Refugees in Limbo, Prison Guards on Strike
It was a busier-than-expected news week
More than 1,000 refugees across upstate New York are worrying about how they will pay their rent and get work authorization after the federal government froze funding to resettlement agencies that support them.
You can read my article about this situation or listen to this four-minute feature which was broadcast around the state last week:
To report this story, I visited the weekly orientation session at the Albany office of the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants. In a front room, dozens of people listened to a presentation on personal finance that was translated into Burmese, Dari and Arabic.
Director David Sussman explained that USCRI has a contract with the federal government to receive and place newcomers into the community. They get about $3,000 per person, of which $1,650 is spent on initial rent and household necessities, while the remainder helps pay for case workers and overhead at the non-profit organization.
A Jan. 24 memo from the State Department directed resettlement agencies like USCRI to immediately stop spending money against their contracts and to cease their activities. Seven people were laid off in Albany, and more at agencies in Buffalo, Syracuse, Rochester, Utica and Binghamton.
President Donald Trump said refugee settlement was suspended because the United States is “inundated” with immigrants.
“The United States lacks the ability to absorb large numbers of migrants, and in particular, refugees, into its communities in a manner that does not compromise the availability of resources for Americans, that protects their safety and security, and that ensures the appropriate assimilation of refugees,” the Republican president wrote in an Jan. 20 executive order.
Sussman said the order has made things difficult. On a tour of the office, he showed me the desks where the laid-off staffers sat. They’re now filled with donated cleaning supplies, diapers and other household goods.
“We’re just in rapid-response mode,” Sussman said.
Distribution falls to volunteers like Anthony Bango. He’s a retired English teacher who let me tag along during a weekly drive to drop off food to refugee families in Cohoes and Rensselaer. He said Trump’s new policy was misguided.
“ I'm sure that the powers that be, most of them don't have a clue what's going on with these families,” he said.
Leaders of the resettlement agencies are pushing for state funding to make up what they’ve lost from the federal government. They’ll be at the Capitol early next month to speak with lawmakers.
INCARCERATED DURING A PRISON STRIKE: This was supposed to be Michael Vasquez’s last month in prison. But since officers walked out of the Woodbourne Correctional Facility last week, Vasquez is worried that after seven years behind bars, he won’t be released as scheduled.
“It makes me angry, but at the same time it makes me fearful,” Vasquez told me in a phone interview on Friday, hours after phone access was restored to people incarcerated at Woodbourne. “Because if they're gonna hold me here, what is not to say if one day they say, ‘No we're not letting you go, you gotta wait until this whole thing is over.’”
Vasquez said access to hot food has been limited during the CO wildcat strike, which has spread to a majority of the state’s 42 prisons. He said the National Guard personnel ordered into the facility by Gov. Kathy Hochul make him nervous. And uncertainty abounds.
Mediation between the union representing correctional officers – which isn’t formally supporting this walkout – and state officials is set for Monday. The guards are angry about the 2021 HALT law, which restricts the use of solitary confinement. They say it makes it harder for them to maintain order, and they note prison violence has increased.
SO … IS CONGESTION PRICING DEAD YET? No, but it took a big blow last week when U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy moved to revoke its federal approval. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority immediately sued, and the Democratic governor vowed that the tolling cameras would stay on.
Hochul met with Trump at the White House and showed him a PowerPoint in support of the program. The president told the New York Post that he was unmoved.
AND DID HOCHUL REMOVE ERIC ADAMS? Nope. Instead, she proposed new oversight of city operations while leaving him in place. (I expect I’ll spend a bunch of time this week covering how that plays out. Let me know if you have thoughts!)
And U.S. District Court Judge Dale Ho has delayed the federal government’s request to dismiss the corruption charges against Adams. He’s appointed someone to argue for keeping them in place, and set a tentative hearing for the middle of next month.
THE QUESTION: When was the last large-scale public employee strike in New York?
Know the answer? Drop me a line at jimmy.vielkind@gmail.com. Or just write with thoughts, feedback or to say hi.
THE LAST ANSWER: Franklin Delano Roosevelt came close to removing former New York City Mayor Jimmy Walker in 1932. Facing a damning record from a commission led by Judge Samuel Seabury, Walker opted to resign from office and flee to France with his mistress. “Beau James” was never charged. Roosevelt was then elected president. (So, in a way … they were both winners?)