'Substantial number' of asylum-seeking migrants in NYC working illegally, Mayor Eric Adams says

Too few work permits are being issued for the tens of thousands of asylum-seeking migrants being bused to New York City and "a substantial number" are working illegally off-the-books and being exploited, Mayor Eric Adams said Wednesday in urging the Biden administration to speed up the permits.

"We've made it almost a black market for workers," Adams said, adding: "Let's be honest with ourselves. Some of them are doing jobs off the books; they're being placed in probably terrible working environments; they're unable to pay into the tax base that they would like to do."

Adams says he doesn't know how many of the migrants have gotten work permits.

"They're probably doing working conditions that are unfair … They may be working for less than minimum wage," he said. "I mean, you put a man or woman in a desperate situation, they're gonna do the best that they can to survive." 

"And so a substantial number of them, I believe, are being exploited, are being mistreated, because they're trying to provide for their families, and they are doing the best they can like you and I would do."

He said that the city's agriculture, food service, transportation and manufacturing fields all need workers. "We have an absence of employees in these fields. We have a willingness of a population that wants to fill these jobs. We need to bring that together. That is how we are going to solve this problem."

The White House didn't return a message seeking comment.

Since last year, border-state governors have been busing migrants to the city and other Democratic-led jurisdictions in protest of President Joe Biden's immigration policies, which the governors say are lax. 

Meanwhile, the projected cost to city taxpayers for handling the influx continues to rise, Adams said. It's now expected to be $2.9 billion for the upcoming fiscal year — it was said to be $2 billion in January — plus an estimated $1.4 billion for the current fiscal year, Adams said.

Unlike nearly anywhere else in the United States, New York City must find and fund shelter for anyone who needs it, a legal duty that in practice had applied only to the homeless.

An additional 200 migrants arrive in New York City each day and there are 55,300 who have arrived since last spring, said Anne Williams-Isom, Adams' deputy overseeing health and human services. That number "can jump to 100,000 if we don't get this under control," Adams said.

To qualify for asylum in the United States, an immigrant must prove past persecution in their own country, or a well-founded fear for future persecution there, based on a protected ground for asylum covered by the law, such as race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group.

Under the Biden and past administrations, a majority of applicants are denied and thus are supposed to leave the country.

In fiscal year 2021, 37% were granted, up from 29% the year before, under President Donald Trump, according to the TRAC data research center at Syracuse University.

Those figures exclude immigrants who never go through the process by filing for asylum. The center's analysis said a claim could take more than four years, and news reports say the backlog is even longer now.

By Matthew Chayes

matthew.chayes@newsday.comchayesmatthew

Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.