Now huddling outdoors

To the editor:

The Biden administration in May finally ended Title 42. It was used to expel without due process 2.7 million refugees who sought asylum at the Southern border. Its new policy forces a majority of migrants to request refugee status in another country before reaching the U.S. In July a federal judge blocked this policy. Advocates called it another ban on the right to seek asylum under domestic and international law. The ACLU said, “The ruling is a victory, but each day the Biden administration prolongs the fight over its illegal ban, many people fleeing persecution and seeking safe harbor for their families are instead left in grave danger.”

The Adams administration faces a challenge to house 54,000 migrants under the Right-to-Shelter law. Unfortunately, the mayor is clearly not up to the task. He plays the blame game and attacks others for the city’s problems. He wants a judge to suspend the Right to Shelter law, and has informed single adult refugees they can only stay 60 days in their shelter. Adams has failed to move long-term shelter residents into permanent housing to free space, and has no answer to the problem of tens of thousands of low-cost apartments held vacant by landlords and incompetent bureaucrats. Respite centers and shelters also need to be repaired and more built. 

The immigration policies of Biden and Adams that view migrants as burdens are a far cry from the ideals symbolized by the Statue of Liberty and the Emma Lazarus sonnet, “The New Colossus” placed at the monument’s base. In “Miss Liberty,” its lines were set to music by Irving Berlin: “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.  Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

Howard Elterman