New York governor Kathy Hochul announced Monday that she will deploy additional National Guardsmen to help manage the migrant crisis overwhelming New York City and much of the surrounding area.
An additional 150 National Guardsmen will be mobilized to help process the massive number of migrants entering the state each week, bringing the total number of guardsmen assigned to work on New York’s migrant crisis to 2,200.
Hochul said 250 National Guard members will be tasked solely with case management, much of which will focus on helping eligible Venezuelans apply for Temporary Protected Status and work authorization.
The Biden administration announced last week that it will grant temporary legal status to nearly half-a-million illegal immigrants from Venezuela so they can work, citing political instability in their home country. “Now that we have the opportunity granted by President Biden to help the Venezuelans who came before July 31st be able to apply for temporary protective status and what follow that literally with the same application, is the work authorization, that coveted work authorization,” Hochul said at a press conference.
“The National Guard has already been working to survey them,” she said of the migrants looking to work in the state. “We have different categories. Some people are eligible to work right now if they already came in through the Customs and Border Protection app… There are the asylum seekers who need to apply for asylum and wait 180 days. And now we have this new category that allow the expedited work permits for Venezuelans who arrived here earlier.”
Last week, Hochul directed the New York State Department of Labor to connect employers with newly-eligible asylum seekers and migrants who are pursuing work authorizations. For that effort, over 70 state personnel representing 16 separate state agencies were assigned, a press statement said.
“Work authorization is the way out of the migrant crisis,” Hochul said. “Individuals who achieve legal work status will be able to exit the shelter system, find work opportunities and get their shot at the American Dream.”
Over 116,000 migrants have arrived in NYC since the spring, when border states began busing migrants to blue “sanctuary cities” which have committed to providing shelter and social services to all individuals regardless of immigration status. At a recent town hall meeting in Manhattan, Adams said New York City is receiving 10,000 migrants per month. “This issue will destroy New York City,” Adams said.
Mayor Eric Adams has bickered with Hochul over the migrant fiasco, with both accusing the other of not investing enough resources to combat it. Adams called out Hochul for refusing to intervene in the city’s dispute with upstate counties, which are suing to stop the city from busing migrants to hotels in their jurisdictions. Despite his statement that the migrant crisis is untenable, Adams has yet to renounce the city’s sanctuary status, which guarantees shelter and social services for all migrants.