New York Governor Kathy Hochul has unveiled a fresh job assistance initiative to aid undocumented migrants. This move coincides with NY’s situation where 380,000 citizens remain unemployed. The state has long been known as a sanctuary for immigrants.
The state is now facing an immigration crisis. New York has become a primary beneficiary of President Joe Biden’s loose and harmful immigration policies. The massive uptick in asylum seekers has severely strained local resources and infrastructure.
For more than a year, we have faced an unprecedented surge in asylum seekers coming to New York.
This crisis is not slowing down. That’s why today, I sent a formal request to the @WhiteHouse to take a series of actions to support the more than 100,000 asylum seekers in New York.
— Governor Kathy Hochul (@GovKathyHochul) August 24, 2023
Hochul has urged the Biden administration to expedite the process of granting work permits to immigrants. She introduced a job program that authorized the NY State Department of Labor to assist undocumented individuals by connecting them with employers.
The goal is accelerating the hiring process so immigrants can work and provide for themselves. Hochul posted on X, “Today, @NYSLabor is launching a process for asylum seekers to sign up for employment opportunities, so they can quickly find a job after attaining legal work status, and will also unveil a new process for employers to express their interest in hiring work-authorized migrants.”
Labor Department data from July revealed that slightly over 380,000 New Yorkers were unemployed. Hochul emphasized, “For me, the answer to these two crises — a humanitarian crisis and our workforce crisis — is crystal clear and common sense. Let them get work authorizations; let them work; legally, let them work.”
The Mayor of NYC, Eric Adams has clashed with Hochul over the migrant crisis. Adams responded to Hochul’s plea for intervention, “We appreciate Governor Hochul’s acknowledgment of the incredible work that NYC has done to manage the influx of tens of thousands of asylum seekers in the last year.”
The Biden admin handed the issue to Congress. A spokesperson said, “Only Congress can provide adequate funding for these efforts, which this Administration has already requested. Only Congress can fix the broken immigration system.”
Hochul’s address shows the deepening divide among Democrats as the increase of immigrants shows no signs of slowing. It’s straining resources in New York and presenting a potential political liability for the party heading into the 2024 elections.
