NEW YORK, CMC – Haitian-American chair of the Brooklyn Democratic Party, Assemblywoman Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, is calling for equitable aid for Caribbean and other migrants in the US.
Her call follows what she says is extensive feedback from approximately 1.4 million Democrats whose communities are affected across the borough by the influx of Caribbean and other migrants.
Many migrants crossing the United States’ southern border and arriving in New York are nationals of Haiti, Cuba, Venezuela, and Guatemala.
“The Brooklyn Democratic Party is consistently communicating with leaders at all levels of government for updates and to relay our constituents’ feedback, including exploring the possibility of equitably spreading out access to migrant housing across Brooklyn from Fort Hamilton to Brooklyn Heights and beyond,” Bichotte Hermelyn, the daughter of Haitian immigrants, who represents the 42nd Assembly District in Brooklyn, told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) on Saturday.
“It is clear that vast existing inequities of shelter placements serving unhoused New Yorkers are being exacerbated by new emergency shelters opening up in our communities that are all too familiar with disproportionately shouldering the responsibility of helping those in need,” she added. “Neighborhoods without migrant shelters are being called to open their communities to ‘spread the love’ by Brooklyn Democrats.
“We acknowledge this vital feedback from Brooklynites who recommend having migrant shelters in communities from Fort Hamilton Army Base, Bay Ridge, Brooklyn Heights, Marine Park, and Manhattan Beach,” she continued. “The Brooklyn Democratic Party is utilizing our members’ feedback by not only recommending using these neighborhoods in Brooklyn but also similarly expanding to underutilized areas across NYC (New York City), the entire State of New York, and other municipalities across the US.
“While everyone deserves fair, equitable, and humane housing, this is a national, unprecedented crisis requiring federal aid and collaboration at all levels,” said Bichotte Hermelyn, stating that she has been ardently advocating for US federal aid with city-wide elected officials while defending Mayor Eric Adams’ approach to the crisis – including holding press conferences and writing to the Biden administration for help.
Bichotte Hermelyn said elected officials pushed back on critiques that the mayor is anti-immigrant, calling for federal aid.
“Let’s all come together and support our mayor,” she said during a rally at City Hall in Lower Manhattan. “He’s been doing his darndest.”
Fifty-four Democratic lawmakers across New York City, including Bichotte Hermelyn, recently signed a letter demanding that US President Joe Biden do something about the migrant crisis gripping their metropolis.
But while the Brooklyn Democratic Party welcomes the Biden administration’s recent actions to offer nearly 500,000 Venezuelan asylum seekers Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and work permits, Bichotte Hermelyn said this still leaves three-quarters of New York City’s 60,000 migrants under care unable to work and support themselves legally.
“The federal government must designate the same status to all families arriving from other parts of the world, including African nations,” she said. “The influx exacerbates New York’s existing housing crisis, with nearly 70,000 homeless children and adults already living in shelters city-wide as of January 2023.”
On Friday, the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC), an umbrella policy and advocacy organization representing over 200 immigrant and refugee rights groups throughout New York, denounced the Joe Biden administration’s plan to resume deportation of Venezuelans without legal status.
In keeping with its commitment to enforce immigration laws and to continue strengthening the consequences for those who cross the US southern borders unlawfully, the administration announced on Thursday that it would resume direct repatriations of Venezuelan nationals who cross the boundaries illegally and do not establish a legal basis to remain in the country.
The announcement came two weeks after the administration extended and redesigned TPS for Venezuelans.
“Deporting individuals back to a country in distress is inhumane and will only serve to put people back in harm’s way,” Murad Awawdeh, NYIC’s executive director, told CMC. “The Biden administration needs to stop pandering to right-wing voters by deporting people and building a wall. Instead, they should do their elected job: to protect all people regardless of immigration status.
“We need investments in legal services, not detention and deportations,” he added. “We call on the Biden administration to abandon this cruel plan and immediately stop deportation flights to Venezuela.
The US announcement followed a decision by authorities from Venezuela to accept the return of Venezuelan nationals, as well as high-level discussions on Thursday in Mexico City between the United States, Mexico, Colombia, and Panama, where US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, US Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas, and US Homeland Security Advisor Liz Sherwood-Randall discussed ongoing coordinated efforts to address irregular migration in the Western Hemisphere.
“This decision is consistent with the administration’s efforts to implement a strategy of humane, safe, and orderly enforcement of our immigration laws and to process individuals fairly and quickly,” said the US Department of State. “These efforts include the administration’s significant expansion of lawful pathways to enter the United States, including for Venezuelans, which have allowed hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans to enter the country in a safe and orderly manner through our humanitarian parole process and after making an appointment through the CBP (Customs and Border Protection) One mobile application.
The State Department said irregular migration is “a regional challenge that requires a regional response.
The State Department said the US continues to urge Caribbean and other migrants seeking to come to the United States to “take advantage of the lawful pathways that we have made available and significantly expanded, instead of putting their lives in the hands of callous smugglers and crossing our border unlawfully only to be removed.”
The Biden administration has been under increasing pressure to address the mass influx of migrants crossing the southern borders of the United States.
The latest State Department statement comes as Caribbean-American legislators and immigration advocates in New York late last month welcomed the extension and redesignation of Venezuela for TPS for 18 months by the Biden administration “due to extraordinary and temporary conditions in Venezuela that prevent individuals from safely returning.”
“I welcome President Biden’s decision to provide Venezuelans residing in America with Temporary Protected Status, and I am thankful for DHS (Department of Homeland Security) Secretary Mayorkas’ commitment to ensuring the most vulnerable people and families are welcome, safe, and cared for by this nation while they await an asylum determination,” Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke, the daughter of Jamaican immigrants, told CMC.
“This decision will not only empower New York City to remain a sanctuary for all those seeking relief and refuge but also mitigate considerable strains on American taxpayers and our immigration system,” added the representative for the predominantly Caribbean 9th Congressional District in Brooklyn. “Once again, the Biden-Harris administration has demonstrated their commitment to putting people over politics – and our communities are grateful.”
and then 