Deputy Mayor Anne Williams-Isom, Health and Human Services: Good afternoon. I'm Anne Williams-Isom, and I'm the deputy mayor for Health and Human Services. We're here today for our weekly asylum seeker briefing. Thank you for joining us. Asylum seekers arriving to our country are seeking to build the American dream. Here in New York City, we are working to give them a shot at that. We continue to respond to the asylum seekers who arrive here with humanity and compassion, even as our city is stretched to its breaking point. More than 95,000 asylum seekers have arrived here since last spring. These are human beings, someone's brother, someone's mother, someone's grandchild.
In the absence of a national strategy, our administration has stepped up. We have given them a place to sleep. Yesterday when I was at the Roosevelt, I saw a Pack 'n Play with a little one in there, just desperately trying to get some rest from their journey. We have given them food and blankets and clothing and medicine and legal help. We have enrolled over 18,000 children in our schools and so much more. New York City continues to do more than any other city in this nation, and I'm proud to announce today that in little over a month since we announced our Asylum Seeker Application Health Center, we have assisted migrants in submitting 1,300 asylum applications.
This innovative model is the first in the nation to combine government, private law firms and nonprofits to provide asylum application at this scale. Applying for asylum is a critical step to towards work authorization, which is the north star for our administration. Asylum seekers want to work, I can't say that enough. We hear it every day. As the mayor says, often there is nothing more anti-American than not letting people work. We want to thank the more than 30 private law firms that have been working pro bono to help us with these applications under the supervision of experienced immigration lawyers and alongside application assistance and interpreters.
Throughout this crisis New Yorkers have stepped up to help their fellow brothers and sisters in need, and they are continuing to do so. Today we are announcing that the city's leading universities have committed to providing undergraduate and graduate student application assistance throughout the fall. This includes four universities of New York schools: Baruch College of City University of New York Schools, Baruch College, City College, Hunter College, and Queens College. Along with Columbia University, New York Law and New York University, all of which will sponsor at least three full days at the clinic this fall giving their students the chance to volunteer as application assistants.
These universities are providing the students with an ability to earn credit for their time helping at the center. That's real world learning experience. Both my husband and I, when we attended law school, did clinics in that work and it really helped us to provide for our real life experience as we were young lawyers, coming together from all corners of New York City to help our newest New Yorkers get their applications in so that they can work and begin their quest towards the American dream.
But we cannot continue to absorb tens of thousands of newcomers on our own without more help from the state and the federal government. Last week, along with Leader Schumer, Leader Jeffries, Dean Nadler, and members of the New York Congressional Delegation, Mayor Adams met with Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas to discuss our city's needs related to the asylum seeker crisis. We made it clear that New York City cannot continue to carry the weight of a national problem on our own. This is an all-hands-on-deck moment. We need others to step up and play their role as New York City is doing. This is a humanitarian issue about real people and real lives. Asylum seekers are coming here to seek the American dream. It is time for the rest of the nation to step up.
Before I pass it over to Georgina, I want to thank our other partners who have joined us today. The progress we've been able to make has been due to our whole-of-city approach alongside our legal partners and now including a number of our city's academic institutions. With us today, we have Liliana Vaamonde from Columbia Law School, Matt Gewolb from New York Law, Melissa Begg from Columbia School of Social Work, Nathalia Holtzman from Queens College, Tony Liss from City College, Linda Essig from Baruch College, and Mary Cavanaugh from Hunter College.
Again, I want to extend the administration's gratitude to each and every law firm, nonprofit, academic institution and fellow New Yorkers from each of the organizations involved in this. When I was at the Harlem Children's Zone, Geoffrey Canada would tell me all the time that despair is contagious, but so is hope. You are giving New Yorkers hope today. We hope that that is contagious and we are able to give the asylum seekers what they need so that they can continue on their journey. This humanitarian crisis has required a whole-of-city response, and each of you are making that possible. Let me now turn the mic over to NYU Provost Georgina Dopico, to say a few words on behalf of all the academic institutions working with us.
Georgina Dopico, Interim Provost, NYU: Thank you, Deputy Mayor Williams-Isom, for all that you, Mayor Adams, and your teams have done over the past year and a half to welcome new arrivals to New York. Speaking as someone who came to this country seeking asylum as a child, and who has benefited immensely from programs like this one, I'm especially proud that NYU is joining the city and our fellow institutions of higher education in this important effort to support the newest New Yorkers to build a home here in this city that has long welcomed immigrants and celebrated their many contributions to our vibrant urban life.
Since its founding nearly 200 years ago, NYU has been an institution in and of the city. As both the city itself and our university community, communities have grown more diverse, more complex, and more global, NYU has become increasingly, like our partner institutions, institutions in and of the world. In that spirit, we welcome this opportunity to participate in this initiative alongside many of New York's great colleges and universities, and in concert with partners from the public and private sectors to assist the newest members of our community to apply for asylum at the city's Asylum Application Help Center.
We're looking forward to working alongside Columbia School of Social Work, Columbia Law, New York Law School, Baruch College, Hunter College Silberman School of Social Work, Queens College and City College. Together, we and our peer institutions are making a multifaceted commitment. Starting this fall, we'll send cohorts of volunteers, students, faculty and staff to help those seeking asylum complete their applications. We will offer credit bearing courses for students to contribute to this effort that will include actual coursework as well as internships, externships and fellowships.
We're honored to be able to contribute what's, perhaps, our most valuable resource, the time and talent of our students, our faculty and our staff to this critical work. Deputy Mayor Williams-Isom, New York City's colleges and universities are ready to help, grateful for the opportunity to collaborate with you and with such wonderful partners and eager to help make asylum possible for our new neighbors. Thank you.
Deputy Mayor Williams-Isom: Thank you so much, Georgina. You remind me that we all have a story about how we got here and how we came here. The question we have to ask ourselves is what is history going to say about what we did? What did each of us do in this moment and how do we want history to remember us? Thank you all.
Before we open it up for questions, I'd like to go over some of the numbers for this week. As of July 30th, we have 107,900 people in our care, including 56,600 asylum seekers. Over 95,600 people have come through our system since last spring. We have opened 194 sites, including 13 humanitarian relief centers. Last week alone, from July 24th to July 30th, more than 2,300 asylum seekers entered our system.
As you all can see, the situation is not letting up and there does not seem to be any end in sight. We call again to our federal government to do more, including naming the asylum seeker crisis a federal emergency, to speed up work authorizations and to enact a national decompression strategy.
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