A city official urged the feds Monday to reopen the their effective downtown migrant paperwork center — which was closed after just two weeks of operation earlier this month.
Commissioner of Emergency Management Zach Iscol made the plea days after The Post revealed exclusively how the much ballyhooed federal operation — which was touted by both Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams — turned out to be a short-time “pop up.”
“We are hoping that the federal government will commit to doing that again with us,” Iscol testified before the City Council on Monday.
Iscol praised the paperwork center in Lower Manhattan as “one of the greatest sort of whole of government efforts,” as it was able to process more than 1,700 work visa apps in just ten days.
In comparison, the city only submitted roughly 450 applications since late June.
New York City Emergency Management Commissioner Zach Iscol Michael Brochstein/SOPA Images/Shutterstock
Migrants and asylum seekers who continue to arrive in New York City line up outside Federal Plaza to apply for their immigration status. ZUMAPRESS.comDespite its success, the clinic was short-lived.
The federal contractors were only approved for a two-week stint ending Oct. 6 in the state’s Beavers Street offices, The Post revealed last week.
Migrants seeking asylum in the United States gather outside of the Roosevelt Hotel, which doubles as a shelter for families and the main processing center in New York City. Stephen YangThe Biden administration had promised to send staffers to assist the city with the crush of paperwork for the tens of thousands of asylum seekers but made no mention of the two-week deal.
The city has more than 65,000 asylum seekers in its care with local officials saying the fastest way out of the crisis is to get the migrants to work.
