New York Gov. Hochul announces 18,000 jobs for asylum seekers as city’s migrant influx exceeds 125,000 people

Democrat New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Monday announced 18,000 new jobs for eligible asylum seekers and migrants as New York City faces an influx of more than 125,000 people. 

Hochul said the state’s Department of Labor has identified more than 18,000 private sector job openings at 379 companies across the state who have identified roles that could be filled by individuals with legal work status since first beginning assessment and outreach on Aug. 24. 

About 24% of the job openings are in accommodation and food services with 90 businesses, according to the governor office’s breakdown. Another 21% of the openings are in healthcare and social assistance with 79 businesses. Manufacturing accounts for 10% of the openings with 38 businesses, and administrative support accounts for 8% with 29 businesses. 

“We have to manage the fact that there’s 125,000 people right now, up until tomorrow, have not been eligible to work, and have relied on public support for housing,” Hochul said at a press conference. “That is not a sustainable dynamic. It is just not sustainable in the long term. But we’ve dealt with it. So, I’m going to call on businesses to sign up even more.”

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“I am hopeful and continue to press Washington and Congress to open up those work authorizations to more people because again, the Venezuelans is a good start, but it’s not going to take care of the people who come in from Mauritania, and Congo, and other parts of South America, Central America, West Africa,” she said. “We have people from Iraq and Afghanistan coming, people from Russia are coming, because everyone’s finding their ways to that southern border. And that’s where we need to have more thoughtful controls at that as well.”

Seemingly coordinating with Mayor Eric Adams’ controversial decompression strategy to lessen the burden on New York City, the identified job openings are also spread across the Capital Region, central region, Finger Lakes, Hudson Valley, Long Island, Mohawk Valley, North Country, Southern Tier, Western Region. 

New York City has the most job openings for eligible asylum seekers with 9,801 positions. 

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The state identified 2,896 openings in Hudson Valley and 1,294 openings on Long Island, despite local officials in both areas either openly opposing or fighting in court against Adams’ efforts to relocate mostly male migrants to motels for extended months-long stays.

At the press conference, Hochul praised the Biden administration for granting temporary protective status and expediting worth authorization for Venezuelans on Sept. 20. New York City estimates that will allow more than 15,000 Venezuelan individuals to attain legal work status within 30 days.

“It means that 40% of the people who came here through jungles and mountains and rivers and incredible adversity, they found their way to New York. Forty percent from the country of Venezuela because of the Biden administration’s actions are now eligible to have work authorizations and TPS, Temporary Protective Status, in 30 days,” Hochul said on Monday. “And those who came before July 31st are actually eligible for this. So, this is the best news we could have had in this short time frame as we’ve been trying to find solutions to this problem.”

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According to the governor’s calculation, roughly 60% of the migrants who have arrived in New York City are from somewhere other than Venezuela. Hochul has activated 250 National Guard personnel assigned to full-time case management services for asylum seekers, part of a deployment of more than 2,100 National Guard personnel to address the ongoing migrant crisis.