Archive for the ‘Migrant Crisis’ Category

OTR: Mayor Wu weighs in on migrant shelter crisis in Mass. – WCVB Boston

OTR: Mayor Wu weighs in on migrant shelter crisis in Massachusetts

Updated: 12:29 PM EST Jan 14, 2024

BOSTONS MAYOR MICHELLE WU. WE WILL HEAR MORE FROM GOVERNOR HEALEY ABOUT THIS A LITTLE LATER THIS WEEK. BUT THE COST OF EMERGENCY SHELTERS IS BECOMING A BUDGET BUSTER FOR THE STATE. IT IS DRIVEN BY A SURGE IN MIGRANT FAMILIES. THE GOVERNOR IS NOW CUTTING SPENDING. SEVERAL PROGRAMS BOSTON, A SANCTUARY CITY, IS IN A DIFFICULT POSITION. WHERE IS THIS GOING? THE STATE SAYS THIS IS NOT SUSTAINABLE IN THE LONG TERME. THIS IS AN ISSUE THAT I HEAR FROM EVERY MAYOR I TALK TO ACROSS THE COUNTRY IS A TREMENDOUS STRESS. WE KNOW THAT NATIONALLY, PEOPLE NEED SERVICES, NEED SUPPORTS, AND WE HAVE A SYSTEM WHERE FOLKS ARE FALLING THROUGH THE CRACKS BECAUSE THE BUREAUCRACY IS IS TAKING SO LONG. SOME OF THIS IS IT IN BOSTON, SOME OF THE INTERVENTIONS THAT THE GOVERNOR AND OUR TEAMS HAVE BEEN WORKING ON TOGETHER HAVE BEEN WORKING. WEVE HAD SEVERAL VERY SUCCESSFUL WORK AUTHORIZATION CLINICS TO HELP PEOPLE APPLY FOR THEIR THEIR AUTHORIZATIONS FASTER AND THEN BE ABLE TO GET TO WORK. BUT THIS IS A LARGER CHALLENGE AROUND HOUSING WHERE WE STARTED BECAUSE HOUSING IS SO EXPENSIVE TO BEGIN WITH. WHEN WE HAVE NEW FAMILIES ARRIVING WHO NEED SERVICES, IT IT ALL CONTINUES TO PILE ON. AND SO WE HAVE TO DO MORE TO MAKE SURE OUR SCHOOL SYSTEMS ARE WELCOMING AND HAVE MULTI LINGUAL, UH SERVICES AND SUPPORTS, BUT ALSO ON THE HOUSING FRONT TO MAKE SURE WERE DOING EVERYTHING WE CAN TO BUILD MORE HOUSING. NEXT. NEXT TOPIC I WANT TO TALK TO YOU ABOUT WAS HARVARD. YOU HAVE YOU HAVE TWO DEGREES FROM HARVARD. YOU YOU ARE THE MAYOR OF OF THE LARGEST CITY IN IN NEW ENGLAND. YOU ARE THE MAYOR OF ONE OF THE LARGEST CITIES IN THE UNITED STATES. YOUR NAME HAS COME UP IN CONVERSATION ABOUT WHO THE NEXT PRESIDENT OF THE ALMA MATER MIGHT BE. WHATS YOUR RESPONSE TO THAT? IS THAT WHAT THE QUESTION IS? I, I THOUGHT WE WERE GOING SOMEWHERE ELSE WITH THAT QUESTION. OKAY, OKAY. I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO PLANS TO LEAVE THIS AMAZING JOB THAT I HAVE. I THIS IS A VERY IMPORTANT DECISION, THOUGH, THAT THE UNIVERSITY IS GOING TO MAKE IN A TIME OF TREMENDOUS STRESS AND CHALLENGE FOR ACADEMIA. OVERALL, THERE ARE MANY, MANY WAYS IN WHICH THE THE CONVERSATIONS NATIONALLY ARE, UM, YOU KNOW, ABOUT WHO BELONGS AND WHAT THE ROLE OF AFFIRMATIVE ACTION IS AND DIVERSITY AND EQUITY AND INCLUSION IN IS BEING DIRECTED AT PARTNERS IN HIGHER EDUCATION. AND SO, UM, YOU KNOW, WE WE KNOW THAT MASSACHUSETTS AND BOSTON IS HOME TO THE, THE BEST OF THE BEST. ITS WHERE THE WORLD LOOKS TO UNDERSTAND WHAT IT MEANS TO LEAD AND TO TEACH, TO EDUCATE AND THEY HAVE A BIG TASK AHEAD OF THEM. AND WELL CONTINUE TO TRY TO SUPPORT WHEREVER WE CAN WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED TO CLAUDINE GAY? I THINK IT IS. UM, I, IM VERY SADDENED. I THINK IT WAS A, A VERY QUICK AND RAPID, UM, SERIES OF MISSTEPS AND MISTAKES THAT SHE TOOK ACCOUNTABILITY FOR THAT GOT WRAPPED INTO A MUCH LARGER CONVERSATION ABOUT ISSUES THAT THAT WERE BEYOND WHAT SHE COULD CONTROL AND BEYOND, UM, THE WHAT YOU NORMALLY THINK OF AS WITHIN THE PURVIEW OF A UNIVERSITY. AND SO THERE ARE, UM, DECISION POINTS ALL ACROSS THE COUNTRY AS WE HEAD INTO THIS NEXT YEAR AND THIS NEXT ELECTION CYCLE, ABOUT HOW WE INTERACT WITH EACH OTHER, HOW WE COME TOGETHER AND UNITE CITIES ARE DEFINITELY IN THE CROSSHAIRS. WAS SHE WRONGED CLAUDINE GAY, IN YOUR OPINION, WRONGED. I MEAN, SHE SHE HAS MADE HER DECISION AT THIS POINT AND SHE HAS SPOKEN PUBLICLY ABOUT THE, UM, STATEMENTS THAT SHE WISHES HAD GONE DIFFERENTLY. SHE I DO BELIEVE, THOUGH, THAT THERE WAS VERY MUCH A TARGETED EFFORT HERE BECAUSE OF WHO SHE WAS. THE INSTITUTION SHE REPRESENTED, AND A MOMENT WHERE THERE ARE PEOPLE TRYING TO DISMANTLE THE PROGRESS TO INCLUDE MORE PEOPLE AND TO INCLUDE ALL OF US IN HIGHER EDUCATION IN LEADERSHIP. THIS WAS A THIS WAS VERY MUCH CONNECTED TO THE SAME, UH, SOURCE OF TRYING TO DISMANTLE DEI AND AFFIRMATIVE ACTION AND RESHAPE WHO HAS ACCESS AND WHO BELONGS HERE. WE CANT LET YOU LEAVE WITHOUT ASKING IF YOU ARE PLANNING TO RUN FOR A SECOND TIME. I HAVE, WHICH IS WHY WE KIND OF TRIED TO ASK ABOUT THE HARVARD PRISON. RIGHT? RIGHT, RIGHT, RIGHT. I KNOW, HAPPY BIRTHDAY. ARE YOU RUNNING RIGHT? UM. I LOVE MY JOB. I HAVE A LOT TO DO. AS AS YOU HEARD EARLIER IN THE WEEK, MANY OF OUR PLANS THAT IVE LAID OUT WILL REQUIRE SOME TIME TO UNFOLD. AND TO REALLY IMPLEMENT AND GET GOING. THERE WILL BE PLENTY OF TIME LATER FOR POLITICAL FRUITION. IS THAT. OH, I WOULD LOVE TO. I WOULD LOVE TO. UM, BUT, YOU KNOW, THERES A LOT OF WORK AHEAD OF US AND IM FOCUSED ON GETTING THAT WORK DONE. AND WHEN THERES TIME FOR POLITICS, WELL GET TO THAT IN THE FUTURE. BUT RIGHT

OTR: Mayor Wu weighs in on migrant shelter crisis in Massachusetts

Updated: 12:29 PM EST Jan 14, 2024

The mayor of Boston also addresses speculation that she will step down and become president of her alma mater, Harvard University.

The mayor of Boston also addresses speculation that she will step down and become president of her alma mater, Harvard University.

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OTR: Mayor Wu weighs in on migrant shelter crisis in Mass. - WCVB Boston

New York Gov. Hochul To Propose $2 Billion to Deal With Migrant Crisis – The Messenger

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul will unveil a budget proposal for fiscal 2024 that includes $2.4 billion, according to a new report.

The Associated Press reports that Hochul's plan includes funding for healthcare and other areas in which New York City has expressed a need for assistance in handling the thousands of migrants Texas has been busing to the city.

Hochul's plan also includes funds for shelters and other housing opportunities for migrants in need of a place to stay.

New York City's struggle to house and care for migrants who have arrived in the city has prompted Mayor Eric Adams to call on President Joe Biden to declare a state of emergency and provide federal assistance.

New York City officials have estimated that the increase in migrants will cost the city $10 billion over the next year and a half. The state of New York has already earmarked $1.9 billion in emergency funds to handle the influx of asylum seekers.

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New York Gov. Hochul To Propose $2 Billion to Deal With Migrant Crisis - The Messenger

Hochul reveals $233 billion budget proposal – Spectrum News NY1

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul proposed an executive budget Tuesday for Fiscal Year 2025 that will reach a record-breaking $233 billion funding plan if approved exceeding last years $229 billion package that includes funding for public safety, health care initiatives, education and affordability, as well as money to address the state's ongoing migrant crisis.

The big three are school aid, Medicaid and migrants, budget director Blake Washington told Spectrum News Monday.

He said spending increases in those three sectors, as well as a drop in federal pandemic aid, have driven up state operating funds by $5.9 billion.

We've committed $1.9 billion to the migrant crisis and what we're trying to do tonight is just figure out where that number lands in [2025], he said.

Hochul said she will be traveling to Washington, D.C. on Friday to ask the Biden administration for more money to deal with the migrant crisis but didn't say if she'd be meeting with the president directly. She also urged Congress, particularly the House of Representatives, to "remain at the negotiating table" for an immigration agreement.

Hochul's budget calls for $2.4 billion to help manage the migrant crisis, including $500 million from the state's reserves.

Despite the added costs of the migrant crisis, Washington said there are no recommendations calling for increased taxes on high earners or corporations.

He wants to scale back.

We've got to get back to a level where our spending meets our revenues and that certainly was not the case, he said.

We have to just reflect those new realities and we have to actually be responsible to the long term without raising taxes, without raiding reserves, without gimmicks we have to actually just do this budget and get back to a more sort of acceptable way of budgeting, where we provide for the needs that are out there.

The state wants to get control of rising Medicaid costs largely driven by increased overall enrollment and managed long-term care programs.

We cant spend like theres no tomorrow because tomorrow always comes," Hochul said.

School aid will also increase across the board by $825 million bringing total education funding to roughly $35 billion.

But Washington said the budget office is proposing a change in school aid funding that seeks to even out aid disbursement between wealthy and poorer districts an idea in the past that has been opposed by wealthier districts in the suburbs.

We have a proposal to modify that and to step down from a state support for the districts that are overfunded relative to their foundation aid level and to try to right size and drive the resources to the districts that are growing and high poverty, he said.

In higher education, Hochul is proposing $207 million to go to operations at the State University of New York and City University of New York, as well as $1.2 billion for capital projects at higher education institutions.

In regards to public safety, Hochul is also proposing investments of $40 million to combat retail theft, $40 million to combat domestic violence and $35 million to combat hate crimes.

Meanwhile, New York City Mayor Eric Adams is also on track to reveal his preliminary budget plans for the citys fiscal year, which ends on June 30.

He said last week that he shaved off 20% of the citys current migrant-related expenditures.

But the state is already on track to spend around $2 billion on housing, legal services and National Guard personnel, mainly concentrated on efforts within the five boroughs.

President Joe Bidens administration has awarded less than $200 million to help with costs, drawing constant criticism from Adams as more than 100,000 migrants have arrived in the city since spring of 2022.

Washington said the state would also love to slim down expenses and is eager to revise projections in coming years.

Buses are still arriving and still a big headache, he said.

The state is also paying for leases for emergency migrant shelters at Creedmoor Psychiatric Center, Floyd Bennett Field and the Lincoln Correctional Facility.

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Hochul reveals $233 billion budget proposal - Spectrum News NY1

Gov. Pritzker wants state lawmakers to backfill $160 million that went toward migrant crisis – NBC Chicago

L.L. Bean has just added a third shift at its factory in Brunswick, Maine, in an attempt to keep up with demand for its iconic boot.

Orders have quadrupled in the past few years as the boots have become more popular among a younger, more urban crowd.

The company says it saw the trend coming and tried to prepare, but orders outpaced projections. They expect to sell 450,000 pairs of boots in 2014.

People hoping to have the boots in time for Christmas are likely going to be disappointed. The bootsare back ordered through February and even March.

"I've been told it's a good problem to have but I"m disappointed that customers not getting what they want as quickly as they want," said Senior Manufacturing Manager Royce Haines.

Customers like, Mary Clifford, tried to order boots on line, but they were back ordered until January.

"I was very surprised this is what they are known for and at Christmas time you can't get them when you need them," said Clifford.

People who do have boots are trying to capitalize on the shortage and are selling them on Ebay at a much higher cost.

L.L. Bean says it has hired dozens of new boot makers, but it takes up to six months to train someone to make a boot.

The company has also spent a million dollars on new equipment to try and keep pace with demand.

Some customers are having luck at the retail stores. They have a separate inventory, and while sizes are limited, those stores have boots on the shelves.

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Gov. Pritzker wants state lawmakers to backfill $160 million that went toward migrant crisis - NBC Chicago

Many Older Immigrants in New York Are Struggling: ‘I Have No Future’ – The New York Times

Francisco Palacios, who grew up poor in Ecuador, came to New York City in 1986 so that he could earn enough to someday retire back home.

But after getting stuck in low-paying jobs at restaurants, construction sites and a laundromat, Mr. Palacios, now 70, has no savings and is just trying to survive. Most weekdays, he waits on a street corner in Queens with other day laborers in hopes that someone will hire him to paint homes. I still feel I have the energy and the strength to work, he said in Spanish, through a translator, though he believes, I have no future.

Older immigrants like Mr. Palacios now make up just over half of New York Citys 65-and-over population. Their numbers have increased at more than twice the rate of U.S.-born seniors since 2010, mainly because of the graying of immigrants who came decades ago as young adults and workers.

Many of these immigrants said they never expected to grow old in the city and, after years of saying Im leaving tomorrow, are simply not prepared for that reality when it comes. Some are still chasing the American dream long after their prime working years. Others have stayed because they cannot bring themselves to leave the children and grandchildren they have here, or the life they have carved out for themselves.

Older immigrants have largely propelled the rapid growth of the citys 65-and-up population to 1.4 million, according to a census analysis by Social Explorer, a data research company. In 2022, there were 713,000 older immigrants, a 57 percent increase from 2010. During that same period, the number of U.S.-born older residents rose 25 percent to 678,000.

These older immigrants from dozens of countries, including the Dominican Republic, China, Jamaica, Haiti and Colombia have made the citys neighborhoods more diverse. They have helped keep the economy humming, but their fast-growing numbers also threaten to further strain limited social services and resources in a city already grappling with a migrant crisis.

While many seniors struggle with financial hardship and social isolation, older immigrants can be among the worst off, immigration experts said. They tend to have less education than their U.S.-born peers and are less likely to have retirement or investment income, the census analysis found. The median annual income for an older immigrant was $14,592, or roughly half of the $30,019 for a U.S.-born senior.

Many older immigrants have no nest egg after years of working in low-paid jobs and often receive less in social security income than U.S.-born residents. The undocumented among them are not eligible to collect any amount. Some older immigrants also get limited help because of language and cultural barriers.

Cheung Gim Fung, 92, who worked as a cook in Chinese restaurants after immigrating from Hong Kong in the 1950s, has felt increasingly isolated in his Sunset Park neighborhood in Brooklyn as newer waves of Chinese immigrants from Fujian have settled around him. I dont speak English. I dont speak Mandarin. I dont speak Fujianese, said Mr. Cheung, who visits a nearby bakery every day to sit with other Cantonese-speaking immigrants.

Some older immigrants have already slipped into poverty and homelessness and more will follow unless city leaders find ways to help them, said Jonathan Bowles, executive director of the Center for an Urban Future, a nonprofit that has reported on older immigrants and the states rapidly aging population. In 2022, there were 163,000 older immigrants living at or below the poverty line, a 37 percent increase from a decade earlier, according to the center.

Immigrants have given so much to the city in their working lives, Mr. Bowles said. It would be just unfathomable for the city to turn its back on immigrants as they get older and as their needs grow.

Despite being disproportionately concentrated in low-wage jobs, immigrants are an important part of the local economy, responsible for about 31 percent of all goods and services produced in the New York metro area, according to David Dyssegaard Kallick, director of Immigration Research Initiative, a nonprofit research group.

While retirement benefits are primarily determined by the federal government, city officials and social service agencies have sought to provide health care and support services to immigrants regardless of their legal status. NYC Aging, a city agency with a $523 million annual budget, will continue to provide free meals and other programs to seniors even as the city faces a fiscal crisis, including from the costs of sheltering migrants seeking asylum, said Edgar Yu, a spokesman.

But that is not enough to meet the needs of the soaring elderly population, said Councilwoman Crystal Hudson, a Brooklyn Democrat who, as chairwoman of the councils aging committee, has pointed out that less than 1 percent of the overall city budget is spent on older adult services. She has also worked to pass recent laws that expand legal protections and services for older adults, including requiring senior centers in immigrant communities to offer programming in multiple languages.

The struggles of older immigrants have also added another layer to the complicated debate over immigration, with some critics saying that it is the result of federal immigration policies that have failed to deter illegal immigration and attract more highly skilled workers.

Curtis Sliwa, founder of the Guardian Angels, who ran for mayor in 2021, has protested against undocumented migrants but said that youre not going to be deporting them at 75 or 85 especially when many of them might not even have a place to go back to.

The reality is were a caring people and we have to care for them, but let this be a wake-up call, said Mr. Sliwa, who is 69.

But Daniel Di Martino, a graduate fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a public policy group, said that extending any special benefits or privileges to undocumented older immigrants would pose a huge cost and encourage more illegal immigration. What message would that send to the world? he said. You can come to the United States illegally and then they provide everything for you as an older person.

Most of these older immigrants came in waves in the 1970s, 80s and 90s, after sweeping changes to a federal immigration law lifted longstanding quotas on many countries and ushered in a period of increased immigration from around the world, said Jeanne Batalova, a senior policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute, a research group in Washington. The majority of these earlier immigrants have since become U.S. citizens.

Gustavo Rincn arrived in New York in 1973 from Colombia and later went to work as a draftsman for Con Edison before retiring more than a decade ago with a pension. Mr. Rincn, now 69, thought about returning to Cartagena I love my roots, my culture, he said but found that it was too hot and the living standard still has a long way to go.

Sara Melendez left her five children behind in Ecuador in 1991 to find work in New York to support them. I was living day by day, said Mrs. Melendez, speaking in Spanish through an interpreter, as she recalled toiling as a seamstress in a garment factory. Today, four of her children still live in Ecuador, along with 11 grandchildren, but Mrs. Melendez, now 89 and a U.S. citizen, lives by herself in a subsidized housing project on the Lower East Side.

Mrs. Melendez, who has diabetes, said she stays because the medical care is better than in Ecuador. She also relies on a network of services for older adults provided by the Henry Street Settlement, a social service agency, including a bilingual caseworker, home health aide, nutrition checks, and a womens emotional support group called Esperanza, or hope in Spanish.

In recent years, some immigrants were already older when they arrived. Many were brought over by their grown children, who have become U.S. citizens, often to help care for their grandchildren.

A dozen Chinese grandfathers recently gathered on folding chairs on a Brooklyn sidewalk to talk and play cards. Chen Renhou, 71, wore a baseball cap with the words Proud American, while his wife showed photos of their village in China.

Sitting nearby, Jiang Aiguo, 71, said he was a farmer in Fujian Province before moving in with his sons family eight years ago to become the nanny. Mr. Jiang said that he had adjusted to city life, but missed his home in China where he had more room and privacy. Now, he added, Im always waiting to use the bathroom.

New Immigrant Community Empowerment, an advocacy group in Queens that runs job training and development programs, has started teaching financial, technical and life skills to immigrants to help them prepare for the long-term. Were looking at them getting older, said Hildalyn Coln Hernndez, the groups deputy director, adding that many of them never think about the future.

The organization has been trying to help Mr. Palacios, the elderly house painter, who waits at the curb with other day laborers even when his legs ache and go numb. Mr. Palacios, who is undocumented, said he has not been home to Ecuador since leaving almost four decades ago because he worries he will not be allowed to return to the United States. Tears slid down his face as he recalled that he never had a chance to see his parents again, and had to miss both their funerals.

I came for the American dream, he said, but ended up with regret that everything I tried doing here has not worked out.

Audio produced by Adrienne Hurst.

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Many Older Immigrants in New York Are Struggling: 'I Have No Future' - The New York Times