TESTIMONY
Attendee from Interfaith Center of New York on Equipping Houses of Worship to Support Migrants and Facing City-Created Obstacles
2:32:32
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3 min
A representative from the Interfaith Center of New York testifies about their initiative to equip houses of worship to support migrants and the obstacles they face from the city.
- The initiative has mobilized houses of worship across all five boroughs to provide support to migrants, including meals, clothing, legal consultations, and temporary shelter.
- They also detail support for the Asylum Seekers Sillem Seekers Shelter program with city participation.
- Challenges outlined include city-created obstacles such as hostility, inconsistency in government policy, bureaucratic regulations, and policies like the 30 60 day rule that hinder their efforts.
- The testimony calls for better alignment between the city's goals and the initiatives of houses of worship to make New York a more welcoming place for migrants.
- The speaker underscores the historical significance of immigration to New York City.
UNKNOWN
2:32:32
Greetings, and thank you to the committee and for the introduction of 210.
2:32:39
I'm here today representing the Interfaith Center of New York where we work on something called equipping houses of worship to support migrants, an initiative that has garnered a large number of houses of worship across the five boroughs to do just that.
2:32:57
Likewise, a support, the asylum seekers Sillem Seekers Shelter program, which has city participation.
2:33:07
In this capacity, it has been an honor to work with Houses of Worship who offer every week, men and women and children who come from from outside New York and our fleeing violence and poverty to exercise a sacred responsibility to welcome the the stranger.
2:33:28
This means meals, clothing, legal consultation, temporary shelter, some in partnership with the city, but not enough.
2:33:37
And then also vital communications, mosques that as I mentioned outside have become glorified post PO boxes so that people are actually able to receive critical information from the federal government about their asylums or their their asylum or immigration status.
2:33:56
They also are doing a company meant to family members who are having to check-in at the Roosevelt Hotel to make sure that the family feels safe, the children aren't separated, the school bus doesn't arrive and there's no parents there.
2:34:11
So this is these are some of the ways.
2:34:14
And in some cases, the the the goals are shared between the city and these houses of worship.
2:34:22
We all wish to make New York a a stronger place because of the gifts that people come from around the city, around the world with.
2:34:32
In other times, there are obstacles.
2:34:34
That the city has created.
2:34:37
Those include the the general obstacle of hostility, in in so many places, often fanned by the flames of of polarizing rhetoric.
2:34:49
We've seen the obstacle of inconsistency across government agencies, houses of worship that set forward that, as counsel member brewer said, are often stymied by bureaucratic reg regulations despite the invitation.
2:35:05
And finally, the destabilizing impact of the 30 60 day rule, the evictions, the reticketing, and so forth.
2:35:14
And right now, those warming centers and just add an extra step in prohibiting the ability of people to settle in.
2:35:24
We wonder if the places that are currently providing chairs have even been asked if they would be able to provide cuts.
2:35:32
That would help people get a night of sleep.
2:35:36
So thank you very much, and we hope that moving forward, we can be more aligned with goals that we all, as New Yorkers, embrace.
2:35:48
And if we want evidence that we've all been able to do this before.
2:35:52
I think a visit to the Tenement Museum on the lower east side is a good reminder that immigration is truly one of New York City's lifebloods.
2:36:00
Thank you.