Haitian-American legislator seeks equitable aid for Caribbean migrants

NEW YORK (CMC)

Haitian-American chair of the Brooklyn Democratic Party, assembly woman Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, is calling for equitable aid for Caribbean and other migrants in the US.

Her call comes following what she says is extensive feedback from approximately 1.4 million Democrats whose communities are affected across the borough by the influx of Caribbean and other migrants.

Many of the migrants crossing the southern border of the United States and arriving in New York are nationals of Haiti, Cuba, Venezuela and Guatemala.

“The Brooklyn Democratic Party is consistently communicating with leaders at all levels of government for updates and to relay our constituents’ feedback, including exploring the possibility of equitably spreading out access to migrant housing across Brooklyn from Fort Hamilton to Brooklyn Heights and beyond,” Bichotte Hermelyn, the daughter of Haitian immigrants, who represents the 42nd Assembly District in Brooklyn, told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) on Saturday.

“It is clear that vast existing inequities of shelter placements serving unhoused New Yorkers are being exacerbated by new emergency shelters opening up in our communities that are all too familiar with disproportionately shouldering the responsibility of helping those in need,” she added. “Neighbourhoods without migrant shelters are being called to open their communities to ‘spread the love’ by Brooklyn Democrats.

“We acknowledge this vital feedback from Brooklynites who are recommending having migrant shelters in communities from Fort Hamilton Army Base, Bay Ridge, Brooklyn Heights, Marine Park, and Manhattan Beach,” she continued. “The Brooklyn Democratic Party is utilising our members’ feedback by not only recommending using these neighbourhoods in Brooklyn, but also similarly expanding to underutilised areas across NYC (New York City), the entire State of New York, and other municipalities across the US.

“While everyone deserves fair, equitable, and humane housing, this is a national, unprecedented crisis; requiring federal aid and collaboration at all levels,” said Bichotte Hermelyn, stating that she has been ardently advocating for US federal aid with city-wide elected officials, while defending Mayor Eric Adams’ approach to the crisis – including holding press conferences and writing to the Biden administration for help.

PUSHED BACK

Bichotte Hermelyn said elected officials pushed back on critiques that the mayor is anti-immigrant while calling for federal aid.

“Let’s all come together and support our mayor,” she said during a rally at City Hall, Lower Manhattan. “He’s been doing his darnedest.”

Fifty-four Democratic lawmakers from across New York City, including Bichotte Hermelyn, recently signed a letter demanding that US President Joe Biden do something about the migrant crisis gripping their metropolis.

But while the Brooklyn Democratic Party welcomes the Biden administration’s recent actions to offer nearly 500,000 Venezuelan asylum seekers Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and work permits, Bichotte Hermelyn said this still leaves three-quarters of New York City’s 60,000 migrants under care unable to legally work and support themselves.

“The federal government must designate the same status to all families arriving from other parts of the world, including African nations,” she said. “The influx exacerbates New York’s existing housing crisis, with nearly 70,000 homeless children and adults already living in shelters city-wide as of January 2023.”

On Friday, the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC), an umbrella policy and advocacy organization that represents over 200 immigrant and refugee rights groups throughout New York, denounced the Joe Biden administration’s plan to resume deportation of Venezuelans without legal status.

In keeping with its commitment to enforce immigration laws and to continue strengthening the consequences for those who cross the US southern borders unlawfully, the administration announced on Thursday that it will resume direct repatriations of Venezuelan nationals who cross the borders unlawfully and do not establish a legal basis to remain in the country.

The announcement comes two weeks after the administration extended and redesignated TPS for Venezuelans.