New York reps speak after touring Roosevelt Hotel shelter
this is breaking news members of Congress representing New York are touring the Roosevelt Hotel where Asylum Seekers are being housed let's go to it now this is an issue of incredible humanitarian proportions it's a crisis and we must come together at the table and negotiate a permanent solution to this crisis we have been meeting with Homeland Security secretary Majorca the entire delegation two weeks ago to us to help us expedite work permits and we asked to expand TPS if we provide temporary protection status to these families who are here and want to work we will then facilitate the transfer of these families that are here to other sites and I want to thank the city of New York for the incredible work that they have been doing feeding these people these families providing shelter and I just want for everyone to understand these families left their countries with their entire families many of them facing persecution violence in their own country climate change in Central America and they are in the right to seek Asylum and it is our duty to provide for a process where they could come before a judge and stay an immigration judge and state their case so that then we decide whether or not to Grant Asylum to this family but for the Republicans to use this as a political Ploy is disgraceful and it is time for us to come together and resolve this issue it's not going to go away today is New York tomorrow is going to be Florida is going to be Illinois it's going to be Pennsylvania is going to be in other part of the country so we are asking the administration the biting Administration to provide more resources for the City of New York over a hundred thousand families have been here this site is at capacity three thousand and in every of our congressional district and County Maori District we have over 30 centers shelters uh five six shelters in my Williamsburg and Bushwick part of the district and we are asking the federal government to provide the resources so that New York could deal with this crisis it is is becoming an economic burden but also we need to put ourselves in the shoes of this family if one day we are confronted with the fact that we have to leave this country or other countries and go to another country seeking Refuge an asylum that is what is the law is international law that allow for individuals to go to the border and to report and seek Asylum and our country has to provide a expedited process for these people to stay the case let me ask a councilwoman Julie want to say a few words and by the way we spoke to the families here and they are in good spirit in the sense that they really are grateful the way they had been treated the fact that there are medical staff that there are lawyers here but we need more there is a lack of Manpower human capital to deal with in this site on other sites across the city well is I am impressed about this setup and this is not my first time here there is order there is different sections because confidentiality is an issue and um and the different setups and stages and offices and room to provide privacy for the families but this is a shelter basically is a is is so we have rooms with a lot of people sleeping and a lot of families so uh I just I it it boosts me it's painful it is painful for ROM DeSantis to boss people out of Florida and for the governor of Texas to Boston people to New York is this grateful it's Immortal and and and and people know to people need to know that we are losing our way that is not the American way I I want Julie one to share what she saw and then we could go and answer questions thank you so much congresswoman my name is Julie Juan j-u-l-i-e-w-o-n and I'm the council member representing Long Island City Sunnyside Woodside on Astoria which overlaps with congresswoman nydia Velazquez where we have more than 35 shelters for migrants and refugees in this District that has the highest amount we've had the highest amount of Migrant families and children registered to a public school district in the entire city I want to make it clear today is a very clear sign of the congresswoman taking charge along with her colleagues Adriano espayat as well as Grace mang and the entire New York delegation showing that it this is not a city issue this is a national issue that our federal Partners to the city are working hand in hand to say this is a humanitarian crisis and this goes beyond New York City this is a Country-Wide issue and what we have just seen again and again day after day we have thousands of families arriving not just at this site but at our city we have families that are arriving with their children women who have given birth in this site the day of arrival inside when you go in there it is a true reflection of what New York City stands for as a right to shelter City and as a sanctuary City when you enter there is a very streamlined process where you sit in the intake Center they make sure that you're registered and then you start to go through process where you first start with your health and mental health there are three needs to make sure that you're immunized on the spot there are doctors in their EMTs to make sure that your health is good and then your mental health and they continue the registration process to make sure that the moment you arrive you are treated with dignity with casework all the way to placement for shelter and we are going to continue to fight with our federal Partners to make sure that there are work authorization papers we have seen during covid-19 the pandemic a city-wide economic crisis what this is doing is not adding on to the crisis but creating an opportunity of an economic boom of adding a Workforce that is hungry to work that is willing to do anything they can to help our city and that is why we're fighting for work authorizations to be expedited as well as making sure that every single person has an access to education which is why our public schools have welcomed these students in and we're going to continue to build a future generation of women like myself and the congresswoman to say that we are children of immigrants but here we are representing this country which has always been built on diversity and inclusion of welcoming everyone who is hungry who is needy who is saying that this is their opportunity to call this place home thank you so much population specifically this effort to alter the right to shelter laws Amendment the amount of games that adult migrants to limit the the amount of beds [Music] um look you know I don't believe that when we deal with crisis that we could set time limits because that is then uh setting yourself for failure and criticism so uh we got to deal with this issue the way it is it's a it's a humanitarian crisis that is going to put a lot of strength on the economics of New York but again it is a call to all levels of government including the governor the city and the federal government we we must come to the table and look at ways where we can help the city of New York to deal with this crisis that we are facing today you know this is a country of love and what a message are we sending to the world when every other country allow for those who are seeking refuge and an asylum to go through a process and be dealt with so um again I am saying to the biting Administration we know that the Republicans are not willing Partners in coming up with Solutions and the desire to resolve this crisis and the Administration has to use every Authority on their their power so that we could expedite the Asylum process so that we could expand on TPS and and expedite working permits the people that are here they they don't they don't they didn't talk to me today about paying or suffering all they are asking is give me a job give me a job and that is we should use this crisis as an opportunity you know when assist the ranking member of the small business committee and we hold hearings and we have the construction industry coming before us and the agricultural Community the first thing they say we're not finding workers we have workers here who are willing to start working on day one want to know where the opportunity to my Republican colleagues and what does it do when you're up here calling the disgraceful how are you going to cooperate with them and saying they're disgraceful basically doing what the mayor's doing giving them a bus ticket and sending them out of the city well you know I think that they telling me how you could categorize the actions taken by the governor of Florida or the governor of Texas who is putting blades and exposing people's life that is not the American way around this Antics that is not the American way well they need to know that there will be political consequences the same way that they're dealing today with taking women's right to to an abortion how they're paying a price in the battle box look at what happened in in in Ohio the compromise is these people are here they're going to stay here we need to do to buy them what we did when Nicaragua when the Haiti faced an earthquake we need to expand TPS and provide a legal way for them to integrate themselves into American society and work in and be productive citizens that's all they want be compromise on the quarter something for a republican well the border so this is the lowest number of people crossing the border it means that the measures and steps and actions that have been taken by the administration and provided through legislation is working well we have they they work permits that is one area that we are that we are asking them to facilitate the other is to expand GPS but of course they are limited in terms of legislation and what is in the law that is why we need to come together we pass in the past legislation immigration legislation in the house and in the Senate it failed so let's go back and let's look at a bipartisan bill that could address those problems that we are facing here today uh again there is limitation as to money but I'm sure that the administration is looking into ways where they could provide some federal resources not only to New York but other cities that are facing the same uh prices that we are witnessing here in New York [Music] I know that Tom Perez who is an advisor to uh the president will be meeting with the mayor today and we will see what happens there no we had meetings uh two weeks ago with secretary Majorca the homeland security secretary and from Paris was there and we discussed as a delegation and the mayor was also there as to what actions the administration could take that could alleviate the crisis of New York question uh quite some time been asking for family what are things well the administration sent Federal resources to New York but not enough It's never enough to deal with this Christ within next week we're going to be opening up Creedmoor as a respite Center site for single men as well as other areas to make sure that we're expanding placements for the shelters we've only received 150 million dollars from the federal government that is simply not enough even to cover one day's worth of costs for this migrant crisis 60 days can anyone here imagine 60 days as your time limit if you are homeless you had no work authorizations you had no family you had no identification yet someone is saying you have 60 days to find a job 60 days to find a home 60 days to get your life together 60 days is an arbitrary number 60 days is not a Humane number 60 days is not an acceptable number nor a number that the congresswoman or I stand by to say that you have 60 days to stay in the city or get out we do not stand by that look um they love this country and they see this country as our grandparents and Grand grandparents saw this country as a Beacon of Hope and that is part of the Immigrant experience I always say that immigrants make America America and on this crisis we have to prove that true again and we will continue to work and fight to make sure that we treat immigrants migrants who come to this country in pursuit of the American dream with the dignity and and and and and the respect that they they deserve El problem foreign a [Music] generio establishes Familia thank you is para California [Music] this has been breaking news
2023-08-12 13:44
