by Chris Sommerfeldt and Tim Balk, September 14, 2022
Mayor Adams and members of the City Council have begun to aggressively pressure the federal government to process asylum seekers’ work papers more quickly, as the Texas busing program stretches New York’s social safety net to its limit.
Councilwoman Gale Brewer, a Manhattan Democrat, introduced a resolution on Wednesday calling on the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services agency to process asylum seekers’ employment documents within 30 days of receipt.
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The resolution arrived one day after Adams grumbled on a visit to Washington that the federal government is letting down migrants, and missing an opportunity to ease work shortages.
“If the federal government is saying that for six months you can’t work, then the federal government should be saying for six months we are going to compensate you,” Adams told the National Press Club on Tuesday.
Conchita Cruz, co-executive director of the nonprofit Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project, said some asylum seekers wait even longer than the timeline Adams laid out, noting a 150-day period in which they must wait before filing their applications.
Cruz charged that the federal government is failing to reach a legal obligation to process asylum seekers’ work permits within 30 days and that the Council is “literally asking the government to abide by the law.”
