Migrants Being Sent to NYC via Bus from Other States: What We Know Right Now (updated October 2022)
On July 21st, New York City Mayor Eric Adams held a press conference noting that the Governors of Texas and Arizona were actively sending migrants via bus from the border to NYC. This has been confirmed by a number of our member organizations who, over the last month, have reported an alarming increase in the number of individuals arriving at their offices from the border seeking services.
Topline
1. Advocates are calling on New York City and New York State to provide $10 million in emergency funding to address the legal needs of the thousands. Read our press release HERE.
Background
1. The Governors of Texas and Arizona are paying to bus migrants being released at the border to New York City. Some of these individuals are arriving here with only the clothes on their back, with no connection to New York, and without any knowledge of where to seek help or shelter.
2. Per advocates working at the border, some individuals believe they must come to New York because a New York address is listed on their immigration documents; some have reported that they were told by federal authorities to come to New York, and advocates have surmised that they were told to travel to New York by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) upon release; others may have ties to New York or may be coming to New York based on word of mouth.
3. At the border, CBP has been entering the addresses of New York organizations as migrants' actual addresses into federal systems, prompting these individuals and families to choose New York as a final destination. The migrants then go to organizations' offices believing they will receive services.
4. Many New York-based organizations are also reporting receiving mail, including immigration court appearance documents or a Notice to Appear (NTA), for people whom they have never heard of, do not represent, and have no ability to contact, raising serious due process concerns. The migrants whose immigration documents were sent to advocacy organizations are in danger of being deported in absentia because they never received notice that they had to appear in immigrant court.
5. We do not know exact numbers but estimate it is in the thousands (with thousands likely more on the way) who are arriving in New York city looking for services and unsure where to go. While many arriving in the shelters are from Venezuela, there are also individuals from South and Central America, some Caribbean nations, and some African nations. Most have no prior ties here and thus no clear idea where to find help, only adding to their vulnerability.
6. The influx of migrants in New York has led to an increase in the number of people scheduled for check-ins at local immigration offices and is exacerbating the existing backlogs in immigration court.
7. At 26 Federal Plaza, which houses both US Citizenship and Immigration Services where immigrants appear for ICE check-ins, and is one of New York City’s three immigration courts, the lines to enter the building are so long that migrants have been prompted to line up as early at 2 a.m. in order to be admitted that day for their ICE check-in.
8. On October 7, 2022 New York City Mayor Eric Adams declared a state of emergency stating that more than 17,000 migrants have arrived in New York since April; that’s an average of five or six buses each day since early September, straining the city's homeless shelter system.
9. The Mayor’s Office has created an Asylum Seeker Resource Navigation Center which provides immigration legal services along with health insurance enrollment, healthcare services and appointments, mental health counseling, school enrollment, child services, and IDNYC (Municipal Identification) enrollment.
Current Needs
1. Many of these individuals are ending up at NYC homeless shelters, but this has raised serious safety concerns, which are exacerbated by the trauma they have faced as well as language access issues.
2. Many are arriving with nothing more than the clothes on their back. Some have access to Mexican phones that cannot be used in the US. They are coming at night, when shelters don't normally intake individuals and they do not understand the process.
3. We have heard stories of families being separated in the shelters: for example, a set of brothers were separated because their shelter’s narrow view of family units does not include adult siblings, or individuals struggling to be understood. These migrants are coming from all over the world and speak more languages than shelter staff can accommodate.
4. I-ARC members are meeting frequently to keep each other posted on the needs and to understand what responses are necessary. We are asking New York City and State to make $10 million available immediately in rapid response funding to manage this new crisis that has been placed on providers that were already at capacity and straining to meet existing needs.
5. Beyond the immediate needs, funding will be required to provide long-term representation to these individuals, who, if given the chance to make an application, nonetheless face a years-long process through the immigration system.
6. More broadly, we must move away from after-the-fact, reactive funding to crises. This is an opportunity to create and fund systems in a manner that allows providers to pivot to the immediate needs at any given time and serve a maximum number of people in a holistic way. This includes passing the Access to Representation Act currently pending in the State legislature, increasing current funding streams in the meantime to meet current needs, and implementing contract reforms to allow providers to serve a maximum number of people.
7. The Mayor’s Office must work with legal service providers to create a system for providing both immediate and long-term legal services through a city contracting system that is sustainable for legal service providers and serves the needs of migrants.
8. Action NYC, a program funded by the NYC Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs (MOIA) offers all New Yorkers, regardless of immigration status, free, safe immigration legal help in a network of trusted community-based organizations at community sites, public health facilities, public schools, and libraries. The providers in this network should have their resources increased to help meet this new need.
9. All legal services funding should be granted in conjunction with other service needs including social workers, case managers, housing assistance, and health and human services.
I-ARC WILL CONTINUE TO UPDATE THIS STORY AND WEIGH IN ON ALL OF THE ATTENDANT ISSUES AS THEY EVOLVE.
