NYC NOW - August 25, 2023: Midday News

Episode Date: August 25, 2023

New data from the New York Civil Liberties Union shows the NYPD under Mayor Adams is disproportionately stopping Black and Latino pedestrians. Meanwhile, a rookie police officer in Paterson, New Jersey, who last saw a missing man will get back pay and benefits for the days he was suspended from the force. Lastly, Governor Hochul appeals to the White House for assistance with the migrant crisis. WNYC’s Jon Campbell reports from the Capitol.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. It's Friday, August 25th. Here's the Midday News from Michael Hill. The NYPD has stopped tens of thousands of pedestrians since Mayor Adams took office, and just 5% of them are white. That's according to new data from the New York Civil Liberties Union. Chris Dunn, legal director of the NYCLU, says the data speaks to differences in how. people are policed?

Many more black and Latino, people are being stopped with any justification whatsoever, whereas with white people are getting stopped, their race is playing much less of a role in their actual suspicious behaviors actually playing a real role, and that produces a higher arrest rate. New York City police are stopping more people this year than they have since 2015. It's still just a fraction of the stops during the Bloomberg era, but activists say the racial disparities are the same. Almost three quarters of black and Latino pedestrian stop by police are let go on the spot.

The NYPD did not immediately respond to a request for a comment. The rookie police officer who last saw a missing Patterson man will get back pay and benefits for the days he was suspended from the force. The Patterson Press reports the New Jersey Civil Service Commission says Officer Doty Zaria should have only faced two days of suspension instead of 90 days he served after the disappearance of Felix de Hesu. Zaria and another officer turned off their body cameras after taking De Jesus into custody back in February of 2022. De Jesus has been missing since that night. The officers say they dropped off De Jesus at a park at his request. Seventy-forward light rain, showers and thunderstorms into the afternoon, heavy rain at time at the threat of flash flooding, a high near 79. Once again, 70-forward light rain.

This is WNYC. I'm Sean Carlson for WNYC. New York Governor Kathy Hokel is calling on the White House to step up and help the state out when it comes to navigating the issues brought about by the current migrant crisis. The governor addressed New Yorkers from the capital in Albany. The reality is we've managed thus far without substantive support from Washington. And despite the fact that this is a national, indeed a inherently federal issue. And the governor actually detailed a series of asks in a letter that she sent to President Biden. So here to tell us more about it all is WNYC's Albany reporter, John Campbell, who is at the Capitol.

Hey, John. Hi, Sean. So some specific asks from Governor Hockel for President Biden. Can you tell us what they are and why she views them as important? Yeah. First and foremost, she's asking the president to make it easier for asylum seekers to get working papers. Usually they have to wait about 180 days to get the legal right to work. But she wants the president to extend what's known as temporary, protected.

status to people from additional countries that would grant them work authorization sooner, get them their working papers sooner. She's also seeking all sorts of different federal funding, things like money for schools that might take on migrant students and reimbursement for National Guard members who are currently staffing shelters throughout New York City. And lastly, she wants Biden to build temporary shelters for migrants and staff them, and that's a significant expense. Mayor Adams has also been critical of what he characterizes as the White House's lack of involvement when it comes to dealing with the demands of the migrant crisis.

How aligned are the mayor and the governor on this issue? Well, the mayor and the governor, they're definitely aligned on that particular point. They both have been pressing the White House on work authorization for months and for more funding. But in this speech, Hockel seems to be ratcheting up public pressure on the White House. and that's something Adams has been doing for months and months. Hockel's kind of taken more of a behind-the-scenes approach. That said, Hockel and Adams aren't totally aligned, particularly when it comes to sheltering migrants in other parts of the state.

Yeah, we've got to say it's not all roses between the city and the state here. The vast majority of the financial burden has fallen on New York City. Thousands of migrants have arrived seeking shelter in the city every week for more than a year now. The mayor says that he would like to see other parts. parts of the state share in the load? What did the governor have to say about that? She says she's not going to force it. Some counties like Rockland, they've tried to block New York City from sending migrants,

and Hockel's been facing pressure from Adams and groups like the Legal Aid Society to prohibit counties from doing that. But the governor made clear in her speech today that she doesn't intend on issuing any sort of order like that. She says other parts of the state don't have that same right to shelter, date that New York City does, that guarantees a bed for anybody who seeks one. The legal aid society doesn't agree, by the way. That's something that could be the subject of future court battles. Would you say that the characterization that the governor and mayor making here is a White House that's uninvolved in this? Is that accurate, you think? Well, the federal government has

provided about $140 million in assistance so far, but Hockel and Adams, they both say that's a drop in the bucket, particularly when the state and city are spending billions of dollars with a B. That said, the White House this week did seem to clear the way for the state to build a temporary shelter at Floyd Bennett Field. That's a former airfield in southeast Brooklyn, now managed by the National Park Service. The feds and Hockel are negotiating a lease to make that happen, but Hockel's administration says that's all heading in the right direction. Now, you mentioned that one of the asks that Hockel has for Biden is to expedite work authorization for asylum seekers that would allow them to work legally. And she's also trying to thread the needle here by saying that it would

help solve another statewide issue, which is the lack of people to fill open jobs. She went so far to refer to it as a crisis even. Are things really that bad when it comes to that? Well, there are a lot of employers that continue to struggle to find people who want to work. And that's been one of these lingering side effects from the COVID pandemic. And as part of her speech today, the governor says the state department of labor is going to launch a new program. Basically, it will allow asylum seekers to get paired with a job somewhere in the state, and then they'll have that job ready to go as soon as they get their working papers. And it'll also allow employers to raise their hands to and seek out people to hire. And the governor says she's hopes that it

helps with both issues, both the migrant crisis and the work crisis. That's WNYC, Albany Reporter John Campbell. John, thank you so much as always. Thank you, Sean. Thanks for listening. This is NYC now from WNYC. Be sure to catch us every weekday, three times a day, for your top news headlines and occasional deep dives.

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