NEW YORK, CMC – New York City Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs (MOIA) Commissioner Manuel Castro has released what he describes as “a list of key wins” in 2023 for the Caribbean and other immigrant communities in New York.
Many of the immigrants arriving in New York from the southern border of the United States seeking asylum are nationals of Cuba, Haiti, Venezuela, and Nicaragua.
“This year, our office continued to work alongside city agencies, faith-based institutions, and community partners to meet the needs of the asylum seeker humanitarian crisis while still serving long-time immigrant New Yorkers,” said the Mexican-born Castro.
“I am proud to serve our immigrant communities, and we will lead to fight for the rights and supports that immigrant New Yorkers need,” he added.
In January last year, Mayor Eric Adams appointed Castro as MOIA commissioner, responsible for running a city agency supporting over 3.2 million immigrant New Yorkers.
Castor said MOIA works “to ensure immigrants access culturally and linguistically responsive services in partnership with agencies across the city and community partners.”
In response to more than 150,000 migrants arriving in New York City, Castro, 38, who, at age five, had crossed the southern border of the US with his mother to reunite with his father, said MOIA in 2023 created informational videos to assist Caribbean and other asylum seekers when navigating the US federal immigration process.
He said the instructional videos covered “ice check-ins, immigration documents, and going to court.”
In the absence of what he characterized as “a national strategy to support asylum seekers with their legal needs as they enter the country,” Castro said MOIA launched the Asylum Seeker Legal Assistance Network (ASLAN), a five million dollar investment to expand the nonprofit organization’s capacity to provide immigration legal assistance for newly-arrived asylum seekers.
“Through this network, the contracted partners provided a combination of orientation sessions, legal screenings, application assistance, pro se assistance clinics, self-help materials, and other services,” he said.
In continuing to support asylum seekers with in-person social service, the commissioner said MOIA, in 2023, extended funding to the asylum seeker resources satellite sites.
He said the satellite sites in all five boroughs of New York City provide services in multiple languages, including job readiness training, comprehensive case management, and immigrant rights workshops.
Castro said MOIA extended US$1.3 million in funding to the Haitian Response Initiative, which consists of seven Haitian-led nonprofit organizations rooted in the Haitian community that provide community members with social and support services and a citywide immigration legal service provider that offers legal assistance to community members and capacity-building training to community-based organizations (CBOs).
Castro said that in 2023, MOIA hosted a “national convening” of over 23 cities “to discuss how to advocate for additional federal support for the asylum-seeker humanitarian crisis.”
He said advocacy points included providing cities with more financial resources, expediting work authorizations for additional recent arrivals, and enacting a “national decompression and resettlement strategy.”
Originally known as “Public Place,” Castro said MOIA renamed the historic space “Immigrant Heritage Plaza” to honor all immigrants, including Caribbean nationals, who built New York City.
He said the space would be used for immigrant-related events and that the MOIA released an immigrant resource road map in over 50 languages that included “a list of city resources and protected rights for all New Yorkers, regardless of their immigration status.”
Additionally, “as the ultimate city of immigrants,” Castro said MOIA and the Mayor’s Office of International Affairs and Community Affairs hosted 35 flag-raising ceremonies, including for Caribbean countries.
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