New York Assemblywoman Jenifer Rajkumar on Thursday released an open letter to United States President Joseph Biden urging him to lead a “robust and comprehensive response” to address the refugee and migrant influx of Caribbean and other immigrants in New York City.
Fifty-four elected Officials in New York City from the State Senate, State Assembly and City Council signed the letter by Rajkumar, who represents the 38th Assembly District in Queens.
Many of the asylum seekers entering New York are nationals from Cuba, Haiti and Venezuela.
The elected officials call for the President to declare a state of emergency, implement a decompression strategy at the southern border, let Caribbean and other asylum seekers work by expediting work authorization, and provide more funding and resources to New York City.
They call this moment “one of the most significant humanitarian crises New York City has ever faced”, stating that the City is at “a breaking point.”
The elected officials state they are ready to help and support the President in taking action.
“We are elected officials from New York City requesting your help. Our City is experiencing an unprecedented migrant influx, with a surge of asylum seekers arriving here in numbers never seen before in history,” says the letter to Biden. “Our City is at a breaking point. We take pride in New York being a beacon of hope for immigrants, but the influx of migrants is so great that the City is running out of resources. New York City is being forced to reduce services for its people.
“This is one of the most significant humanitarian crises New York City has ever faced,” letter adds. “We cannot face it alone. We are requesting help from the White House.”
Specifically, the elected officials ask the US President to declare a Federal State of Emergency, expedite work authorization, create an organized strategy at the southern border to fairly distribute newcomers across the country and provide additional federal funding for New York City.
“We need your leadership and a robust federal response to aid us in managing the migrant influx,” the letter stresses. “A state of emergency declaration will provide much-needed resources to New York City.
“The federal government must expedite the issuance of Employment Authorization Documents,” it adds, stating that it is a “common sense and bi-partisan fix.”
“However, while we welcome immigrants to our City, the current unstructured state of immigration policy and response needs to end,” the letter continues. “There needs to be a system of rules in place to manage the migrant crisis. That is why we are pleading for the White House to step in and take leadership over the influx of asylum seekers.
“If you help our City run the response and provide the resources, allow the asylum seeking population to work, and implement a decompression strategy at the southern border, this crisis will become manageable for New York City,” the legislators assure. As New Yorkers who love our City, we stand ready to help and to support our President in taking leadership over one of the greatest crises New York City has ever faced. We hope that you consider our requests. We believe that with your leadership, we can turn this crisis into opportunity and that this can become one of history’s greatest success stories.”
Among elected officials signing the letter were New York State Assembly Member Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, the daughter of Haitian immigrants, who chairs the Brooklyn Democratic Party; New York City Council Member Farah Louis, the daughter of Haitian and Bahamian immigrants; and New York State Senator Leroy Comrie, the son of Jamaican immigrants.
