REMARKS
Diana Ayala criticizes asylum seeker policies
1:02:18
·
5 min
Council Member Diana I. Ayala criticizes inhumane asylum seeker policies and data manipulation at the Path Center, demanding more compassionate approaches.
- Ayala strongly condemns the treatment of asylum seekers, including their displacement onto streets and unsafe housing conditions.
- She highlights a murder on Randall’s Island and overcrowding on Words Island as consequences of flawed policies.
- Ayala calls for accountability, compassion, and policy reform, particularly criticizing administration's response and inaction.
- She urges the need to listen to those affected and make necessary policy adjustments to ensure safety and respect for asylum seekers.
- The testimony touches on broader issues of data manipulation concerning eligibility at the Path Center, suggesting systemic problems.
Diana I. Ayala
1:02:18
I just need a moment to compose myself before I I wanna just recognize that we've also been joined bank customer member, a brewer, wrestler, and banks.
1:02:31
You know, oftentimes when I'm sitting on this side of of of the desk, I I try to be really mindful that I've also been on that side, and I worked really hard to be fair with folks that come before us because I know that we're all doing a job, and we're trying to do that off to the best of our ability.
1:02:58
And so I don't want to shoot the messenger, if you will.
1:03:04
However, I think that today I'm gonna give myself permission to shoot the messenger.
1:03:13
And that is because there is absolutely no compassion care or respect in throwing people out on the street that have no place to go.
1:03:24
And the idea that this is a policy that we should be supportive of is insane.
1:03:35
That that action alone has tainted the good work that has been done.
1:03:41
And I recognize that a lot of good work has been done in a very difficult unprecedented situation.
1:03:48
I often said that publicly.
1:03:50
I don't know how you have managed to be able to absorb and place, and I identify the number of sightings is a very difficult position that you have been put in.
1:04:02
That is not disputable.
1:04:05
But this policy is inhuman and it's dangerous, and it's only a matter of time before somebody gets hurt.
1:04:13
We saw in the news in the last 2 days.
1:04:17
Just one situation, which I'm sure is is is likely the the beginning of a longer conversation on more sightings that we'll hear about where migrants are huddled in in spaces that are not suitable for housing.
1:04:31
Where fire could break out and people could get seriously hurt.
1:04:35
We've seen people sleeping out on the streets.
1:04:38
That is not compassionate or respectful.
1:04:46
And it's not care.
1:04:48
And so I refuse to lend credibility to that statement because the devil is in the detail.
1:05:00
Even when we're housing folks and I and I do visit, and I have I'll I'll speak about, you know, Words Island.
1:05:06
I have a herd at Words Island.
1:05:08
The city thought it was a good idea to put 3000 people on top of each other.
1:05:13
I didn't think that was the great idea.
1:05:16
And the result of this is that you have 3000 people that have nowhere to go, nothing to do because They don't have working papers.
1:05:22
They can't work.
1:05:22
They're not being connected to resources even within the local community that they're being housed in.
1:05:28
And so if they go outside as problematic, if they stay inside as problematic, and and anybody in this room, you know, I think would agree that even in within your own household when there are too many people.
1:05:41
After a while, you know, people are quarreling and getting on each this nerves.
1:05:45
And so we're seeing that to the point that I had a a young migrant, twenty four years old, murdered at Randall's Island.
1:05:55
Now I'm I'm not saying that, you know, everybody that comes in is the same and that problems will not arise.
1:06:04
I didn't hear that coming.
1:06:06
I didn't hear anybody make a big deal out of that in the administration, and I still haven't seen a single change in that in that shelter to ensure that that it that it doesn't happen again.
1:06:13
In fact, 2 weeks later, somebody else is slashed.
1:06:17
This inhumanity in that The fact that people are eating food that is frozen, expired, moldy, or the same day in, and day out.
1:06:26
They in and they out is not respect, compassion, or care.
1:06:35
And I I think that it's important that you hear that, and I get it, you're doing a job.
1:06:41
But I need to do mine and I need to be honest, and I need to be true to who I am.
1:06:48
Not only as a legislator, but as a human being, and shame on you for not coming into this room and standing outside while those gentlemen shared their experiences because that is the experience that you should be wanting to hear about so that you can make the necessary changes to ensure that the unnecessary struggles that we're putting them through are being addressed.
1:07:14
And if you don't speak to the impact of the community, there's absolutely no way that you're gonna be able to make those changes in the most efficient and effective way.
1:07:27
I'm sure that there will be questions that I I have I have no questions, you know, to be honest.
1:07:33
On this, I will let, you know, counsel of her honey address that, but we're also here to to to really speak on a very serious issue, on findings, on the DUI, and by investigation that concluded that there had been some manipulation of data in regards to the eligibility of folks at the path center.
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Molly Schaeffer, Interim Director of New York City Mayor's Office of Asylum Seeker Operations (MOASO), on the City's Efforts and Challenges in Supporting Asylum Seekers
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How does the 30 to 60 day shelter limit rule affect asylum seekers and what is the status of shelter provisions and street homelessness?