Tonawanda, N.Y. (WBEN) - During a recent visit to Western New York on Tuesday, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul addressed some items surrounding the migrants currently seeking asylum across Erie County.
Hochul says to date, there are about 500 individuals who have been sheltered in the region, and the state has been very closely with local organizations like Journey's End and Jericho Road Community Health Center to help provide these individuals with services while seeking legal asylum.
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However, Hochul explains there have been more delays than the state wanted when it comes to work authorization for the migrants housed in Erie County.
"Our position is this problem quickly turns into an asset for the state, because we also not only have a humanitarian crisis with the asylum seekers coming here in large volumes, we also have an employment crisis. We have a severe shortage of workers throughout the State of New York," said Hochul on Tuesday while in Tonawanda. "Western New York farmers, hospitality organizations, restaurants and hotels in our cities. I've been asked by hospitals and nursing homes, 'Can they help send some of these asylum seekers to them to work, because we have so many jobs unfilled?'
"My view is, let them work. Let them have the opportunity for legal work status sooner than later. We have made this request to the White House constantly, we keep reiterating this, that they need to give some flexibility to grant temporary protective status to primarily Venezuelans - 1/3 of the asylum seekers are from Venezuela."
Gov. Hochul also said effective Tuesday, she will be allocating identifying organizations the state can support with $36 million of additional funding to help Upstate communities that are embracing asylum seekers help speed up the process to legal work status.
"What that means is we have to institute case management programs. Don't just let these people come here and wait and wait and wait, because nothing will change until they apply for asylum. So we're going to track them," Hochul explained. "Some already want to go back home, we've got to make sure they get that plane ticket to go somewhere else. Make sure if they want to go see family somewhere else, that is addressed. Make sure if they have children, they're in schools, make sure they're getting services. But the bottom line, get that application in and filed, and then we track people and make sure the second they find out they have legal work status, which follows 180 days after that application is submitted, then they can work."
Hochul believes getting work authorization for migrants can help alleviate a crushing problem the state is facing across the board. She says she is anxious to get this off the ground to help support communities that have been welcoming to the asylum seekers.
"To those communities that are welcoming, I am grateful to you. I am grateful to counties like Erie, Monroe and Albany County, and many others that have stepped up to help welcome these individuals, let them be part of the community," Gov. Hochul said. "The second they can work, they are now contributing. They'll be able to get their own house and support themselves.
"We do need more support at the border, we need support from the White House, we need support for more facilities, we need support for more money. But the most important thing, as well, is the ability for them to be able to work. We say let them work."
It was Tuesday morning when a new Siena Poll was released, revealing that 82% of New Yorkers say the influx of migrants to the state is a "serious problem." The results of the poll also indicate that 54% of voters say the migrant situation is a "very serious" problem.
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"What we did is we asked some other questions as well. We said, 'Over the last 20 years, have migrants resettling in New York been a benefit or a burden to the state?' Only 32% of New Yorkers think the migrants coming to New York over the last two decades have been a benefit. 46% say it has been a burden, and there we start to see the partisan divide, not so much a regional divide," said Siena College pollster Steve Greenberg during an appearance on WBEN on Tuesday. "58% of New York City voters, 64% of Downstate suburbanites, 53% of Upstaters say over the last 20 years, migrants settling in New York have been a burden on the state."
Greenberg adds they have not done anything as specific as this in the past with the Siena Polls, when it comes to polling New Yorkers on migrants. He says what they are seeing now over the last several months, year is very different than what they've seen over the last two decades.
Hochul says she understands the feelings of people living in the New York State community, but wants to continue her push to get the migrants already here the opportunities to work as soon as possible.
"There is a fear of the unknown. What does this mean? Are the numbers going to increase? Can we handle this? That is real for our residents, and I want to assure them we are working very hard so they can have the same right to work that immigrants who came before them had, and perhaps their own grandparents and great ancestors had to be able to work here. We need those jobs filled," she said.
Two weeks ago, it was announced that a migrant from Venezuela was accused of raping a fellow migrant he knew in front of their three-year-old child in a Cheektowaga hotel. Later in the week, a second migrant from the Democratic Republic of Congo was arrested on a felony sexual abuse charge.
Those two arrests eventually led the halt of new migrants being sent to Erie County from New York City.
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Hochul is well-aware of the two arrests made in Cheektowaga, and understands concern for some residents and their potential safety as a result. However, she continues to remain steadfast in her approach with assistance coming for Erie County in the meantime.
"I have offered the assistance of the state in any way possible. We have the National Guard at the request of the County Executive [Mark Poloncarz], who wanted extra support," Hochul said. "We have 108 Guard members here in Erie County alone to support the efforts of the asylum seekers, protect the community in the sense that they're lending that kind of support to law enforcement. But also we have provided $120 million extra in our budget this year to local law enforcement to help them do their jobs."
When it comes to the vetting process of the migrants entering the country and eventually making the trek to New York State, Gov. Hochul continues to remind residents these are people that haven't just snuck into the country and found their way to New York City.
"When you're seeking asylum, you're leaving a country like Venezuela, where for the last decade there's been an oppressive regime in charge. There is violence in the streets, gangs, shootings, and people being persecuted because of their political beliefs. Other countries around the world have received specific status that allows them to seek asylum in our country. Venezuelans are now a new group of individuals who have come, other countries as well, and they come to the border legally seeking asylum status," she said. "At the border, there are questions about their background, they have to present documentation as to who they are. There is an initial screening that occurs at the border."
More of Gov. Hochul's remarks regarding migrants across New York State is available in the player below:
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