Albany lawmakers eye New York-only work visas for migrants — but feds may say otherwiseBy Nolan Hicks and Carl Campanile
Published Sep. 12, 2023
State lawmakers are eyeing the creation of a New York-only work visa for migrants to help ease the Big Apple’s asylum seeker crisis — but the move could conflict with strict federal immigration laws.
New York City and Albany are desperately searching for ways to qualify many of the roughly 110,000 new arrivals for work to help get them out of the overwhelmed local shelter system, shrink the estimated overall three-year $12 billion price tag for the crisis and dodge budget cuts of up to 15% at municipal agencies.
“In the absence of Federal action to issue work permits, the State must lead and issue the work permits on its own,” said state Assemblywoman Jennifer Rajkumar (D-Queens), a close ally of city Mayor Eric Adams, in a statement Tuesday.
“It is time for the State to take ownership over the migrant crisis,” she said.
At least three other lawmakers have floated the idea: fellow Queens Democratic lawmaker and Assemblywoman Catalina Cruz and at least two Democratic state senators, Brooklyn’s Zellnor Myrie and The Bronx’s Luis Sepúlveda.
“The federal government’s lack of action, it’s almost embarrassing,” Cruz told Politico New York.
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Source:
https://nypost.com/2023/09/12/albany-lawmakers-eye-new-york-only-work-visas-for-migrants/
