Migrant Crisis in New York City

Floor Speech

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Mr. ESPAILLAT. Mr. Speaker, I rise today with an urgent call as we face the inaction of this House to address our budgeting needs and to potentially throw us into disarray through a government shutdown. I rise with an urgent call of action to address the influx of migrants, asylum seekers in New York City.

Since the spring of 2022, New York City has welcomed over 110,000 migrants. It has opened 200 emergency shelters and has seen the influx of 20,000 children, 15,000 of which registered in the New York City Public School System last year, and the rest, 5,000, this year.

This Friday, Mr. Speaker, I will be co-leading a New York delegation and other Members to visit New York City so they can see for themselves the challenges that are facing this city. The purpose of this trip is to show how New York City has addressed this crisis and the programs that they put in place to address the needs of these new arrivals.

Many would like to say that this is unprecedented. Many would even resort to hateful language to say that this should not happen. The fact of the matter is that this has been around in America for a very long time. In fact, Mr. Speaker, in 1907, the busiest year ever for immigration in our country, Ellis Island saw 1.25 million immigrants processed.

The busiest day was April 17 of that very same year, with a record of 11,747 immigrants processed relatively quickly, Mr. Speaker. They also faced great challenges. They also faced discrimination. There was a literacy test enacted so they would not come in. The Chinese Exclusion Act was put forward so that Chinese immigrants would not come in. There were patters of hateful language and discrimination all over America during that year, and yet only 2 percent of them were rejected. On that island called Ellis Island, which some call the island of tears, only 2 percent were sent back.

Mr. Speaker, 1.2 million of them were let into New York City, and they rebuilt the city of New York. I propose to you that the immigrants that are coming to New York City will also rebuild this city, this great city of New York.

After the COVID-19 pandemic, we need their energy. We need their hunger, their hunger to succeed. We need their innovativeness. That is exactly what America needs; not hateful language, not literacy acts, not complicated obstacles to prevent them from moving forward.

Mr. Speaker, there are three basic solutions to this impasse. The first one is TPS for Venezuelans. They already have the temporary protective status. Let's just extend it until yesterday so they have the right to work; and everybody, including those across the aisle, understand that the work permit is the solution. Let them work so they are not a load on government. That is the first one.

The second one is through the CBP One app, many of them have already applied as asylum seekers, but yet they have not applied for the work permit. Let's make sure they do that. The law allows that right now. A work permit is not statutory. It is regulatory.

Finally, Mr. Speaker, in a supplemental, we must do much better for places like New York City, which have shouldered the burden of this crisis, a crisis that is embedded in the best chapter of our history, a crisis that will take us to a much better place.

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