The city of NY announced on Tuesday the creation of a office to serve the asylum seekers who have arrived en masse in recent months in the city and whose number, according to official data, exceeds 30,000, after reaching 50,000 in April, which unleashed a humanitarian crisis before the overflow of public services.
He alcalde Eric Adams presented this Tuesday a plan that draws the new policies of the city to answer this flood of immigrantsmostly from Venezuela, and that was unleashed last year, when the state authorities of Texas, from the opposition Republican Partythey began to charter buses loaded with immigrants to Washington and New York, as a way of putting pressure on the Democrats, who control the federal government and also the mayors of both capitals.
The initiative advanced by Adams includes, according to a statement, the establishment of centers for asylum seekers that will be permanently open and a program to facilitate the employment of these people, in which the state university will participate.
One of the most repeated complaints by the immigrants is the slowness in the treatment of their asylum applicationswhich can take up to 2 years, a period during which they do not obtain work permits and can only aspire to illegal jobs.
One of the new service centers will be located at the bus station in Authority Portallocated in the center of the city, and the first point of arrival in the city for the majority of immigrants.
Also, in connection with different religious centersapplicants will be offered residence and information about the services they can access.
“During the past year, the city of NY faced a humanitarian crisis unprecedented caused by global forces beyond our control,” Eric Adams said Tuesday.
Adamswhich launched a program last month free rides aimed at immigrants who wanted to leave the state, including bus tickets to very close to the Canadian borderadded today: “We have moved mountains to help the tens of thousands who arrived as the population of our shelters It was increasing at a spectacular rate.”
According to the statement, the city has offered assistance to more than 14,000 asylum seekers and has opened 92 emergency reception centers.
The purpose of the new office, which will be known by the name of AWESOMEits acronym in English, is to move from an emergency action to a continuous crisis response system.
With information and image from EFE
