 Ivor Radha, the president of the New York State AFL-CIO, Mario Salento, the executive director of the New York City Hospitality Alliance, Andrew Riggie, the founder and executive chairman of the Union Square Hospitality Group, Danny Mayer, the president and CEO of the Partnerships for New York City, Kathy Wilde, please welcome the mayor of the city of New York, Mayor Eric Adams. Now please welcome the 57th governor of the great state of New York, Governor Kathy Hochold. Good morning, everyone. Great to see you here in this spectacular venue. Danny Mayer, he sure know how to host an event on short notice, and I want to thank you for welcoming us to this training center, a 30,000 square foot kitchen and all sorts of facilities, and the operative word is on training, training workers, which is why we're here today. I do want to acknowledge, and I'll be presenting him in a few minutes, but having our mayor here, a great teammate, a great partner, I want to thank him for his continual communication and working together and just rolling up our sleeves. Let's give another round of applause to our mayor, Eric Adams. Thank you. We also have the Dean of the Congressional Delegation, Jerry Nadler has joined us, a strong important voice for us in Washington, DC, joined by Congressman Dan Goldman. We are in your house. This is your district as well, and thank you for all you're doing for us and your focus on helping us solve problems. Kathy Wilde, the president of the partnership New York City, I want to tell you whenever there's a crisis, you are there to roll up your sleeves with all of us and to bring the business community to bear and the influence that you have. So thank you, Kathy, for working on this issue with us as well. Dan Rigi, I want to thank you. It's Andrew, I'm sorry, Andrew. We've seen each other at many, many events, but when you harness the power of the restaurants and the hotels and all the employers, there's a great story you're going to hear unfold here today about great possibilities, great opportunities that thus far have been overlooked, and we're looking to capitalize on them today and put a lot more people to work in your facilities as well. We are so fortunate to have the leader of the New York State, AFL-CIO, again, bringing labor to the issue as well, and I want to thank Mario Salento for his support for us as well. And you're going to hear from Javer Rada, an asylum seeker who traveled a great distance, who came with his little child from Venezuela and literally arrived here just a few weeks ago. He is going to tell you about the experience of being one of those individuals who found their way to our great city and our great state, so you'll be hearing from him momentarily. Thank you, Javer. Thank you. Union Square Hospitality Group, this is extraordinary, and I want to thank you again, Danny, for hosting us here. And you think about some of the greatest establishments we have in the city. They have Danny's name associated with them, but one of the barriers holding back even more success is the challenge of finding workers. Danny and I had this conversation literally just a couple days ago, and this is going to affect the future and the viability of our restaurants when people, and I'm hearing not just in the city, but all over the state, only be able to have shorter hours, reduce in the days they're open, having only serve half of a dining room instead of the whole dining room, because there are not enough workers here in the state of New York. And so this is an issue that's affecting our economy. It's not just individuals, it's affecting us with this historic labor shortage. But at the same time, we have an historic labor shortage. We also have this unprecedented influx of infant individuals arriving in New York, all of them legally seeking asylum. They're eager to work. They want to work. They came here in search of work and a new future, and they can become part of our economy and part of our communities. And people are ready to start training them right in facilities like we have here today. So today we are joined all these leaders and all of you in a common goal that is to get them situated. These asylum seekers situated, get them shelter, get them food, get them legal services, and then help them get to work. And so these are yet challenges, but what a great opportunity for us here in New York. And I have to say, over the last many, many months, a year ago, longer than a year ago, the mayor and his team have been asked to do the impossible. But he rose up. He put so much muscle behind the effort to find homes for these individuals any way he could, leaving no stone unturned. And he recognized, you know, now that we have over 70,000 people fleeing difficult, terrifying circumstances, whether it's an oppressive regime in Venezuela, economic circumstances, great poverty, oppression, gang violence, decades of this have forced people who otherwise would be just as comfortable living at home in their own communities to have to flee those circumstances. And so, mayor, I want to thank you again. On behalf of the people of this state, for the way you just stood up to this challenge, didn't run away, didn't shirk it and said, let's figure this out. And that is the kind of leadership that is so critically important. That is why your partnership on this is so important. And you recognize these are individuals who deserve compassion and dignity. And I'm talking about Yavair, who talked who just crossed the border from Texas three weeks ago, with his one year old and a six month old child. How terrifying could that have been? How terrifying? Not knowing when you're traveling with an infant. What the next day is going to bring? Were there people on the road who want to do you harm? Will there be enough food and water the next day? Imagine the terror of what he went through. But he was unrelenting in his pursuit of giving his little daughter a better life. It's an extraordinary story. And now he's applying for asylum to be part of the New York family. And New York has been working so hard to provide individuals like this, what they need. New York City is the number one destination for asylum seekers who have been released from federal custody who are waiting their next steps in the process. Now we know why New York is an incredible place to live. But it also has conferred a lot of responsibility. And the fact that right now there are over 42,000 people sheltered, safely sheltered in this city shows the effectiveness of the mayor's operation, but also the compassion of the people here in New York because this is a humanitarian crisis, not created by the city, not created by the state, but it doesn't matter. Blaming doesn't help. We're in executive positions where you have to just manage. And that's what we have to do. But we've helped. I want to thank my partners in state government, Andrea Stewart-Cousins, the leader of the Senate, Carl Hestia, our speaker, the entire legislature for seeing that more resources would be needed. And that's why just a few weeks ago we passed $1 billion in our budget to provide for supportive services, housing and legal services. And I've committed to the mayor. I'm sure that's not the end of it. We'll just leave it at that right now. But we're going to make sure you have what you need, mayor. We're going to make sure you have what you need because we are committed to getting this right. And we'll continue to work closely with you. Right now we have members of my senior team, literally embedded, working shoulder to shoulder to deal with finding space, just emergency shelters wherever we can find it. We have over 1500 National Guard members. What are they doing? Building cribs, running out for food, making people feel secure, helping people apply for their asylum status, becoming a friend to people. And I want to thank our National Guard. This is a hurricane of sorts. And they've been out there since for many, many months. And I want to thank them for what they're doing. And we are identifying additional shelters. The city is overflowing. The mayor has used every ounce of creativity with him and his team to find space. And we are asking for more space. We're looking at hangars at JFK. We've asked for Floyd Bennett Field to stand up a major operation. We have other facilities we've been talking about. We'll be announcing more on that briefly. But we need all levels of government to respond to this. We truly, truly do. And I've been working with our partners in Washington since last summer with the mayor, trying to find how we can be more flexible in ensuring that these individuals can get a quicker path to a legal work status. I visited Washington again just a few days ago. Constantly communicate yesterday with the White House. They know what we need. We need money. We need new places for shelter. And we need support. But more than anything, I know I were united here today with business and labor and advocates. And I do want to mention the New York Immigration Coalition is here as well with an extraordinary job they've been doing. More than anything, we need changes to the work authorization policies that'll let these individuals not have to wait months and possibly years for that legal status. But let's get it in an expedited basis. So we think it's possible. Right now you have to wait 180 days after you file for your legal asylum status. That is the big unknown. People come here. They're desperate. They're trying to figure out how to just get on their feet. They don't know the language. And the burden of trying to properly fill out the asylum papers. And then if you're missing something that someone's actually going to find you to update the application, then at some point you're going to go see a judge. We don't have enough judges here in the state of New York. So start sending some judges up in the clerical staff. Give us the support we need so they can start properly filling out the asylum process. But once that's done under the current rules, they then have to wait 180 more days in limbo, not able to work legally in the state of New York. That's not working. That's not a solution. They're ready to work. They're willing to work and they're not able to work. So we're spending a lot of money. We're dealing what we can, but we need this help from Washington. And again, I want to thank our partners and I've been in constant communication with Major Leader Schumer almost daily on this issue for many months. Our Senators Kirsten Gillibrand, all the members here and the entire delegation, we need this change in policy from Washington to allow Mario Salento and Danny Meyer and Cathy Wilde to go back to everyone they represent and say, we've solved this crisis. We have people. So when you think about what we have open right now, I know upstate. I know exactly where it starts to. There are over 5,000 farm jobs, 5,000 farm jobs open as we speak. The cows don't wait to be milked. The plants need to be maintained and harvested in a few months. The crops will be more than 5,000 food service jobs right now. I'm a former waitress. I made pizzas, chicken wings, weighted tables, clean floors, did pots and pans. Doesn't take a lot of skill. I was 15 years old. Those jobs are available. 4,000 openings for janitors, cleaners and housekeepers. As I mentioned, the jobs for farm workers as well. So we're grateful that the Biden administration has instituted a new border process, starting with the suspension of Title 42 on May 11th. We all know that date well. And that will allow asylum seekers from other countries to seek sponsorship and to apply from their home countries. And if they don't, they will be turned back. So that is a shift in policy, which we hope will be successful and mitigate the flow of new arrivals here. But in the meantime, we know who we have. They've been coming in daily and we have to deal with the number of individuals with us now, whether it's days 71,000 or it's up to 80. We don't know what's going to happen, but we have to deal with it. And also, one thing we're doing is having our Department of Agriculture and Markets connect with Cornell University and finding people who do have work authorization because some people have applied successfully. They're already able to work on our farms, but that doesn't help problems we have right now. So again, this is an ask. We're asking again, we're pleading, saying this is a great opportunity here in the state of New York to solve two problems, how to help these people get on their feet and support their families. And my God, who in this city has not come from somewhere else, their family? And I took note of the Statue of Liberty in Ellis Island as I came here this morning, a reminder of my teenage grandparents who fled great poverty in Ireland over a century ago. Grandpa found job working at a wheat field in South Dakota as a migrant farm worker. Then they were domestic servants in the city of Chicago until they found jobs as union workers making steel and buffalo. Their children, eight children packed into a tiny house, became business leaders, school superintendents, educators, and a granddaughter even became a governor. That's what happens in one generation, one generation. People's lives are transformed, they're changed. That is the story of New York and let us have the power to give that same right, that same opportunity to people to say, yes, you're part of our family. We welcome you and you're going to help us get to a crisis. The shortage of workers we can solve for it. And that is the great opportunity we have before us today. And no one knows that better than our mayor. And we are working so closely together. And I also want to say to parts of our country and our state who are enacting bigoted policies based on fear and intimidation. Join us, join us. Let people know the true story of what New York is. It was not putting out those signs even though grandpa saw Irish need not apply. Eventually those signs came down. And people were welcoming. And everything about this date in this country changed as a result. So we're going to give people jobs, give them opportunities. We just need a little bit of help. And that's what today is all about. Mayor, thank you. Thank you for being the leader when the city needed you most. Our great mayor, Mayor Eric Adams. We want to thank our governor. She was in city hall of one day last week. She came by to sit down and speak with me about this crisis. I think governor, the first time a governor was in city hall seeing a man a long time. And to have you there showed me how you understood firsthand how this crisis, probably one of the greatest humanitarian crises that has hit our city a long time. But I joined with you in saying in crisis there's opportunities. And you have really led from the front. You have allowed your team to come in and be part of our administration as my team leaders organize and move the number of people, resources and places to execute this plan. And you know, there are two moments in life, as I say to our friends in the media. There is a. I got you moment. And there is I got you moment. And some of the things we are seeing is really working against the people of the city. We received last week over 5,800 asylum seekers. While we are speaking with Washington and others to report that we are not having a crisis of this proportion. It's just counter productive. It is hurting our fight. And we are all in this city together. It doesn't matter if you are a messenger or a reporter. This is our city. And we should be clear on this moment that this challenge is of epic proportion. And some of the reporting that is indicating we are not dealing with the crisis is hurting what we are attempting to accomplish. I am pleading with you that we should have a level of accuracy and what is happening during this particular period of time. Some of the reporting is not reflecting that and it is unfair to the people of the city. 5,800 people came to our city last week. Those are factual numbers. They're not made up numbers. And we are seeing the week before 4,200. Just in one location alone, we had over 800. Not only by buses. Through the airports, through cars, through every mode of transportation. And our administration has accurately reported the information to the best of our ability to partner with the governor's office to monitor and to address this crisis. And to my congressional delegation, congressman Nadler and congressman Ryan who are both here, congressman Nadler from the beginning of this crisis and our business with him in Washington being the dean of our congressional delegation. I cannot say thank you enough for really pushing to get the resources here with our minority leader in Congress and our senior senator, senator Schumer, who with his coordination, we were able to get $800 million in the Omni bus bill. It's unfortunate. Out of the $350 million, New York City only received 30 million. And those bordering states received in some cases more than what we did. And they're using the money to bus individuals to New York City. This is what we are up against. This is a symbol of our nation as the governor alluded to. The lady that sits in our harbor, welcome countless number of immigrants to these shores throughout generations, merely in 1907 alone, a million people went through that amazing island we call Ellis Island. Also called the Island of Hope, the Island of Opportunity. That hope did not dissipate merely throughout the years and generation. That hope is still alive. And those who come here, come here for one reason only, and that is to participate in the American dream. That dream shall not become a nightmare when they hit our shores. I think often about the dream of the dreamer of my commissioner of immigrant affairs, coming from Mexico with his family, pursuing the American dream and now reaching the point where he is in charge of those who come to this country. Commissioner Castro is a symbol of those who are coming here today and would like to participate in what this country has to offer. Our immigrants helped build this country. They helped generate the greatest economic expansion in history. Thousands of asylum seekers continue to arrive at our border. We see history in motion once more. And the history books are going to judge us based on our interactions and reactions on how we responded just as history judged us on how we responded to our early Irish, Italians, Greek Africans, and other people from the diasporas across the globe. People are on move in search of the same dream that we've all had and we all are pursuing the American dream. If these asylum seekers cannot work, if they cannot work, it is going to be a major impediment and interruption in the pursuit of that dream. And that is all they ask for. When I speak with my asylum seekers at the herks, at the hotels, on the streets, they stay clearly. We don't want your free room, and board, and food, and clothing. We want to work. We want to have an opportunity to provide for ourselves. And right now we are denying that opportunity by refusing to let them work legally. It is creating an underground market where individuals could be exploited, unable to pay into our tax base, working long and difficult and dangerous jobs because they are living in the shadow of the American dream and not out front. It increases the risk that they can be abused. It is one of the major goals we must accomplish. And so today we stand with our business leaders. Can I thank them enough for what they are saying as they realize this problem is all of our problems? Kathy Weil and the partnership and others are stepping up and saying we are ready to hire if we are given the authorization to do so. We have one message. Let them work. That is our clear message that we are sending. We must expect that work authorization for asylum seekers, not in the future, but now. In New York City, throughout our state and across the country, we have thousands of unfilled jobs, including jobs right here in industry city in Brooklyn. And as the governor indicated, across the board, backstretched workers in our racing industry, agriculture, food service, home care, transportation and manufacturing fields all need labor. And the lady in the harbor right behind us reminds us every day who we are as a city and as a nation, a place of hope and opportunity where people can get a job and do their part of pursuing and building on the American dream. And that's what I hear over and over again. They want to work and they continue to ask the question. The question they ask in El Paso, the question they ask in Brownsville, Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston, Washington and New York City. They're asking, can we work? Can we work? That is the precursor to sleep that allows you to experience the American dream. Without it, it turns it into a nightmare. And it will take us the action to fulfill this dream. We can do this by direct action by the executive branch of the federal government. Without legislation, we can get this done. Republicans, as we know, have blocked all attempts at fixing our broken immigration system intentionally causing chaos and dysfunction. We cannot believe all of a sudden that's going to change with the Republican control Congress. If we don't get it done through a presidential action, we are going to slow down the progress we need. So we're calling on the White House, the United States Department of Homeland Security, to ensure our newest Americans can work lawfully and build stable lives for themselves and our countries. Our leaders in Washington must redesignate and extend temporary protective status, also known as TPS, and we want to be included those from Venezuela, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Sudan, South Sudan, Cameroon, and other nations. Given the continuing worsening humanitarian crisis in those countries, they are going to pursue the stability that our country has to offer. The federal government must also expand and extend access to humanitarian parole for asylum seekers already in the United States and processed at the border, as well as increase the number of United States citizens and immigration officers to have the opportunity but not have access to the opportunity because of the lack of personnel is defeating the entire purpose. What we see happening on our border is not new. It's a logical and human response to hunger, violence, and political instability in other countries. In an ideal situation, all Americans will do their part and I want to thank New Yorkers who have stepped up, volunteered, participated, and have done their part on so many levels. Instead of putting the responsibilities squarely on the cities in general and specifically in New York City, we must have the responsibility for care, to have the national decompression strategy that is deserved of this crisis we are facing, must help our fellow arrivals to be a participant in the American dreams. And I have described New York City as a city of yes so often but that spirit of innovation and inclusiveness is foundational to this entire nation. America is a country of yes, not only New York City. Yes to immigrants, yes to new housing jobs and opportunities, yes to the can-do spirit that built our great nation. These asylum seekers came here looking for the American dream, a chance to work and build successful lives. Let's give them a fighting chance at making this dream a reality. And that fighting chance comes with our business community and we cannot thank them enough for what they have done as I indicated and as the governor alluded to. And leading that challenge on so many fronts is my good friend in great New Yorker, Kathy Well, wow from the partnership. Kathy? I just want to say that the business community of the city and state is totally behind Governor Hockel and Mayor Adams and what they are trying to do. We're trying to send the same message to Washington that we need, we need help now. And we also, this is not just a humanitarian issue, this is an economic issue. We are a world global center, capital of finance, of business, of innovation and that's for one reason, because we are a welcoming place. New York has welcomed immigrants historically and they have built a great city and state for us and from here they've gone on to the whole country to build a great country. Our immigration policy is failing us today. The city and states around the country are trying to make up for it. We really need national leadership and we're so grateful for our own members of our congressional delegation who are making that effort. The business community stands behind you. One of the leaders of that effort who's going to I'm going to introduce now is our host today, Danny Meyer, the executive chair and founder of Union Square Hospitality. So Danny? Good morning everybody and welcome to Union Square events. I want to thank my team for putting this together on very short notice but the reason we had such short notice is that Governor Hockel was able to take this initiative very very quickly and say we have an opportunity, we have a two-sided problem as Mayor Adams just said we on one hand we have a humanitarian crisis and as you've heard from Kathy Wilde and also from Governor Hockel we have a business crisis which has been going on since even before COVID which is that there are not enough talented workers who have a heart for hospitality who have a work ethic for all the jobs that we could make available. The hospitality industry is the largest single employer outside of government in the United States. The same thing is true in the state of New York City and excuse me the state of New York and in the city of New York. If you look at all the jobs that are associated with hospitality, the people who produce the food, the people who cook the food, the people who serve the food, the people who grew the food, the people who have everything to do with it, we have a solution to another problem looking for a solution. If we had a situation imagine if for all the job openings that we have had that does not permit our industry to work at its greatest potential. If we had a situation where we learned that five thousand people came in yesterday who wanted to work we would say hallelujah we sign us up we will put recruiting tables out immediately and we will do the best job we can on two fronts. Number one to train those people and I'm here to tell you that the united hospitality industry is as united as it could possibly be wanting to help solve this problem. During COVID which brought our industry to its knees because we were not permitted to do what we do we couldn't welcome people into our restaurants. What could we do? We banded together as a community to help each other. 26,000 restaurants in New York City probably a half a million restaurants in America banded together and said how can we help each other? Well we've learned to work together and I will tell you right now that this industry wants to provide a solution to this crisis and when we do provide that solution it's going to help the economy and it's going to be the right thing to do. Here's what we commit to we commit to providing job training for people who want to work as as a community as a business our whole industry wants to do this right now. Number two when we train people and I will tell you that many many of the jobs that are open today do not take more than five to six weeks of training for someone who as I said has a hard for hospitality in a good work ethic. In five to six weeks of training which we will commit to helping with in facilities all over the state all over the city we will then commit to hiring people and I'll take it a step further if we could play a role in actually having somebody on their path to legal asylum who proves that they want to be a great citizen because they were a great worker we will participate in that program as well. So the last thing I want to say is that yesterday as luck would have it I was on a chat at the fireside chat at the National Restaurant Association show in Chicago which is the biggest gathering of the hospitality industry in our country happens every year in May and on the stage with me was the president and CEO of the NRA the other NRA the National Restaurant Association Michelle Korsma and I took the opportunity during one of her questions to do what I've learned so well from some of the great politicians in this room and I answered her question with the answer I wanted to give and I started talking about this crisis and this opportunity four thousand people in the audience when I brought this up four thousand members of the hospitality industry rose up with a standing ovation and then the president and CEO of the National Restaurant Association said let us know what we can do to help so we are unified look who's in this room right now we have the greatest delegation we could possibly have we're committed and we want to be any kind of help we can now it's my great pleasure to introduce you to somebody who took a leadership role and has taken a leadership role well before COVID but certainly I would say the degree to which the New York City restaurant community got back on its feet is because of the leadership of Andrew Ridgie who's the executive director of the New York City Hospitality Alliance Andrew thank you Danny um Governor Mayor all the leaders here thank you you know we always here at New York City is a melting pot for people from around the world and nowhere is that better reflected than in our city and our state's restaurants the cultures the backgrounds the flavor the cuisine people all around the world make it world-renowned you know we've always provided opportunities to immigrants people that are seeking better lives including my great grandparents that escaped persecution came here to New York City a lot of hard work and it opening bakeries cafes right here in Brooklyn then in Queens we know immigrants are the backbone of the hospitality industry they're essential to the fabric of our communities but also vital not just to the local but also the national economy that's why this issue is personal to me and for I know millions of other people now today like Danny said I represent the city's hospitality industry the restaurant industry right here in New York and every single day I hear from restaurant tours in neighborhoods throughout the five boroughs they are struggling to find the people they need to run their restaurants it makes it tougher for everyone they can't find people they want to fill their job openings being short staff hurts their businesses and it also hurts the consumer experience but to address the staffing shortage what restaurant tours say they need to be able to provide lawful work to the recently arrived migrants that are seeking asylum so they can fill those job openings they can run their restaurants they can stimulate our economy but also so these folks can support themselves and support their families and not have to rely on government but to allow this we need the federal government to act now we need them because we cannot wait any longer while they debate people want to work our restaurant tours want to provide those work opportunities and as the governor and the mayor said New York has stepped up in a tremendous way enormous responsibility caring for these folks caring for their family now it is time for the federal government to step up and authorize these local businesses to be able to hire the asylum seekers we do have really big challenges on our hands but by delaying and slowing down work authorization for thousands of people that are already here in America it only serves to exacerbate those challenges that exist but there's an easy solution to address one of these challenges authorized work authorization quickly we need it now it's time to permit it so we're urging the biden administration congress all the folks rise above whatever the politics are and let's unite around a policy that should all unite us honest work delicious meals great restaurants the american dream it's not only about what's doing morally right it's also about what is economically right and in the case of the restaurant industry it's about what's gastronomically right so i want to thank you all we urge you authorize these folks to be able to work and help support new york and our country so with that i want to thank everyone again and i want to bring up mario solento the president of the new york state afl cio thank you thank you um the labor movement strongly supports uh making the temporary protective status as expansive as possible because we want to help these men and women to achieve the american dream and we know that the foundation of that dream is being able to provide a better life and a better future for your family we also know that with the status comes additional protections in the workplace we can protect these men and women for being exploited whether it's wage and our laws whether it's safety and health standards so we we owe them that we owe them that responsibility and the last piece is this and i think this is the most important when these men and women go to work they earn that paycheck they pay income taxes and on those taxes it allows them to become positive contributors to our economy positive contributors to our tax base which means that 19 million new yorkers prosper and benefit as a result of that why because our local and state governments are now better able to provide all of the public services that every single new yorker relies on education health care sanitation transportation law enforcement firefighters on and on and on productive members of our society helping all of us we all win and that's why on behalf of the new york state aflco on behalf of the entire labor movement in this state two and a half million members from buffalo to long island first i want to thank governor huckle thank you governor for leading this effort the labor movement in this state will work with you in any capacity necessary to let us achieve our goals and will also are certainly work with the mayor and all of our friends in the business community as well we have an opportunity for all of the men and women who risked everything that they have to come to this country to give themselves and their families a better life we have an opportunity to give them a standard of living in a quality of life that they can be proud of but more than that more than that if we are successful in that endeavor we will raise the standard of living in quality of life for 19 million new yorkers and that's something we can all strive for and be proud of thank you very much and with that i um thank you i want to uh introduce evert rada who's an asylum speaker and he will speak and close the program speech will be translated live by memo castro commissioner of the mayor's office of immigrant bears muy buenos días a todos good morning everyone gracias por la oportunidad de permitir me contar mi historia mi nombre es iber rada tengo 24 años my name is iber rada i am 24 years old i took on this journey like many of us have done crossing the uh the fearful jungle of el darien and i cross six other countries to arrive here to new york who has opened the doors for us i have only been here for 20 days on the third day that i arrived i came to nice who opened their doors here organization that has been helping immigrants like myself who have no other way to go we are learning there what are our rights and also our responsibilities i have been engaging in their training i have now a license to do many of these jobs that are required i am in the osha training i am graduating this wednesday all of you are welcome to join me i just want to say that you know thank you for all the help that you have uh brought us uh given us many of us are in need of support right now we are hardworking people and we are keen here to do that we came here to live a dignified life but also to contribute back to the city that has brought us so much i just want to say that on behalf of migrants we ask president biden to give us the uh ability to work to give us a right to work so that we can contribute back to the city of new york and others that have opened the door for us to be here so that we can have a dignified life that we all deserve as you have means so that we can provide for our families and continue forward in our journey to coordinate the tension thank you so much for all of you for for your help and tonight for all all that it has done for us thank you so much for um helping us with open arms for all those who are arriving here in new york city thank you ladies and gentlemen please remain seated while the governor and the mayor take questions from the media just want to quickly mention that uh iva is a member of nice which is one of 12 uh asylum seeker support centers that thanks to mayor adams we had set up across the five borders uh boroughs to support uh newly arrived immigrants uh and much like i came with my family as a as a five-year-old iva just crossed the border with two young daughters i believe one son is in it no it's a one year and 11 months old so he came here for opportunity and he shared with me that he was very nervous but wanted to speak on behalf of his daughters so they can have a future like i had one here myself i've heard that a long time no see we miss you and alvany just talking about judges and not having enough judges in the state of new york where are you saying that you want them to be sent up from and then also separately your request to use the floyd bennett field what's the hold up in that and who have you been talking to in the federal government about that request well the request went in last friday i've had conversations with the uh number people at the white house secretary mayorkas uh as recently as two days ago and they are processing the request involves it's a former military field but it is now operated by the national park service so you know we're waiting for an answer back on that fairly soon i also asked them to survey all federal properties not just that one field but tell us what else you have in the state of new york to help us literally find temporary shelter uh so that is what we're working on your first question a judge judges can come from all over judges can actually do remote work this is what happened during the pandemic there are judges immigration judges in buffalo who've been deployed to the border who's you know so there is mobility among immigration judges and we're calling upon those who as the border starts to slow down if that's what's happening then there should be an excess of judges send them to new york or other immigration judges from other states that are not having to bear the same burden so so we think that that's very doable send the support staff if they don't come in person see if we can do a mechanism for remote hearings you know do it on zoom i wonder if i have a two-part question the first question is this you talked about the fact that you were disappointed by some of the resistance that you've experienced in counties around the state i know that iri county has stepped up your home county but what are you saying to the county executives about your disappointment and how are you getting them to decide to accept immigrants to come to their places and then i have a second question well i have another call with the counties this afternoon and i look forward to sharing with them my sentiment that based on what i saw here this morning any rejection of migrants coming is also hurting their employers and in rural areas it's hurting their farmers it's hurting their small businesses it's hurting their main streets so i just want to help enlighten them that i understand hesitation of the unknown but these individuals are coming with full financial support backing them so there's not a burden financially on the local communities i'm not sure that's understood by everybody so we i'll clarify that again but also they all represent a lot of people who are employers and everybody stays in new york city that's great for new york city because the economy will just be on fire once everybody has that work authorization is trained it can take the thousand jobs here but but there are great opportunities in these communities all over the state of new york so i'm going to continue the education process and i am grateful to people like mark poland cars and others who understand that population of buffalo went up because of refugees going to buffalo over the last few decades that is a way we can stem population loss build economy and build for the next generation governor my follow question is this what is the resistance in washington to doing this you seem to indicate that the president could do it by signing an executive order why won't this happen there are different views on how it can happen you know there's some argument that it has to happen with an action of congress and a lot of this is driven by the 1986 immigration reform and control act which has employer sanctions it has a process for asylum seekers and legal legal work status we're simply saying i understand that is what is written on the books but we need your help to adapt to a circumstance which has right reached a crisis situation so we're working with the white house uh we've not received a flat no i want to continue working with them and helping them understand as you heard here today the great opportunity to change the whole narrative around these individuals and create a whole welcoming sense around them not just here in the city but across the country this could be a game changer for other communities that are resistance right now when they have a steady work supply coming with them it all changes yeah uh for the governor first and then uh mayor adams governor how are you coordinating with the mayor to get migrants to other parts of the city is there now a coordinated plan and then for the mayor and and perhaps you have you reached out to the catholic diocese around new york state because schools are closing and there are empty available buildings uh we have been doing surveys all across the state particularly state-owned properties and uh you know schools there's a some schools that have empty dorms there are some schools that are not reopening there are former correction correctional facilities which are not ideal but that is space if we can change the environment there's former psychiatric centers there are facilities uh we can use large parking lots so so my team has been embedded with the mayor's team we have an emergency operations team stood up i have an 8 a.m. call every morning with them and an evening call i convene my entire cabinet uh in our emergency operations center in albany saying survey your properties you know is there a barn that is housing salt right now we can clear out is there a facility a warehouse that has dmv license plates so i'm pushing everybody saying if the alternative is sleeping on the streets of new york we can find space for these people so we have been embedded uh talking about logistics also trying to give an early warning to communities where individuals are being coming are coming next and try to take down the temperature sometimes so i think that's been successful but the mayor's team has been extraordinary and what they've had to do and we're really pleased that we could bring not just financial resources but know how in dealing with crises we are very experienced in crisis management as is the mayor's team you bring the two together uh you have all the brainpower you need in the same room mayor do you want to address him yeah uh uh the uh we did communicate with uh condo dolan and i just really want to thank him uh he did an analysis of the schools that were closed and we're in good conversation catholic charities they have been extremely supportive and we're hoping that we could line up some of the properties that are available my chief of staff has been doing an analysis of all of the properties that we have that's available in the city we really at this point cannot leave anything on the table but we need to be clear on this also this is not sustainable the response can't be let's find another you know room somewhere this this is just not sustainable and it we having the right to work would allow us to take some pressure off of the situation so we can move people out of care of the state and city and move them into the stability that they're looking for but of our plan can't be that let's continue to find a room somewhere that's that is not a sustainable plan of when you get 5800 people a week do the math you don't have to be a math major to know 5800 people a week to close to 3000 a month these are real numbers and it's going to impact every service in this city and so what we are rolling out today is one phase of something that we can do in the short term to take the pressure off of the city and that's what the governor has been coordinating with us identifying locations and places but the plan can't be let's just try to find another location somewhere there needs to be a dual plan finding a location to deal with the emergency but this city and state cannot stay in emergency mode that is not the way you manage your crisis you stabilize the situation and then you improve on it we can't stay in emergency mode that is not how you manage your crisis Governor you're leaning on the federal government to ask for permission for some of the individuals to work in an expedited fashion you had raised the possibility in terms of shelter that the SUNY and CUNY and system might be able to come up with some inventory I was wondering if there's an update on that and can you lean on them to come up with that more quickly I'm sorry leaning on SUNY and CUNY to come up SUNY and CUNY like do they have facilities available space I know it has been discussed but it seems like we have not an update on where that is exactly doing that assessment actually the timing is very good because a lot of the students have left now for the summer so there are temporary dorms through August but we are looking at the long range situation what happens in August so that's the strategy that we're trying to develop now you know if there's work authorization in place by then it's a good dynamic if not you know what's going to happen so but we are looking again the mayor is correct temporary we can find a lot of temporary spaces there'll be tents going up in parking lots of state facilities and state directed facilities that's not ideal nobody wants little kids and adults in a tent but they can't live on a street either this is where we're at I also do want to make a point that there are some voices on the right that are trying to say that this effort here would take away jobs from other people I welcome them anybody who feels that way to come to Union Square today get down to go up to a farm I'll drive you there personally if you're looking for a job because there are so many jobs unfilled right now so I want to take that narrative and push it right back at everybody because that is false for Mayor Adams how are you sir the former school on Staten Island has remained open as an emergency shelter while others around the city have closed why has that been the case and how long do you intend for that to remain open the school building on Staten Island was a vacant building that was in the process of our understanding of being demolished it's a vacant building we cannot afford to have vacant buildings that are not on the inventory that the Chief of Staff has put together to see if it's usable of the other 20 structures they were self-standing gyms they were not in school inside the school building self-standing gyms we said they were respite locations because when you get in 900 people in one day you have to figure out how to move them during an emergency so that you can find a location as soon as we open a location we are finding that location to be filled we opened the Roosevelt Hotel a few days ago 800 rooms were filled or 800 people went in that location at a capacity of a little over a thousand that's how smooth and quick this is moving and it's those who have never managed a crisis it's easy to analyze how to manage a crisis I've managed a crisis throughout my low enforcement career I know how to handle an emergency situation and there are steps that you have to take that is what we're doing that's why unlike other cities you don't see people and families sleeping on streets because we've been able to manage this crisis but it reaches a point where it becomes unmanageable and we have stated it clearly there is no more room in our city and we're looking at every available space including a vacant school building that was not being used good morning Mr. Mayor two questions please right here firstly is there any limit at all to the number of migrants who are willing to shelter I'm sorry any is there any limit at all to the number of migrants who are willing to shelter that we were loud in the shelter yes I think that many people are not really recognizing we're going to fulfill the obligations that are laid out by by law we're going to make sure that we be as humane as possible but clearly we've we've reached the breaking point and we have to continue to reach out to our federal government to address this national this national problem and so we're going to continue to do our job here as the mayor to monitor and to really manage this situation we're in finally the majority of these asylum seekers will ultimately lose their claims statistic show and my question is for the mayor or the governor what do you think should happen to them once they lose their claims and at that point they'll lose their work permits also that's it those that the national government deals with that you know we know this the city and state we do not handle immigration policies so it's not up to us to make the determination how they're carried out we have an obligation this burden is placed on us that's why we call them for assistance in the national government governor you want to no i concur with the mayor on that they have their processes of what happens when someone has their asylum claim denied and so we're just dealing with the crisis the humanitarian crisis that is right at our doorstep right now so that's down the road and we'll let the federal government deal with that all right thank you everybody for coming we appreciate your attention on this for that concludes our program thank you so much for coming