New York officials, advocates react to Biden's new immigration order
NEW YORK -- New restrictions go into effect at the United States-Mexico border at midnight Wednesday to try to get a handle on the asylum seeker crisis, which continues to have a big impact on New York City.
Tuesday, Mayor Eric Adams' office said 65,000 people are currently in the city's care, and it took in 1,200 migrants just this week.
New York officials, residents react to new immigration order
New York representatives were in the room when President Joe Biden announced dramatic steps to limit the flow of asylum seekers into the country: Congressman Tom Suozzi, who is chair of Democrats for Border Security, and Gov. Kathy Hochul, who has had to allocate billions to help New York City care for the hundreds of thousands of migrants who have flocked to New York.
"Two hundred thousand people entered our city ... And so whatever can be done to slow the flow, give us the resources, allow people to work, I'm all for," Adams said.
Suozzi says the asylum program has lost its way since it was started in 1980 as a way to aid those fleeing oppression in the Soviet Union and Cuba, and he says most people coming now end up being sent back.
"In the first quarter of 2024, only nine percent of asylum cases were granted, which means 91 percent were denied," Suozzi said.
Queens resident Esan Almulaiki lives a block away from a migrant shelter.
"I'm from Yemen, so we all came to this country. My grandparents worked for Chrysler in Detroit, Michigan, so it's not like I'm better then them. I just feel like there's a right way to do things and there's a wrong way to do things," he said. "You can't just throw whatever you want into a pot and expect to have a great dish. That's what they're doing. Put the burden on New York and let them figure it out."
New York advocates slam immigration order
The asylum seeker crisis presents the mayor with a two-fold political problem -- the need to appease constituent demands for city services and the need to appease advocates who want more money for migrants.
The Legal Aid Society, which is closely policing the mayor's 30- and 60-day restrictions on shelter stays, slammed the president's new policy. It said, "This executive action, which revives unlawful Trump-era restrictions, will eviscerate our asylum system. It deprives migrants who are fleeing persecution in their home countries access to safe harbor and due process."
Advocate Power Malu, who runs an organization that has reportedly helped over 100,000 migrants, calls the new order political.
"What we're going to see is a lot more chaos happening at the border, a lot of uncertainty," he said. "It's unfortunate that they made a 180 because instead of restoring humanity and welcoming people with dignity and allowing them the opportunity to seek asylum, they are now going backwards and falling at the hands of opposition so that they can garner more votes."
"It appears that we don't have any champions anymore," said Pablo Alvarado, co-executive director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network. "When politicians tell you, 'We want to make the border more secure,' essentially what they are telling you is that they want to make it more inhumane, more cruel."
Alvarado calls the executive order a stark turnaround for the Biden administration and says it would abandon people most in need.
"People are going to continue to come. They're just going to be put in more dangerous situations. We are going to see more families separated. We're going to see more abuse at the hands of these cartels and gangs," Malu said.
The American Civil Liberties Union says it plans on challenging the order in court, saying the executive action would restrict people's legal right to seek asylum.
"The solution to overwhelmed courts is not to dispense with our values and our due process of law. It's actually to make sure that the courts can hear the claims of everybody in an expeditious way. That takes personnel. It takes staffing. It takes resources," said Donna Lieberman, with the New York Civil Liberties Union.
There is a bill in Congress right now that would do just that and add more immigration judges. It was introduced by a Republican. Biden says he'd support it, but after former President Donald Trump urged members of his own party to oppose it, it never came up for a vote.
