NY's asylum seekers face 6-month wait for work permits. Will feds shorten it?

Chris McKenna, New York State Team
·4 min read
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ARDSLEY - Student interns who spent the summer helping asylum-seeking families housed at a Westchester County hotel pleaded with the federal government this week to end the six-month mandatory wait for asylum seekers to get work permits.

For months, New York politicians from both parties have sought relief from Washington so thousands of newly arrived migrants in their state could legally work. And on Tuesday, a crowd of high school and college students gathered with elected officials in a Westchester park to add their voices to that chorus.

"They want to work," said Danielle Eforo, a 20-year-old Wesleyan University student from Scarsdale. "They want to be self-sustaining members of the community. And they are not just here to be taking your jobs; some of them are highly educated, highly skilled individuals who are willing to contribute and make this community better and stronger economically."

Members of the Greenburgh Town Hall Summer Internship Program, listen as Rep. Jamaal Bowman, who represents New YorkÕs 17th Congressional District, speaks at Macy Park in Ardsley Aug. 15, 2023 about issues facing asylum seekers, and especially those who have been sent from New York City to Westchester County. Members of the Greenburgh internship program have been volunteering to assist asylum seekers who are being housed at the Ardsley Acres Motel.

She and about 45 other students took up that cause through the town of Greenburgh's summer intern program, which focused this year on the roughly 60 asylum seekers New York City placed at the Ardsley Acres Hotel Court. They are among roughly 400 migrants in Westchester and more than 2,100 in all in seven upstate counties that the city has transferred since May.

What keeps many from working is the six-month wait set by a 1996 law, which only Congress can change. A pending bill with mostly Democratic sponsors would cut it to 30 days, but it's unlikely to advance in a Republican-controlled House.

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"It's going to be very challenging," Rep. Jamaal Bowman, a Yonkers Democrat and co-sponsor of the bill, said in an interview before Tuesday's press conference with the students at V.E. Macy Park. "Republicans don't want to move on any legislation unless we also build a southern wall."

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Can the work authorization wait be reduced another way?

The Biden administration has two potential — but uncertain — ways to speed work authorization for asylum seekers on its own, without action by Congress, according to immigrant advocacy groups.

One is to grant them "parole," a status that can be given to noncitizens to enter or temporarily remain in the U.S. They can only be done under federal law for an "urgent humanitarian" reason or to provide a public benefit.

Jorge, 43, and Renny, 22, both from Venezuela, are two of the dozens of asylum seekers that were brought from New York City to the Crossroads Hotel in Newburgh. Both men, photographed outside the hotel May 31, 2023, said that they had to flee their home country because of danger faced by themselves and their families had they stayed. Jorge left a wife and two daughters behind.

Another approach would be to allow them Temporary Protected Status, which is offered to immigrants from countries that are deemed too dangerous for them to return.

That's the method championed this month by a coalition of New York unions and advocacy groups. In an Aug. 7 letter to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, they urged the administration to open Temporary Protected Status to asylum seekers from at least 15 nations, "allowing them an opportunity to contribute their skills and talents to New York's workforce."

Families of asylum seekers are led into the Ramada hotel in Yonkers May 15, 2023. The families were being housed in New York City.
Families of asylum seekers are led into the Ramada hotel in Yonkers May 15, 2023. The families were being housed in New York City.

Bowman said Tuesday that those administrative options were discussed during a recent meeting that he and other House members from New York and New York City Mayor Eric Adams held with Mayorkas in Washington. No firm conclusion was reached about their feasibility.

"My short answer is, 'possibly,' because I haven't heard a hard no," Bowman said. "So I'm sure the administration is exploring all of the technical challenges as it relates to this before pulling the trigger."

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How did the students get involved?

Greenburgh's interns, working three days a week and overseen by the Town Clerk Judith Beville and Town Supervisor Paul Feiner, found multiple ways to pitch in.

Some joined St. Barnabas Episcopal Church volunteers in teaching English to the asylum seekers. They held a Zoom call and a 90-minute follow-up conversation with Bowman. They wrote a letter to President Biden. They organized a three-day food drive that starts on Friday.

Arjun Rajdev, 16, left, and Sartthak Bagchi, 17, hold signs as they other members of the Greenburgh Town Hall Summer Internship Program, along with Rep. Jamaal Bowman, who represents New YorkÕs 17th Congressional District, speak at Macy Park in Ardsley Aug. 15, 2023 about issues facing asylum seekers, and especially those who have been sent from New York City to Westchester County. Members of the Greenburgh internship program have been volunteering to assist asylum seekers who are being housed at the Ardsley Acres Motel.

And they organized a picnic for asylum seekers that was held at Macy Park before Tuesday's press conference. That meant pressing local businesses for food donations and supplies, which they readily provided. About 150 asylum seekers from three Westchester hotels attended, along with a host of local officials and organizations that round up a stream of goods — from bicycles to barbecue grills to boots — for the Ardsley migrants.

The students have also launched an online petition urging the federal government to open a satellite immigration court in Westchester, so asylum seekers don't have to travel long distances for hearings on their asylum applications. Westchester County Executive George Latimer has promoted that same idea, suggesting the use of the federal courthouse in White Plains.

Chris McKenna covers government and politics for The Journal News and USA Today Network. Reach him at cmckenna@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: New York asylum seekers: Could feds slash work permit wait time?