The Joe Biden administration’s decision to grant special status to Venezuelan migrants will have its greatest impact in New York City, where thousands of people will soon be eligible to start looking for work legally and will eventually be able to move out of the United States. taxpayer-funded shelters.
Mayor Eric Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul, both Democrats, called the measure necessary relief and said Thursday that it could help some of the 60,000 migrants being served by the city’s relief plans move into independent housing. faster. The measure could also ensure that other Venezuelans never need the shelters.
But even as they celebrated the policy change after months of intense lobbying at the White House, top New York officials, immigration experts and shelter operators were working to determine the practical and political impact of a decision that many thought the President Biden would never take.
Some admitted that the measure would do little to solve the acute crisis facing the country’s largest city, and that it could worsen over time by encouraging the immigration of more people.
”There was a clear call from New York City about work authorization, and I want to thank the White House for listening to us,” Adams said Thursday, before adding a more pessimistic comment. He stated that about 10,000 immigrants arrived in the city each month, “and a significant number remain in our care today.”
In the announcement Wednesday night, the Department of Homeland Security said it plans to grant special status to 472,000 Venezuelans who arrived in the country before July 31, protecting them from expulsion for 18 months and exempting them from the waiting period of a month to request a work permit.
The Biden administration had already extended special protections to nearly 250,000 Venezuelans who arrived in the country before March 2021, as well as thousands of people from Ukraine, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua and other countries. On Thursday, the Department of Homeland Security announced that it was going to increase protections for Afghan immigrants.
The program does not provide a permanent route to legal residency, but has been used by leaders of both parties to provide humanitarian protection to migrants fleeing wars, natural disasters and other types of violence. The Biden administration said Venezuelans, who are one of the largest sources of migration, fit that description.
Venezuelans also make up the largest group of the more than 110,000 immigrants who have arrived in New York City since spring 2022. But estimates on how many of those people were still in the city varied Thursday.
Asher Ross, senior strategist for the New York Immigration Action Coalition, said between 40,000 and 50,000 working-age Venezuelans in the city may qualify for protections. Mayor Adams and a top New York homeland security official said the number of people living in shelters was probably smaller, between 10,000 and 20,000.
“If it has any strength, it will take time to take effect,” said Muzaffar Chishti, a senior researcher at the independent Migration Policy Institute, predicting that the city could even see a short-term increase in the number of migrants seeking refuge. “New York City has yet to be prepared to face the housing crisis.”
Elsewhere, fierce pockets of opposition to the policy were expressed. New York Republicans argued that this would only encourage more Venezuelans and migrants of other nationalities to attempt the arduous journey to cross the border, and warned that the crisis in the country would only worsen until Biden and Democrats in Congress agreed on border policies. tougher.
“The president is unwilling, by default or intention, to address the crisis at the border, and this will only make the situation worse,” said Rep. Marc Molinaro, a moderate Republican from the Hudson Valley.
Influential Democrats in the city, and in Washington, are increasingly concerned that Republicans like Molinaro could tap into a vein of unease in next year’s elections among voters who might be open to immigration but who believe Democrats are failing to respond to the current influx of newcomers.
News of the new policy spread quickly among Venezuelan immigrants through social media. In interviews, many described feelings of relief after spending months (or more) living in the shadows, but said they had little information about how to claim their new legal status.
Julio César Gonzales, who crossed into the United States with his family in July after traveling for weeks from Caracas, said they had been living in fear, and that the measure calmed them. Some of his most frequent fears are the fact of not having a job, not being able to eat and that his children will not be able to attend school.
Gonzales, 49, said he found out about the new policy through Instagram on Thursday morning. He lives in a shelter in Queens with his wife and his three young children. He said that, due to Venezuela’s economic collapse, his family had often gone without food because he could not earn enough money as a taxi driver.
“Now we are legal here,” said Gonzales, who added that, “God willing,” they would be able to work and send their children to school.
Government officials who will be responsible for managing the policy said it won’t be that simple. Likewise, migrants will have to formally apply for temporary protected status. But instead of waiting half a year to apply for a work permit, as is the case for other asylum seekers, eligible Venezuelans will be able to do so immediately.
The state also plans to begin offering immediate career counseling to those who are eligible and has secured commitments from several companies that are willing to hire workers and delay their start dates until permits are approved. However, others warned of bureaucratic processes that could slow down the process, not to mention the challenges that even the most successful immigrants could face finding housing in a city already suffering from a shortage of affordable housing.
“This is not a magic wand that Washington gives you if you come from Venezuela,” said Christine Quinn, president and CEO of Win, the city’s largest provider of shelters for families with children who are homeless.
However, he called the measure a “radical change” for families burdened by shelter life.
On Thursday, the mayor and governor said they will continue to press Biden to help get funding from Congress to reimburse the city for money spent caring for migrants and find new ways to speed up the work authorization process for those who do not. qualify for temporary protected status.
Adams, in particular, has been warning for weeks that the problem could “destroy” New York City without drastic federal intervention at the border and without assistance to get immigrants into legal jobs more quickly. His administration has estimated that his response efforts could cost the city $12 billion over three years, and has already used those figures to justify budget cuts.
Even Hochul, who has welcomed people coming to the state, has begun to take a more nuanced tone, discouraging immigrants from choosing New York as their destination.
“I won’t look a gift horse in the mouth,” Hochul said on Spectrum NY1. “This is an important first step, but we need to let people know that if you’re thinking about coming to New York, we’ve really run out of space.”
Hochul has also expressed a greater willingness to take more drastic measures at home. Right now, New York City is providing free shelter to every migrant who requests it as part of a decades-old “right to shelter” legal mandate.
Late Wednesday, Hochul was interviewed by CNN and said she agreed with Adams that that mandate should be suspended or modified, a move that will trigger fierce resistance from homeless and immigrant advocacy organizations.
“It was never envisioned that this would be a universal right or an unlimited obligation for the city that would literally have to house the entire world,” Hochul said. “We have to spread the word that when you come to New York, we are not going to have any more hotel rooms available.”
Mihir Zaveri, Stefanos Chen and Zeke Minaya contributed to this report.
Nicholas Fandos is a Metro reporter covering New York state politics, focusing on money, lobbying and political influence. He was previously a congressional correspondent in Washington. More by Nicholas Fandos
2023-09-22 02:09:29
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