As we’ve said since the City announced the shelter stay limit policy, interruptions in our new neighbors’ access to mail stands to render their efforts to obtain work authorization and other legal relief futile.
Now, shelters are not only returning critical mail to original senders, but losing mail altogether in the constant shelter shuffle after 30 or 60 days. Allison Cutler, a Supervising Attorney in NYLAG’s Immigrant Protection Unit, spoke to The New York Times about what we’re seeing on the ground, and how missing mail only increases risk of harm to our new neighbors.
“The influx of migrants from the southern border has brought a barrage of mail to the city’s more than 200 migrant shelters, overflowing the makeshift mail rooms in repurposed hotels and office buildings where the new arrivals are staying.
“Some of the correspondence is critical: immigration notices or documents to apply for Social Security numbers and work authorization, documents that, if lost or delayed, would hamper the migrants’ ability to work legally in the United States.
“But problems have arisen. Mail sometimes goes missing. The Postal Service has, at times, determined that mail is undeliverable at some shelters, such as the tent dormitory on Randall’s Island, according to immigration lawyers.
“And with the city adopting a stricter policy that forces migrants to reapply for shelter, sometimes as often as every 30 days, migrants said they have struggled to find their mail.
“Ever since New York City set up a multibillion-dollar emergency response to shelter and feed thousands of migrants two summers ago, officials have insisted that the way out of the crisis is to make migrants self-sufficient.
“The city is facing a formidable challenge: handling mail for more than 210,000 migrants who have entered its shelter system since 2022, a majority of whom have since left the shelters or even the city but may still be receiving mail. It is among a bevy of services the city provides free to migrants, including beds, meals, legal help and even laundry in some shelters.
“Helping them apply for asylum and work permits, enrolling children in schools and getting adults municipal ID cards — all, they argued, would help recent migrants become financially independent and less of a strain on city government.
“But for migrants living in city shelters, the cascade effect that stems from missing a single piece of mail — such as a notice to appear in immigration court — can have devastating consequences.
“’They’re missing important deadlines and missing important appointments,’ said Allison Cutler, a supervising attorney of the immigration protection unit at New York Legal Assistance Group. ‘If it’s a court appointment, you can actually be ordered deported in your absence, which we’ve also been seeing: people who reside in shelter and they’re not getting notices of hearing from the court.’…
Read the full piece by Luis Ferré-Sadurní in The New York Times from September 3, 2024.
