It is very clear in our laws that work authorization is tied to immigration status and immigration status is certainly within the purview of the federal government and not the states.”
Some advocates for migrants are saying they need more resources when it comes to the cost and the paperwork required for these work authorizations. Some others are calling for an expansion of what's known as the Temporary Protected Status or TPS. So talk to us about those proposals, too.
Yes, just for a federal work authorization, it costs $400. It takes close to five or six months after you've applied for asylum to apply for work authorization. It's cumbersome and only a small portion of the people who have arrived in the city are on their way along that path. So lots of people are just not in a position to get work authorization.
The scene outside the Roosevelt Hotel, which has been converted into a shelter for migrants, in an undated file photo. New York City has quietly started a pilot program where it provides one-time grants of up to $4,000 to help migrant families leave the city's shelter system and secure their own housing.
The other issue is TPS. TPS is something that the U.S. government employs when a crisis is playing out in a foreign nation and it's clear that immigrants who are in the U. S. would not be safe if they had to return to their homeland. Think earthquakes or massive civil unrest. That's what TPS is for. I asked Soleimani from Fordham University about this as well.
Now, on one hand, she said TPS is something the White House can do without having to get approval from Congress. However, it's a country-specific determination, so it's limited in that regard. Right now, for instance, TPS is in place for Venezuelans, but only if they arrived in this country before March 8, 2021. That's a couple of years ago. If they came anytime in the last year, they aren't covered by TPS. And by extension, they wouldn't be able to legally work in this country. Now the Biden administration could ultimately decide that he wants to expand TPS for Venezuelans, but that still wouldn't resolve the issue of migrants who are coming from any of the other sending countries like Mauritania or other parts of Latin America or Africa. These are the countries which are also sending people here and who are struggling to work legally in America.
Arun, thanks so much for talking through some of this complicated policy with us. We appreciate it.
Thanks so much, Tiffany.
