It has received 17,000 since April..and sent many of them to temporary camps

New York struggles with the influx of asylum seekers from Latin America

• A Venezuelan immigrant holds his child and waits on the side of the road after being denied entry to America by land.

  Reuters

• Venezuelan immigrants seeking to enter the United States through Mexico.

  Reuters

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After a perilous journey from his hometown of Venezuela to the United States two months ago, Gustavo Mendes considers that he has survived so far in New York, where he has found a job and a welcoming host family to establish a new life.

But he is one of the few who have found refuge in a city struggling to cope with the recent influx of asylum seekers from Latin America.

Since April, some 17,000 asylum seekers have flocked to New York, many of whom have been sent to temporary camps.

Tens of thousands of Venezuelan immigrants have been intercepted at the southern US border over the past year.

In recent months, several Republican-led border states have begun moving asylum seekers north toward Democratic-controlled cities, in a ploy ahead of the November 8 midterm elections.

Weeks before the elections in which Democrats and Republicans will compete for control of Congress, US President Joe Biden set the number of Venezuelan asylum seekers allowed in at 24,000.

Expulsion of land arrivals

The federal program provides access to a limited number of Venezuelans through US airports.

But the Biden administration will expel anyone who tries to enter through the land border, re-implementing the health emergency policy imposed during the era of former President Donald Trump, which denied Venezuelans the right to apply for asylum on the pretext of the need to curb the spread of the "Covid-19" outbreak.

150 days

Mendes, 40, cannot legally work in New York, but he was able to find a source of income a week after arriving at a restaurant in Queens that also sells refreshments from a food truck at sporting events.

"I wanted to work in cooking or on television, that's why I came here," the chef and television repairman told AFP.

Mendes currently earns between $800 and $1,200 a week, far more than the $600 salary he made in Venezuela, where his two teenage sons still live.

But Mendes is one of the relatively lucky asylum seekers, as finding a job opportunity to build a better life is what those fleeing danger or persecution in their country are looking for most.

But as now, asylum seekers must wait 150 days after submitting their initial application before they can apply for a work permit.

“Since mid-August, we have seen a significant increase in the number of asylum seekers,” says Jay Alfaro, Director of Social Services and Partnerships at the Church of the Holy Apostles in Manhattan.

He points out that the main question asked by asylum seekers is "Do you know where we can get a job?"

This church provides food, legal services, housing counseling, and medical assistance, and runs one of the largest programs of its kind in the country.

Venezuelan Nisari Angolo, 29, her husband and three-year-old daughter came to church, looking for a meal.

After a 50-day trip, the family began sleeping in a hotel set up by the New York Mayor's Office.

delay and delay

New York is the only US city obligated by law to offer refuge to anyone seeking asylum there.

For registered newcomers, the city also offers access to medical care, English language lessons, skills training, as well as schooling for children.

But many asylum seekers say getting legal work is a delayed process.

For example, the Department of Immigration Services will not receive Mendes before 2024.

New York Mayor Eric Adams, who is outspoken about his ambitions to run for president in 2024, urged the federal government to pass a law allowing asylum seekers to seek work "immediately rather than after six months."

New York authorities have set aside hotel rooms for asylum seekers, in addition to the city's shelters that were originally intended to house homeless New Yorkers.

Last week, New York also began filling a giant tent set up on Randall's Island in the East River, which can accommodate 500 single men.

There are also talks to set up a cruise ship to accommodate the new arrivals.

Not sustainable

So far, there are no restrictions on the residency of those in temporary shelters.

Alvaro talks about the high cost of rents in the city, which also suffers from a housing shortage, in explaining the challenges faced by the newcomers.

According to a new study recently published by CNBC, a worker earning the minimum wage ($15 an hour) will have to work 111 hours a week to pay the rent for a one-bedroom apartment.

New York Mayor Eric Adams considered the current situation "not sustainable", as the city will spend between $500 million and $1 billion to temporarily house the new arrivals, according to accountant Brad Lander.

Adams considers that all American cities should share the burden, saying that New York has "never made any agreement to take on the task of supporting thousands of asylum seekers."

■ Asylum seekers must wait 150 days after submitting their initial application before they can apply for a work permit.

■ The authorities in New York have allocated hotel rooms to asylum seekers, in addition to the city shelters that were originally intended to house the city's homeless.

For registered newcomers, the city offers access to medical care, English language lessons and skills training, as well as schooling for children.

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