New York, NY—Today, NYC Mayor Eric Adams announced that some single adult male asylum seekers will be given the option to spend four months at two hotels that will be used as shelters in Orange County, NY.
Murad Awawdeh, Executive Director, New York Immigration Coalition:
“New York State has a rich tradition of welcoming immigrants, and upstate towns like Buffalo and Utica have seen incredible economic and cultural revitalization from the resettlement of refugees to those regions. We believe that success is still possible, but it requires deliberate planning and a coordinated strategy involving relevant municipal government officials, nonprofits, and community-based organizations. Instead, the Adams administration insists on going it alone. Working together, New York can live up to its legacy as a welcoming city and state for all immigrants. Alone, Adams just continues to not get stuff done, at the expense of asylum seeking families whose only mistake was believing that America is a refuge from the harm they experienced in their home countries.
“Shutting New York City’s door on asylum seekers does nothing more than put band-aids on an over-stretched shelter system, keeping everyone in limbo even longer. It is long past time that Mayor Adams stopped treating people seeking safety as a crisis, and started investing in an infrastructure of permanent housing, legal representation, and social service support that will allow asylum seekers, and all New Yorkers, to build their lives here in the city, if they choose to do so. Busing people upstate for shelter is only a temporary fix. They will be out of sight, but it’s short-sighted to think that the Mayor can resolve New York City’s housing problems in this manner.”