New York: New York City Comptroller Brad Lander has said that the budget cuts proposed today risk doing harm to the well-being of all New Yorkers, especially our most vulnerable.

In a statement, he said “City Hall should stop suggesting that asylum seekers are the reason for imposing severe cuts when they are only contributing to a portion of these budget gaps, much of which already existed. It is contradictory of City Hall to simultaneously impose 30- and 60-day time limits that eviscerate the right-to-shelter, but assume they have no budgetary impact. Scapegoating immigrants for those cuts is antithetical to the defining role of New York as a beacon of promise, inscribed at the base of the Statue of Liberty.

“We must continue to press for more state and federal funding. As my office has been proposing for nearly a year, our focus should be on helping asylum seekers file their Temporary Protected Status and asylum applications, obtain work authorizations, get jobs, move out of shelter, and contribute to the economy — to avoid slashing services to them and all New Yorkers.”

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