New York City Mayor Eric Adams has issued two significant policy updates targeted at supporting migrant families and strengthening the city’s response to the increasing influx of asylum seekers. These measures aim to enhance children’s educational stability and streamline migrants’ access to essential legal information.
Families with children in kindergarten through sixth grade will have the option to remain in their current shelters if they require a longer stay in the system, effective immediately. This policy reform means that children can stay at their current schools, preserving educational stability and saving the city the significant costs associated with busing students.
In the following weeks, the city will set up a centralized mail center to provide migrants with crucial legal information, including asylum, Temporary Protected Status (TPS), and work permit applications. This project seeks to ensure consistent access to crucial letters, independent of the migrants’ position in the city.
Mayor Adams also published new information about the city’s response to the arrival of almost 223,000 migrants and asylum seekers since spring 2022. Case managers at NYC Health + Hospitals have performed over 700,000 exit preparation meetings, assisting migrants in identifying their requirements and connecting them with legal, medical, and social resources. The city’s Asylum Application Help Center has filed over 84,000 applications for work authorization, asylum, and TPS, with 70% of eligible individuals completing or gaining work authorization approval.
Since the implementation of intensive case management services in October 2023, the number of families with children leaving shelters has increased by 42% every week. This achievement has allowed the city to close or anticipate the closure of other shelters, including the tented humanitarian aid center on Randall’s Island.
“Over the past two years, our teams have accomplished the Herculean task of providing compassionate care for a population twice the size of Albany and saving taxpayers billions of dollars,” said Mayor Adams. “We’ve focused on helping people take their next steps out of shelter, and that focus is paying off. The new policies we’re implementing today will build on our successes, save taxpayers millions, and help even more migrants take their next steps towards fulfilling their American Dream.”
Murad Awawdeh, President and CEO of the New York Immigration Coalition, hailed the new policies, saying, “We applaud Mayor Adams and his administration for listening to advocates and immigrant New Yorkers.” These new standards will protect the educational and emotional well-being of children in shelters while also providing migrants with essential legal updates. However, we urge the city to invest in long-term, affordable housing and to put an end to wasteful shelter evictions.”
Since the first buses of asylum seekers arrived in the spring of 2022, the city’s Asylum Application Help Center has assisted with the completion of over 84,000 applications for work permission, TPS, and asylum. The city has also purchased more than 47,000 tickets to assist migrants in reaching their desired destinations. More than 164,000 migrants who requested city help—or roughly 74%—have taken the next steps toward self-sufficiency.