The call to allow migrants to work continued on Thursday, this time coming from immigration advocacy groups, unions, and work providers.
A coalition of organizations gathered in Battery Park’s Castle Clinton in the shadow of the iconic Statue of Liberty to implore the federal government to expand a program that would provide a greater number of asylum seekers with immediate work authorization. The immigrants, under the program, would be granted with what’s known as Temporary Protected Status (TPS).
This demand comes after the group penned a letter to Alejandro Mayorkas, the U.S. Secretary for the Department of Homeland Security, requesting that the Biden Administration help address the migrant crisis by providing asylum seekers with legal work opportunities. The group believes this would ease the pressure on the city’s shelter system and would allow the newcomers to work and give back to their respective communities.
“We ask that the Biden administration use TPS for migrants inclusive of these countries of origin, allowing them an opportunity to contribute their skills and talents to New York’s workforce. We also call on the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to support eligible applicants who seek employment authorization by expediting processing times for asylum seekers,” part of the letter read.
A slew of union groups like 32BJ, 1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, NYC Employment and Training Coalition and advocates stressed at the gathering that New York City is powered by immigrants and the state has a longstanding history of welcoming all for a better opportunity, allowing the city to flourish and the economy to be reinvigorated.
The American Immigration Council reported that in 2018 immigrant-led households accounted for $120.5 billion in spending power and paid over $21.8 billion in state and local taxes.
The letter also focused on the hardship faced by the asylum seekers and called for the broadening of the TPS designation.
“As asylum seekers continue to leave their home countries to escape danger and unprecedented hardship, we strongly urge the Administration to redesignate and extend TPS for existing countries, and provide new TPS designations for more countries in crisis. It’s also imperative that the Administration release the Federal Register Notice promptly, and that it provide a minimum registration period of 180 days for both current TPS holders and new beneficiaries under redesignation, which will help new arrivals who would otherwise continue struggling to find long-term housing and work opportunities,” the letter continued.
The coalition consisted of members of over 19 groups including 1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, 32BJ SEIU, 86 the Barrier, African Communities Together (ACT), Chinese American Planning Council (CPC), Diaspora Community Services, Immigrant Advocates Response Collaborative (I-ARC), Jericho Road Community Health Center, and others.
City Hall states that it spends about $383 per night to house a family of migrants. Furthermore, it anticipates that the aggregate cost to take care of the asylum seekers will reach $12 billion over the course of three years.
amNewYork Metro reached out to the White House Press Office for comment and is awaiting a response.
