REMARKS
Council Member Alexa Avilés opens Committee on Immigration meeting on New York City's Fiscal 2025 Preliminary Budget
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6 min
Council Member Alexa Avilés reviews the city's response to the growing number of asylum seekers and the Fiscal 2025 preliminary budget's implications for immigrant services.
- Avilés highlights the arrival of over 177,000 asylum seekers in New York City and the opening of 217 emergency shelters.
- She stresses the importance of collaboration among city agencies to improve services for New York City's immigrants, who make up 40% of the population.
- The preliminary budget's limitations in providing a complete picture of resources for immigrants are scrutinized.
- Avilés criticizes the reduction in funding for immigrant legal services and adult literacy programs, calling for a budget increase to enhance these essential services.
- The importance of securing sustainable funding levels for immigrant services in the city is underscored.
Alexa Avilés
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Good morning, everyone.
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This meeting is being called to order.
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I am counsel member, Alex Avila's chair of the Committee on Immigration.
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Welcome to today's hearing on the city's fiscal 2025 preliminary budget.
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Before we begin, I would like to thank all of those who have joined us today.
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New York City is home to more than 3,000,000 immigrants.
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That is at minimum.
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36% of New York City's total population.
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Since the spring of 2022, the city has experienced as we know an influx of asylum seekers.
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And as of February 2024, over 177,000 asylum seekers have arrived in New York City.
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Of this total, over 65,000 remain in the care.
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Of the city.
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The administration has responded to the influx by opening 217 emergency shelters across 5 boroughs, 18 Hurts, and has been collaborating with nonprofit organizations to run the navigation center, satellite sites, and the asylum legal application centers.
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So far, the Department of Education has expanded seats to over 32,000 migrant students.
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According to the American community survey.
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Data shows how resources for immigrants are crucial.
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And city agencies must better collaborate.
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At today's hearing, the committee will examine the fiscal 2025 preliminary budget and how it addresses the needs of existing and new immigrants in our city.
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We will review in-depth how the budget prioritizes and or address services for the immigrant population.
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Again, and I'm not gonna be able to say it enough, then makeup 40% of New York City's population and how the city plans to further invest in immigrant neighbors.
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The mayor's office of immigrant affairs fiscal 2025 budget totaled 700,046.
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746,000.
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That supports 6 positions and similar to the fiscal 2024 adopted budget.
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This budget doesn't provide a full picture of Moya's budget nor the full scope of services New York City provides to immigrants that are spread across various city agencies, including the Department of Youth And Community Development, the Human Resources Administration, the Department of Education And New York City Health And Hospitals.
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The office of asylum seeker operations, a newly created office exactly 1 year ago, also manages and coordinates varying services that support asylum seekers in New York City.
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In today's hearing, we will examine Owasso's collaboration with city agencies and how the office carries on its roles and responsibilities.
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Furthermore, this committee will ensure that the city is not duplicating efforts and wasting taxpayer dollars on 2 offices that serve to aim, that aim to serve immigrants, but have little operational authority over any programs.
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I wanna state it clearly.
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Despite the claims of importance of services and an ever increasing need, this budget has substantially reduced funding for immigrant legal services and adult literacy programs.
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Without proper legal representation, asylum seekers immigrants' status will remain in limbo with profound long term impacts.
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Adult literacy is one of the most critical programs for immigrant integration and fundamental to democratic participation and stability of communities, and yet it constantly seems to be the target of defunding and devaluing.
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This defunding of Literacy And Legal Services undermines opportunities that we seek to create in our civil society, and it just doesn't make sense and must be addressed immediately.
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The committee is calling on the administration to include 150,000,000 to enhance immigrant legal services.
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And revised the adult literacy RFP baseline 21,700,000 and add an additional 10,000,000 to adequately fund city adult education.
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I wanna emphasize the need for adequate funding levels for services because this is about sustainability of services for immigrant New Yorkers, 40% of the city's population.
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We must think long term while managing some of these immediate concerns.
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Also, it is important to remind our colleagues and government and note that for New Yorkers that a 2020 Northwestern Study showed regions with higher rates of immigration also experienced higher gains in per capita income relative to other cities with lower rate of immigration, largely explained by higher rates of entrepreneurship among immigrants.
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Knowing that immigrants act improve economic outcomes for our native born workers.
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We should be seizing the opportunity to unlock that potential.
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And be proactive when engaging in issues of inequity to ensure some form of stability for immigrant families in need.
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I look forward to hearing from the administration strategy and budget plan and how it engages with agencies to best serve immigrants.
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Again, who comprise how much 40% of New York City's population.
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After we hear from Moia and Awasa, the committee will hear testimony from the public.
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Last, I would like to thank the speaker.
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And the mayor in supporting needs of our immigrant communities.
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I'd also want to make sure that we thank our committee staff for their hard work Florentine Kabore, Nia Hayek, Nicole Nicole Cata, Rebecca Barilla, and my my staff, Christine Bottega, and Edward Sternner, for all their hard work.
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Now I'd like to actually add Oh, no.
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She's not here.
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Okay.
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I thought I saw a council member pop in.
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Now I'd like to welcome the commissioner of the mayor's office of the member in affairs, Manuel Castro.
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And the interim director of the office of asylum seeker operations, Awasso.
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And before we hear from them, a committee council was where you are in.