QUESTION
What are the three priority recommendations adopted and implemented by the city, as driven by the Mayor's Office for Immigrant Affairs?
0:35:15
·
6 min
Manuel Castro outlines the three priority recommendations adopted and implemented by the city: advocating for Temporary Protected Status (TPS), enhancing the capacity of immigrant-serving nonprofits, and leading advocacy efforts for asylum seekers and recently arrived immigrants.
- Advocating for TPS allows quicker access to work authorization for immigrants, with significant recent advocacy for Venezuelan and proposed Ecuadorian TPS.
- Enhancing the capacity of immigrant-serving nonprofits is identified as a major pillar in the strategic plan, focusing on working closely with those organizations.
- Leading advocacy efforts involves establishing a communication, legislative, and coalition-building strategy, largely targeted towards the federal government to support recently arrived immigrants.
- The federal government has awarded roughly $150 million in support of these efforts, though operational issues in drawing down these funds are noted.
Alexa Avilés
0:35:15
Can you Can you walk me through maybe the 3 priority recommendation ins that your office has driven that have been adopted and implemented by the city, and it could be in any agency.
Manuel Castro
0:35:40
Good question.
Alexa Avilés
0:35:42
We can we can go back to it.
0:35:44
But I I would like specifically to understand policy is is a very significant of your role here across agencies.
0:35:52
We'd love to understand what specific policies have you been able to implement as more across the city.
Manuel Castro
0:36:00
Yeah.
0:36:00
So I'm thinking through, you know, the many instances we've advocated for policies.
0:36:06
I I you mentioned.
0:36:07
And and I like to provide a number of examples that I think are important to the current moment we're in.
0:36:14
So The first stuff the first one in most immediate is advocating for TPS as a position that the city takes is quite important because as as you may be aware of.
0:36:34
The asylum process is quite arduous in time, and it takes time for people to achieve work orders authorization, whereas with TPS, people are able to access work authorization quicker.
0:36:54
I believe this is a core aspect of our advocacy in the last year.
0:37:03
We've met with a number of individuals, which we've communicated that it would be helpful for them to advocate this with the White House in the expansion of the Venezuelan TPS redesignation of Venezuela TPS, I think was a significant win for immigrant advocates and communities.
0:37:29
And when you look at our role in advocating for it, it was quite significant, not just with the mayors at direct advocacy, my direct advocacy, but also with our work with our coalition partners across.
0:37:46
The country.
0:37:47
And I mentioned this because I am now advocating for us to advocate for Ecuadorian TPS.
0:37:58
And by extending TPS to Ecuadorians, I think it would significantly impact recently arrived immigrants to our cities.
0:38:11
2nd, recently, I've been working very closely with our asylum seeker response leadership team.
0:38:21
Moya will be taking on an increased role in building the capacity of immigrant serving nonprofits, especially those immigrant serving nonprofits that have been working closely with traditional populations, meaning informal workers and documented workers and so forth.
0:38:44
I think pivoting to working closer with those nonprofit providers and those community organizations.
0:38:51
It's an important step for the city.
0:38:53
It is now one of our major pillars in our strategic plan, and it's something that Moya will take an active leadership in of course, working with our multiple offices that provide assistance to nonprofit organizations and so forth.
0:39:09
And thirdly, I will be co chairing our advocacy efforts, which again will become a pillar that I think is important for the city of New York to establish, which will which I've designed to establish a communication strategy, legislative strategy, in a coalition building strategy in order for us to more effectively move us forward in our advocacy as a city around the issue of asylum seekers annually arrived immigrants.
0:39:50
I mentioned the Is
Alexa Avilés
0:39:51
that efficacy directed to the state and federal government, or are you talking about directed at our city and the way our city is operating?
Manuel Castro
0:39:59
Correct.
0:40:00
Particularly to the federal government, certainly the state.
0:40:04
I think centralizing all our work around the advocacy that we are conducting towards the our government with an emphasis on supporting recently arrived immigrants.
0:40:15
And, of course, the city is quite important.
0:40:18
You heard from our budget director yesterday, We were awarded roughly a $150,000,000 by the federal government in support of this situation, we spend much more than that.
0:40:34
So
Alexa Avilés
0:40:35
And we haven't drawn down, not a third of it.
0:40:38
So So we have some operational issues to address there.
Manuel Castro
0:40:41
So in terms of advocacy, I think there's much more to be done for the federal meant to support our efforts.
0:40:48
And like I said, in terms of legislative inaction, the legislative work congress inaction by the White House, I think it's important for us to to really hone in on, like, what we can be working on.
0:41:02
As a city government and also coalition building.
0:41:05
I think bringing communities together to partner with and effectively advocate is is quite important.
0:41:12
So I will say those 3 things are very timely in in something that I I had been pushing for, and I think we're making progress on.
Alexa Avilés
0:41:21
Okay.