Elected leaders, immigration advocates call for New York City to end 60-day shelter rule for asylum seeker
NEW YORK -- A rally was held outside New York City Hall on Tuesday, calling for an end to the city's 60-day shelter rule for asylum seekers.
From the smallest voices, a loud and clear plea to Mayor Eric Adams.
"I don't want my friends to be homeless or on the streets or some place that they don't know, and I don't want my friendship to be broken, so please be the 60-day rule, do not include my friend," said P.S. 87 student Reid Cirrito.
- Related story: Asylum seekers wait on long lines in cold to get re-ticketed to stay in New York City shelters
Outside City Hall, demands for the city to do away with its rule forcing migrants to leave city shelters and reapply for placement every 60 days.
"There is a lot of pressure and responsibility when it comes to New York City, but what the mayor has to do is step up to that responsibility. What we cannot do is allow those pressures to turn us into a city that we don't want to be," New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams said.
"Each one of them out there, I want you to ask them, 'Have you been to Washington? Have you communicated to the federal lawmakers that this should not be happening?'" Adams said.
When CBS New York's Jessica Moore asked the mayor if he would consider doing away with the 60-day rule as we approach winter, he touted the program's success.
"Eighty percent of those we gave the 30-day rule went on to stabilize their lives," Adams said.
The mayor says his administration has figured out how to house and feed the 150,000 migrants coming through New York City over the past 18 months, calling himself a "victim of his own success."
Adams reiterated his previous calls for help from the federal government, not just for money to manage this crisis but for a concrete strategy to prevent it from getting worse.
The mayor's office says 60-day stays scheduled to end between now and the end of the year will be reevaluated in January.
