Transcript: Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Anne Williams-Isom Holds Briefing on Asylum Seeker Response

September 13, 2023

Deputy Mayor Anne Williams-Isom, Health & Human Services: Good afternoon. I'm Anne Williams Isom, deputy mayor for Heath & Human Services, and for this week's Asylum Seeker Briefing I'm joined by Masha Gindler, executive director of the Asylum Seeker Application Health Center.

We launched the Asylum Seeker Application Health Center in late June; since then, we've had and been able to complete over 3,800 applications, helping thousands of families take another step towards building their lives here. In prior briefings, we discussed the important role of case workers and legal partners and academic institutions in this effort. This week, we're excited that students have come from a number of academic institutions and they're beginning to work at the center helping to scale our efforts.

Today we're taking this work a step further. I'm proud to announce that teams are currently conducting a sprint to survey the tens and thousands of adults in our care and determine who is eligible to apply for work authorization right now. This effort began last week and will continue over the coming weeks as we work to reach approximately 40,000 [inaudible] in our care.

By surveying those in our cares, we will also be able to send reminders to people in the coming weeks or months as they approach their eligibility to apply for work authorization. I'll now turn it over to Masha Gindler, the Help Center's executive director, to provide an update on our work at the Asylum Seeker Application Health Center as we pass over the past couple of months to see how that work is going. Masha.

Masha Gindler, Executive Director, New York City Asylum Application Help Center: Thank you. Thank you, Deputy Mayor. So, as a reminder, the Asylum Seeker Application Health Center opened at the end of June and our goal is to help asylum seekers file their asylum application. That's going to be their official petition to remain in the United States due to persecution that they have suffered or fear they will suffer in their home countries. So, applicants have a year to apply, and for most applicants this application is their only pathway to eventual work authorization, which I'll go into it a little bit.

So, how does the center work? Clients have to live in one of our city emergency sites to be able to be eligible to get an appointment. We are appointment based so that we know which languages are coming so that we can be sure to have translation available. When clients come in, they meet with a trained application assistant who explains what applying for asylum entails. We do a lot of education at this point, we want to make sure people make informed consent about whether they want to proceed.

If clients do wish to proceed and if they can articulate a fear of persecution, we will help them fill out their 589 form, which is the official form you fill out in order to apply for asylum. It's a comprehensive form, it asks a lot of detailed questions and also asks the applicant to go into detail about what harm they had experienced or fear they will experience. So, these appointments can often last four hours or more. They can go into really sensitive information. And we're very grateful for our staff for staying strong and motivated during these interviews as well. So, once an application is completed it is reviewed by at least two immigration attorneys and mailed for the applicant. The applicant gets a tracking number and they'll know when that has been received. Since we started in late June, as deputy mayor have said, we filed over 3,800 applications and counting. So, that's for asylum.

Now I'm going to go into work authorization, because as we know that is ultimately what will get these folks situated. So, there are two pathways to work authorization. For the majority of asylum seekers that we're seeing, they can only apply for work authorization 150 days after the federal government has received their asylum application. That's a majority of our cases, because they have been given a status and they need to wait that period.

So, for all the clients we have seen, the 3,800 and counting, we're going to call them back at their six month mark, bring them back in and file their work authorization for them. For a minority of the clients we're seeing, asylum seekers that have been given humanitarian parole or TPS — so Temporary Protected Status — those folks can apply right away. When we see those clients we file work authorization for them right away but they have been a minority of our clientele so far. The survey effort that deputy mayor has mentioned is an effort for us to identify who else might be eligible via either TPS or having parole status.

So, folks that have heard about the CB One app will know that people that who have got here through the CB One had that parole status, so they are eligible. So, when we identify folks through the assessment survey effort that are eligible for work authorization, we will schedule them an appointment in order to file work authorization, because we want to get as many people applied as possible. We're also training folks in our emergency sites to be able to do these forms, which are a lot less complicated than the hefty 589 forms to fill out, and folks can do this on their own.

So we obviously want as many people to apply for work authorization as possible and we're dedicated to making it done. Everyone that's come through the application help center that has been eligible we have applied for. And so, just on behalf of all the application assistance during this work, all the immigration attorneys that have joined our efforts, we're really grateful for the opportunity to help these individuals and get them on the path to work stability and fulfill kind of their strong desire to get to work. Thank you, deputy mayor.

Deputy Mayor Williams-Isom: Thank you so much, Masha . It just reminds me, you and your team and all of the volunteers and our partners, it's such hard work. It's being managed so well. You know, I wish more people can come and see the operation that you're doing. But it's tough listening to some of the stories, listening to what people have gone through, and so there's mental health and social services that are set up on site not just for the folks that are applying for asylum but also for the workers who themselves are I think experiencing some secondary, tertiary trauma as they hear some of those stories. So, thank you so much to you and your team for that work. This is certainly a whole of government effort here.

So, now let me give you some of the numbers. As of September 10th, we have over 112,800 people in our care including over 59,900 asylum seekers. Over 113,300 asylum seekers have come through our intake center since last spring. We have opened 208 sites including 11 humanitarian relief centers. And last week from September 4th to September 10th, more than 3,200 new asylum seekers have entered our care. That's the number that we look at every week when we are talking when people say that the numbers are slowing down. I keep reminding everyone that no matter how well we do to get people out the system if we have that amount of people that are continuing to come through the front door it is going to be hard to keep up.

The mayor announced over the weekend a set of cuts to the leaders of our city agencies. We have said this here before many times, that we knew that this situation would start to impact every part of the city, the parts of the cities that have the 200 sites, the parts of the cities that are giving services and certainly to every single city agency. This is because one municipality and a couple of others across the country has been asked to handle a disproportionate share of what is clearly a national issue. Like so many new Yorkers we have to estimate our costs, and we each year have a budget. I think about it like this. If you have a mortgage payment or you have a rent payment, you know that that's a fixed cost. You know that you have to deal with food that you need for the month, your kids are going back to school, we have to get kids supplies, school supplies, have to make sure that they have the clothes that they need.

And then all of a sudden something comes out of the blue. Could be that your neighbor's tree falls on your house, or most likely that happens to many people sometimes, someone gets sick in your family that you weren't expecting and now they're asking you to contribute. Something that's unexpected, that's impossible, that's outside of your control. I feel like that's a little bit what has happened here, except for we've seen this coming, we see it coming and we've been trying to sound the alarm for months and months to say that we think that this is going to be unsustainable.

So, no matter how well you budget or how prudent you are, you're going to face some hard decisions. You can ask your neighbors for help, you can ask to see if there's money that you can get, but ultimately you're going to have to make the tough decisions: are you buying groceries, are you not buying extra shoes for the kids? What are you going to do? And those are the tough things that we've had to do here. How can we cut our budget? Where are there places that we can find of efficiencies, the budget of the humanitarian crisis in our HERRCs and how we've been dealing with the migrant crisis. The challenges are difficult and we're going to continue to do everything that we need.

We've got to tell New Yorkers the truth, though. Sugar coating it is not what we need to do. But I think we have to be practical and we are able to know that we can do hard things. We can do hard things when we get the support that we need. New York has shown that time and time again. We're going to continue to make every effort that we can in order to get through this humanitarian crisis, but we certainly need others, our state partners, our federal partners to use every tool in their toolbox also to address this crisis. Now I'll open it up for questions.

Question: First question is, of the ones that can get work permits right away under parole and TPS, what percentage are they representing of the total number of those applying for asylum, if you can speak to that.

And then my second question, state is willing possibly authorizing work permits within New York State. Is the city in contact with the state, is the mayor supportive of this? What type of communication is happening between the city and state on that frnot?

Deputy Mayor Williams-Isom: Okay, Masha, you want to take the first part?

Gindler: Yes. So, the assessment is still ongoing. I don't want to throw out a number yet until we finish it, but we'll get back to you with the percentage we're seeing.

Deputy Mayor Williams-Isom: Okay. And Kelly, my condolences to you and your own colleagues at NY1. I was very excited to see the Governor talk about work permits, because it's something that we have on our list of innovative things to do. I think that finding a way to do that in the absence of the federal government doing that would be very important. We really are excited about our state partners and we do have conversations about all sorts of things, but we would be supportive of that especially since we know there's so many industries that need jobs, restaurants, you know, things of that sort. So, that is something I was very excited about.

Question: Deputy Mayor, we had Congressman Goldman on our morning show this morning, he said that $100 million checks [inaudible] in the mail, he said hundreds of millions more might be there for education. We know that 50 federal workers are coming to help with the efforts over at the asylum center, particularly identifying those who can quickly work. And it feels almost a done deal. Are the feds finally turning the corner and giving you the help you need?

Deputy Mayor Williams-Isom: So, I was very excited to hear that the check was in the mail. I think that we still, with the $12 billion looming ahead of us, have to make sure we're prepared too. So, I'm excited that the federal government is paying attention more to this issue. But I think it's a large number. And with over 113,000 people that have come to New York City, we want to make sure that it's consistent. I think there was a statement that Tom Perez made yesterday that said we are in this together.

I kind of feel like New York City has done more than our part. So, we would really like to see our state partners and our federal partners step up and take more of a coordination role here. Help us decompress people at the border so that we're not getting 3,200 people through our front door. Let's call for a federal declaration of emergency. Those types of things, I think, would be continuing to move in the positive direction that I'm seeing.

Question: A follow up to those who are subject to humanitarian parole. Any idea why you're not seeing more folks like that? Because I feel like it's been a few months now since the app was up and running that the Biden administration likes to talk about, that should make them more quickly eligible. The Feds have said we think there's a lot of people eligible now. What's the disconnect, why aren't people working more quickly.

Deputy Mayor Williams-Isom: We're seeing 11 percent or so…

Gindler: At the asylum center we're seeing a very low percentage, I think that's why it's important for this assessment to figure out what's happening and maybe there's something in the communication to that population that maybe they don't realize or something like that, but I'm excited to see what numbers come out and we'll reach out to all of those folks by end of September.

Question: Hi. So, I'm curious, are you doing anything different in terms of data collection when people are coming in the door now. So you’ve got 3,200 new people, one of the big criticisms by the federal government is whether or not it's their responsibility or city's responsibility, is that the city is really not triaging to see who is who who could be sooner. Have you started to take any new data…

Deputy Mayor Williams-Isom: I was appreciative. I think I said here of the assessment that the federal government did for us and the suggestions that they gave. We're working closely with our state partners, too, because it's all hands on deck moment. We'll have Dr. Long come back and do a full assessment of how he's been using the funds to do intensive case management.

But to answer your question, Melissa, yes, who is coming in the door, what's their plan as they get here for exit, especially since now we're giving people notices that they have to move on. Where did they come from? Do they want to be reticketed, all those kind of intensive questions, I think, that we are making sure that we are tying the information now to case management.

Question: Is there a database when these people come?

Deputy Mayor Williams-Isom: There is. 100 percent. There's a database that the DHS system has, there's a database that we've created in our H + H system and now we're doing the integration to make sure that all the databases can speak to each other.

Question: Going back to the [inaudible] they state that 14,000 vouchers for housing. Is there any idea that's coming soon and if that's going to help for the migrants that are without any residence right now [inaudible].

Deputy Mayor Williams-Isom: It's not my understanding that migrants are eligible for housing vouchers. I'm not sure if they're just saying there's extra vouchers they're going to be sending for New Yorkers that need to get out of shelter and that need… Oh, okay.

Question: [Inaudible].

Deputy Mayor Williams-Isom: Is that with the check that's coming to us, too, because all of those things. Okay. All of that would be wonderful and welcomed.

Question: [Inaudible] said that they are, the city has been slow in submitting receipts for reimbursements. Is that something you guys are working on, speeding that up? She said that really hasn't moved in the past couple of months.

Deputy Mayor Williams-Isom: I did hear the governor say that today. I was probably more focused on the positive innovation of the work permits. I think we're working really hard. Housing 110,000 people and making sure nobody is sleeping on the streets is what we're focused on. I know the team is working really hard to make sure all the invoices get to the places they need to get to.

Question: So, my question is, how many people, because they've got a one year timeline, how many people have missed that timeline? And what can they do? Are we seeing a lot of people going underground now? What kind of advice are you giving them if they show up and miss a deadline?

Gindler: Those are great questions. In terms of how many folks have missed the deadline again I'll refer to the assessment when it's complete. Hopefully we'll know more then. For folks that have recently missed their deadline, they do have legal options, but they probably benefit more from full legal representation and our clinic is really focused on people that are within that one year program. So, they do have options, those individuals. They could explain the program where they missed their one year deadline but they should really do it through having legal representation and it's not something we do at our clinic.

Deputy Mayor Williams-Isom: Perfect.

Question: I have sort of a two part question, deputy mayor. Number one, talking to Senator Luis Sepúlveda who’s introduced the bill that would allow the state to issue work permits he's calling on the governor to call a special session to do this because he said you can't wait for all the federal forms to be filled out, et cetera.

I wonder if you think that's a good idea. And he also suggests that CUNY and SUNY campuses consider hiring migrants and asylum seekers right now. So, will CUNY do that? Will you ask SUNY to do that, is that something that could get jobs right away.

Deputy Mayor Williams-Isom: Hi, Marcia. I'm hearing of course the first part… Well, I've heard about the special session and I think I'm gratified that people are thinking outside of the box and trying to figure out what we can do, because there's a sense of urgency here. Sometimes I feel like people are like we hear 3,200, 59,000 people and people are like it's all good.

But I think there's a sense of urgency. Whatever we can do and whatever ideas people come up with I think that's fantastic. I also think we know that there would be lots of places that we could connect people to if they had work authorization or if they had a work permit. Period. Amen. Whether that would be SUNY, whether that's the restaurant industry. So, many other businesses have come up to us and said if we had work authorization, if people could have a permit to work, I think that would be one of the biggest solutions to get out of the humanitarian crisis that we find ourselves in.

Question: To the head of the application assistance program, your personnel have helped file I think you said 3,800 applications. How many people does that represent? In other words, there could be more than one person on the application, as I understand it. And how many prospective applicants chose not to file applications for whatever reason?

And then to the deputy mayor, the 59,000 number of those in the city's care doesn't appear to have gone up in weeks, even as thousands more migrants as you just noted have come to the city. Why is this number static? Where are these folks living?

Deputy Mayor Williams-Isom: You want to start?

Gindler: Yes. So, you're absolutely right because most applications have derivatives. So, spouses or children. Let me get back to you with the exact number. It's larger than how many applications we've filed. And a good point about that is when those folks are ready to file for work authorization, all of the derivatives can file as well. So, really with one application you could have a family covered.

The second question that you asked was how many folks refused or didn't proceed. I would say, in a given day, we see about 150 people, and maybe two to three stop the process with us either because we find they're not eligible or because they, after hearing our informational session, decide to opt out on their own. But it's a very small minority.

Deputy Mayor Williams-Isom: So, to the question of where are people going, I think that our intensive case management, our reticketing and our 60-day notices are working. People are finding other opportunities. I don't know if this is good or bad but since people have been here for 14 months they're now creating their own community. They're living, finding communities together. People are going outside of New York City. And so, that's a good thing. That's what we want to see more of. We want to see people not to stay in the shelter system but to move on to other opportunities. So, yeah, you're exactly right, and we do really feel like with some of the policy changes we will continue to see those numbers continue to exit the system.