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Lawmakers say the legislation is intended to help the city better respond to the needs of the nearly 34,000 migrants still in its shelter system. “There’s honestly no excuse,” said City Councilmember Alexa Avilés, who chairs the Council’s Immigration Committee. “We have a very large population that it’s tending to, and they haven’t disappeared. They are still here.” Under a local law passed last year, the city was required to survey migrants in the shelter system about their workforce development and health needs, and share the results in a report for the City Council by Sept. 30. But almost a month later, the Adams administration has yet to submit those findings—and has not yet started administering the surveys, City Limits has learned. “The development of studies of this magnitude takes time and deliberate coordination across multiple city agencies to ensure that the survey is accurate, rigorously distributed and yields the necessary and reliable results needed,” said a spokesperson for the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH), one of the two city agencies tasked with conducting the surveys. Councilmembers and immigrant advocates criticized the delay, saying the legislation is intended to help the city better respond to the needs of migrants in its care. While the number of new arrivals has been decreasing for months, there are still nearly 34,000 in the shelter system, most of them families with children. “[I’m] incredibly frustrated by all of this. There’s honestly no excuse, other than lack of interest in being able to meet the mandates of the law,” said City Councilmember Alexa Avilés, who chairs the Council’s Immigration Committee. “We have a very large population that it’s tending to, and they haven’t disappeared. They are still here.” Under the bills passed last year, two city agencies were tasked with conducting the surveys: The Department of Health is responsible for surveying migrants’ about their long-term health needs, chronic conditions, and access to healthcare as part of Local Law 74. The Mayor’s Office of Talent and Workforce Development, created by the Eric Adams administration in 2022 through an executive order, is in charge of surveying their economic opportunities and workforce development obstacles under Local Law 73. The surveys should have been given to case managers and on-site shelter staff 11 months ago, in November 2024, according to the legislation. The results were supposed to be provided to the commissioner of these agencies no later than May 31, 2025. “We are diligently working with our agency partners and we’re happy to share that the survey will be live within the next few weeks,” a DOHMH spokesperson said, though did not provide an exact date or other details. “In addition to time, projects of this magnitude require careful reflection of the community we are attempting to reach and how we can reach them without increasing the fear and worry they may already be experiencing,” the spokesperson said. Over the last few months, federal agents have increased arrests as part of the Trump administration’s ongoing immigration crackdown, including at New York City courts and on the streets. They recently arrested people outside the Row Hotel, a city-operated emergency migrant shelter, and targeted vendors on a busy street in Chinatown. At the same time, the city has been shutting down its network of emergency shelters for migrants as fewer new arrivals enter the system. The majority of migrant families are now housed in traditional shelter sites run by the Department of Homeless Services. “The mayoral administration is inexplicably behind by nearly a year to develop and distribute these surveys amongst the city’s newest immigrants who have now mostly exited city shelters,” a City Council spokesperson said in a statement. “This failure is a squandered opportunity to learn from the latest wave of migration to New York City.” The execution of the surveys is not the only Council law the Adams administration has delayed: another bill to allow people to report poor conditions in vacant apartments in their building has still yet to be implemented. City Hall has also refused to carry out a package of laws expanding the city’s rental voucher program, a dispute now playing out in court. “The city’s inability to complete a survey among a now small number of asylum-seekers who remain stuck in our shelter system showcases the failure of this administration to prioritize the needs of our most vulnerable populations,” Carlos Arnao of the New York Immigration Coalition said in a statement to City Limits. “We urge Mayor Adams to take proactive steps to comply with the law during the remaining months of his lame-duck administration.” To reach the reporter behind this story, contact [email protected]. To reach the editor, contact [email protected] Want to republish this story? Find City Limits’ reprint policy here.
