New York’s immigrant spirit tested by influx of asylum-seekers

Perhaps more than any other American city, New York embodies the immigrant ethos. Built by foreigners, it tends to be particularly accepting of those who want to make it in this country. But buffeted by the biggest, most sudden influx of migrants in decades, the city finds itself in the uncomfortable position of suggesting that asylum-seekers look elsewhere.

Upward of 113,300 newcomers have arrived since April 2022, many with no place to stay. Required by a unique state mandate that New York City supply a bed and essential services to anyone who asks, city officials are scrambling to provide education, medical treatment and more. With costs estimated to top $12 billion over three fiscal years, left-leaning New Yorkers are experiencing the tension that those in red border states have railed about for years. 

New Yorkers are never ones to shy from an argument, and the arrival of so many migrants has sparked intense debate – from protests in Queens to vociferous discussions in neighborhood social media groups. Ten protesters were arrested Tuesday for blocking a bus of asylum-seekers on Staten Island. Residents have found themselves at odds over what local leaders should do, even as most New Yorkers statewide support efforts to house and expedite work permits for migrants, according to polling. 

“New Yorkers aren’t anti-migrant; they’re anti-this-situation,” says Don Levy, director of the Siena College Research Institute, who polls state residents on politics, culture, and social sentiment.

Some city residents argue that as a self-declared sanctuary city – limiting cooperation with federal immigration authorities – New York is getting what it deserves for being so welcoming. Others lament that the city’s responsibilities toward asylum seekers mean less funding for city services and the Big Apple’s 50,000-strong homeless population. 

Many residents argue that New York City cannot manage this influx on its own and are unhappy with the leadership of Mayor Eric Adams, Gov. Kathy Hochul, and President Joe Biden – all Democrats for whom this 17-month period has turned into a fiscal, logistical, and political quagmire.

Top destination for asylum-seekers 

More than 60,000 men, women, and children, whom the city says are asylum-seekers, are currently in New York City government care, with another 10,000 arriving each month. Some have slept on midtown Manhattan sidewalks, awaiting placement in the city’s growing network of more than 200 housing sites, including homeless shelters, repurposed hotels, and 1,000-person tent cities. 

New York City is the top destination in the United States for recent asylum-seekers, according to Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse. Other places led by Democrats also are seeing an increased number of asylum-seekers; the mayors of Chicago, El Paso, and Washington, and the governor of Massachusetts have all declared states of emergency.

Mayor Adams has come under particular criticism for his response. In August 2022, when a handful of busloads were arriving, the mayor welcomed migrants. Now, after rapid escalation in arrivals, he’s announced the issue will “destroy New York City” without more funding than the $1.5 billion promised from Albany and $104.6 million promised from Washington. 

Mr. Adams says city agencies may need to cut spending by up to 15% over the next 10 months, reducing public services including sanitation, safety, and education. Meanwhile, he’s under scrutiny from the city comptroller for how he’s spending money, and from the Biden administration for not doing a better management job.

Ernest, a Ghanaian immigrant who works in Manhattan, is underwhelmed by the mayor’s actions. “He was like showing off his muscles – like ‘bring them here.’ Well, they brought them here, and now he’s complaining and saying he doesn’t have the money to deal with it,” says Ernest, who asked to be identified by his first name to protect his privacy. He came to the U.S. in 1997 and received a green card on his fourth try. Ernest disapproves of people who cross without official papers, but he says they should be allowed to work since they’re already here. 

Equitable care for newcomers and New Yorkers 

Critics say Mayor Adams is helping newcomers at the expense of his constituents. The mayor says he’s legally obligated to aid migrants because of the 1981 consent decree that guaranteed the right to shelter. The city wants a judge to modify the order – saying it was never intended to apply to so many people. Homeless advocates counter that beds should be provided for all. 

Some who have experienced homelessness in New York City maintain that not everyone can be served well. Rosa Febo had been homeless on and off for a decade until a few years ago when The Partnership to End Homelessness found her and her daughter a Manhattan studio apartment. She says that she would like to move to a bigger place but immigrants are getting first picks along with services she didn’t receive, such as laundry.

Mayor Adams says forcing New York City to care for all asylum-seekers is inequitable. He wants Governor Hochul to allow the city to send more migrants upstate. So far, she has refused. Activists – upstate, in New York’s boroughs, and even at the mayoral residence in Manhattan – have bitterly protested against having shelters nearby. More than 30 of the state’s 57 counties outside of the five in New York City are trying to prevent Mayor Adams from sending migrants their way, according to the news outlet City & State New York.

Governor Hochul is in a tough spot. Regardless of what she does, she could lose votes should she run for reelection in 2026. Last year, she narrowly beat Republican Lee Zeldin, who campaigned on a tough-on-immigration platform. The implications could extend beyond the state’s borders to Congress, should any of the state’s 15 Democratic House seats flip in next year’s election.

National implications 

Governor Hochul and Mayor Adams have joined with leaders of other Democratic cities where migrants have been arriving in calling this a national issue that requires a national solution. They are asking President Biden for financial assistance, the temporary use of federal land for housing, and expedited work authorizations. 

The White House, however, cannot expedite work permits. Federal law bars people from receiving work authorization until 180 days after they have filed their asylum applications. Only Congress can change that law, which would be an uphill battle considering lawmakers remain deeply at odds.

What the president could do is issue an executive action that extends parole to more nationalities, says Stephen Yale-Loehr, an immigration law professor at Cornell University. Parole allows certain noncitizens to stay in the U.S. temporarily and apply for work authorization. President Biden expanded a parole process for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans earlier this year. 

On Wednesday evening, the Biden administration announced it would allow about 472,000 Venezuelans already in the U.S. to live and work here legally for 18 months by extending them "temporary protected status." New York officials had lobbied for the action, which will allow Venezuelans who arrived in the country before July 31 to immediately apply for work authorization. Gov. Hochul told CNN that around 41% of migrants currently in New York shelters are from Venezuela.

While the Southern border states – and much of the rest of the world – have seen a crush of immigrants for years, it’s only been this past year that Democratic cities have confronted so many migrants, says Professor Yale-Loehr. Migrants are fleeing poverty, violence, and the effects of climate change and are coming from a variety of countries including Venezuela, Ecuador, Senegal, and Mauritania. Observers say that with these problems persisting, the flow to big U.S. cities will only increase. 

In response, city and state leaders nationwide could jointly push for a White House conference on this issue as well as develop training programs so recent arrivals will be ready to work as soon as their work permits arrive, suggests Professor Yale-Loehr. 

Much attention has focused on migrants who have been chartered to liberal states by the governors of Arizona and Texas to focus attention and political scrutiny on the Biden administration’s border policy. But the vast majority has come up on their own from the border, with migrants either using their own money or getting help from aid groups, Professor Yale-Loehr says.

Kamara, from Mauritania, has been living in a city trailer in Queens since the middle of August. After leaving home, he spent a month on buses traveling 2,000 miles through Central America and Texas before ending up in New York, which he chose because friends had said he would receive shelter here. He says he’s waiting for working papers but in the meantime is working under the table with a friend in Harlem, reselling $2 shirts for a profit. 

New York’s immigrant stories 

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, millions of European immigrants came through Ellis Island, but they didn’t all stay. Historian Carl Bon Tempo, a co-author of “Immigration: An American History,” says today’s rate of arriving newcomers rivals – and very likely surpasses – those from the city’s past. 

Migrants tend to cycle out of facilities once they have hooked up with people from home who can help them get settled, says Dave Giffen, executive director at the Coalition for the Homeless.  

“They’re not coming here because they want to live in a shelter. They want to work and live and establish lives for themselves and become part of the community,” he says.

Steven Carpio is a first-generation American whose parents came here illegally from Ecuador 45 years ago, worked hard, and now have pensions. He has been working in city shelters and elsewhere to help unauthorized residents set up bank accounts. He says that he’s not sure if the city can afford to pay for the migrants but that they will be a great asset to this country from a labor perspective. 

“You look at who cuts the grass – Spanish[-speaking] people, who does the labor for building homes – Spanish[-speaking] people,” Mr. Carpio says.

Observers say that anti-immigrant rhetoric may be more fierce than it is widespread.

“The vast majority of New Yorkers remember the immigration story of their own family. So when we ask, ‘Should we continue to live by the words on the Statue of Liberty: “Give me your tired, your poor,”’ overwhelmingly New Yorkers say, ‘Yes, yes we should,’” says Mr. Levy, the pollster.

Editor's note: This article has been updated to include the Biden administration's announcement late on September 20 of a temporary legal status for Venezuelans who arrived in the U.S. prior to July 31.