NYC NOW - May 22, 2023: Evening Roundup

Episode Date: May 22, 2023

Staffing agencies are trying to overturn a law in New Jersey that gives temporary workers better protections and pay. Plus, officials in Suffolk County are pursuing legal action to stop any migrants from arriving from New York City. And finally, as discussions about how New York City should handle the migrant crisis reach a fever pitch, WNYC's Catalina Gonella set out to get a better sense of what people arriving here are going through.

Good evening and welcome to NYC Now. I'm Jene Pierre for WNYC. We begin in New Jersey, where staffing agencies are trying to overturn a law that gives temporary workers better protections and pay. Governor Phil Murphy signed the bill into law this year, but WNYC's Karen Ye says the agencies are now challenging it in court to stop its full implementation. Under the law, staffing agencies have to pay temp workers the same rates and best. benefits that permanent workers employed at third-party sites receive. Staffing agencies also can't make these unitomized paycheck deductions for meals or transportation, which often leave workers with below minimum wage pay.

Labor advocates have complained of unsafe conditions and what amounts to less than minimum wage pay for temporary workers who largely provide warehouse labor in the state. Officials in Suffolk County are pursuing legal action to stop any migrants from arriving from New York City. Kevin McCaffrey is the presiding officer of the Suffolk County Legislature. He says New York City officials have been contacting Long Island hotel owners to ask whether they have space to house migrants. New York City made a conscious decision to call itself the sanctuary city. Suffolk County did not. Thousands of people seeking asylum in the U.S. have been coming to the city every week. Mayor Eric Adams has asked the federal government for more help, saying New York City is bearing the brunt of a, quote, national problem.

Stay close. We'll hear from some new New Yorkers seeking asylum in the city. That's after the break. Hundreds of migrants continue to arrive in New York City every day. As discussions about how the city should handle the situation reach a fever pitch, WNYC's Catalina Gonella set out to get a better sense of what people arriving here are going through. I met Anna Arieta two days after her arrival in New York City. She was standing outside of her. Manhattan nonprofit that gives out free clothes to migrants. It was so busy that day that she and her family were turned away. But they were still in good spirits, mostly relieved to have reached the city. I don't know how to explain to. It's a sensation of peace, like of alibio, of grace to God, because after the tempest, like, yeah, is starting to get to calm.

Originally from Colombia, Arieta endured a dangerous journey through Mexico with her partner, Gino Cifentes, and their four-year-old son. For now, the city is housing them at a hotel. Walking through Times Square, Sifuentes said he understands the sentiment behind New York's iconic catchphrase. The couple says they hope to find work of any kind and legally, and to sprout roots in the city. 35-year-old Ricardo Mafla has been living in the city for almost three weeks. I met him outside a Queens Public Library branch. He's also looking for work so he can send money to his family back home.

Mahfla was at the library for a free clinic held by the New York Immigration Coalition. Demand for legal services has outpaced resources available in the city. Mafla was grateful for the opportunity to speak to an attorney about his case. You know, it's a good experience because, you know, to a country that knows, and that they bring help or that to assessoren to go to other He says he escaped gang violence in Colombia and is trying to seek asylum here. The first word he learned to say in English was welcome, and he says he's feeling that here. The only way of welcome, is the one thing is the right because this city has given.

It's difficult to get here. Finding work was a throughline in all my conversations with newly arrived migrants, both city and state officials, from members of Congress. Both city and state officials, from members of Congress to the mayor and governor, have been pleading with Washington to expedite work permits. Back in Manhattan, Cesar Augusto Abril says he still hasn't received his work permit. He's from Venezuela and has been in the city for five months. Him and his family are staying at the Watson Hotel in Hell's Kitchen. It's one of the many hotels where the city is housing migrant families.

Abil told me he's been able to make some money, delivering food. And he's not alone. The bike racks in front of the Watson Hotel are brimming with e-bikes. Many dads staying there have also turned to food delivery to make ends meet. As far as picking up English, Abil says so far he's learned to say a number of pleasantries. You're welcome. Thank you so much.

Patricia Quachambosa is also staying at the Watson Hotel. She arrived here from Ecuador about a month ago. Guachamboza says navigating the city and finding work has been much more difficult than she expected, especially without speaking English. But the truth is so hard, tan d'en contrao, an job. One that we know to speak English is the problem most grand. But she says she's working on it. Good morning. Good morning.

So far, she's relied on the goodwill of strangers to get around. She says she looks forward to one day cooking rice in a home of her own. For Omar Issaa, home is currently a hotel not far from the Watson, where the city is housing single migrant men. Issao first entered the U.S. after leaving Venezuela two years ago, but he came to New York just six months ago. Since first getting here, Issao says he cycled through a number of living situations, as the city shuffled him around from shelter to shelter. He still remembers the first phrase he learned in English during that time. I want to take a shower. Unlike some of the latest arrivals, Issa has work authorization.

It's the highly coveted documentation that other asylum seekers and migrants are hoping to get that allows them to work on the books. Isaya's first job in the city was as a dishwasher. Now he's taking a home health aid course at a professional development school in Manhattan. He hopes to get a job and save up enough money to leave the shelter system and to provide for his family. That's what we're only that we're all of the Venezuelansans and to find a independence. Independence, or independence, that was another common thread that came up in these conversations.

Migrants said they didn't want to be a carri-a-l-estado, a burden to the state, for too long. That's WNYC reporter Catalina Gonella. Thanks for listening to NYC now from WNYC. Catch us every weekday. times a day. We'll be back tomorrow.