A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
More than 50,000 migrants have arrived in New York since last spring. Mayor Eric Adams says the city needs more support helping them, so he's asking the Biden administration to step up. Today, Adams is meeting with federal officials in D.C. to push for assistance. Here's NPR's Jasmine Garsd.
JASMINE GARSD, BYLINE: Mayor Eric Adams has some harsh words for the Biden administration.
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ERIC ADAMS: The national government has turned its back on New York City.
GARSD: This was at a press conference this week before heading to Washington, D.C.
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ADAMS: This is one of the largest humanitarian crises that this city has ever experienced.
GARSD: Adams is asking that the federal government provide New York with more aid. So far, New York officials say they've gotten around $8 million from state and federal sources but project the city will spend $1.4 billion on migrant aid just this fiscal year.
At the press conference, a group of protesters demanded New York do better by asylum-seekers. Adams said those demands should be directed at Washington. He says one thing that would help is if asylum-seekers could more easily get work permits as they wait for their cases to be resolved.
At a shelter in Brooklyn, Rodrigo Granda (ph) says he came from Ecuador five months ago, escaping violence. He says a work permit would allow him to get a stable, regular job.
RODRIGO GRANDA: (Speaking Spanish).
GARSD: "It's an expensive city," he says. "If you live day-to-day, it gets pretty hard."
Currently, it can take up to two years for some asylum-seekers to even be able to apply for a work authorization. New York officials say if people could at least work, the city wouldn't have to take on so many costs.
Jasmine Garsd, NPR News, New York.
(SOUNDBITE OF JAV CAST'S "LATE NIGHT REFLECTIONS") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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