Statement: NYLAG Calls for an End to 60-Day Shelter Removal and Reapplication Policy

NEW YORK, NY — As 60-day shelter stay limits begin taking effect for newly arrived immigrant families in city run shelters, New York Legal Assistance Group (NYLAG) released the following statement: 

“What we are about to see in the wake of these cruel shelter removal and reapplication processes is the unnecessary, continued traumatization of newly arrived immigrants in city shelters. Now, instead of focusing on school, work, and building their lives here, newly arrived immigrants will have to navigate increased bureaucratic hurdles to maintain shelter and access immigration assistance. 

“The City diverted millions of dollars from organizations like NYLAG, which have expertise in providing a wide range of immigration law services, and shifted funding to focus on TPS and EAD application efforts for immigrant New Yorkers. This new shelter policy disrupts the City’s own aims and will render those efforts useless if the applicants can’t maintain access to their mail. Displacing those waiting for court notices or other crucial documents practically eliminates that access, which was already inconsistent at best, and could lead to deportations and case denials. 

“The 60-day shelter policy is the latest failure of many in which the City continues to misprioritize resources that could help our new neighbors, instead adding to the destabilization they have already endured. NYLAG continues to call for the end of this policy and for the City to prioritize solutions that are both humane and cost effective—like maintaining the right to shelter for all New Yorkers, regardless of immigration status, and funding legal service organizations with immigration law expertise.” 

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