Public Advocate Jumaane Williams is demanding more federal aid to assist with the ongoing migrant crisis while also calling for unity in the Big Apple.
The public advocate joined with fellow elected officials and Make the Road New York on Thursday outside of 1 Centre Street to make the appeal and said that New York City needs financial relief when it comes to the overwhelming number of asylum seekers arriving here.
“Over the past several months, New York City has welcomed [tens of thousands] of asylum seekers,” Williams said. “The federal government must provide sufficient funding for New York to meet humanitarian needs and systemic challenges of providing aid and opportunity. We’re thankful for the funding that has already come; it is not enough by any stretch of the imagination.”
Williams said that he and his fellow politicians are not only requesting more funds from the White House but are also calling for the new arrivals to be spread out across the country and not concentrated in one place, such as New York. Not only that, Williams is also demanding that the federal government provide asylum seekers with working papers, so that they can find jobs.
The public advocate also took aim at local officials, decrying a shortage of housing—particularly affordable housing—that he says has been an issue plaguing the city long before the migrant crisis. Calling it government failure, he asked New Yorkers not to be angry with one another over the shortage but at the elected leaders calling the shots.
“I’ve been on the council—been an elected official for 13 years. Before that I was a housing advocate and a housing organizer. We have been pleading with the government to address the housing shortages that have been around, had that happened this crisis wouldn’t be so acute. So please don’t take the failure of government as an opportunity to pit people who are hurting against one another,” Williams said.
Several others in attendance echoed these sentiments such as Councilmember Carlina Rivera, Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, and more.
“It is a national, it is a federal obligation to provide safe havens for those seeking asylum,” Lander said. “New York City is spending a lot, we need the resources.”
New York has provided housing for more than 40,000 asylum seekers since the crisis began last spring, according to city data.
