The Immigrant’s Journal - Vol. 178

USCIS is Expediting EADs for Healthcare and Childcare Workers

BY LINDA NWOKE

The Autumn/Fall season brings a lot of noticeable changes - changing colors, shorter days, and lower temperatures. The progressive reduction of the hours of light also affects our bodies, including mild states of sadness and anxiety.

Despite the changing times, COVID-19 continues to lurk around, keeping the nation and its system at all levels on edge. In antici pation of the changing times, policies are reviewed. The United States Customs and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently announced its intention to accelerate the renewal of authorization to work documents

Undocumented and Homeless: “We are the City’s Dirty Little Secret”

BY ROMMEL H. OJEDA DOCUMENTED NY

the new people that are arriv ing, the Mayor [Eric Adams] likes to show off like he is doing something because he only cares about his image. As long as they keep com ing it’s going to be in the media — they’re going to talk about it. But trust me, once the story dies down, all these people [will be put] in a community shelter. They are not coming to America to be in shelters, they are coming to work and make a living — the same way that I did.

For

The [politicians] do not do anything at all. We are the City’s dirty little secret. Nobody wants to talk about it, nobody wants to bring it up. You don’t mind taking our tax dollars when we are undocumented, but when COVID-19 hit everyone got a check except the undocumented community.

I have been in the United States for over 36 years since [migrating from the Ivory Coast]. I worked in cleaning, was an associate director, and even as a manager at one of the [clinics] for spe cial surgeries. I worked two jobs and I paid my taxes for 30 years and I still

The Migrant Crisis Can Bring Needed Change to NYC’s Housing Problem

BY SENATOR GUSTAVO RIVERA VIA URBAN MATTERS

Thousands of asylum seekers from Central and South America have been unscrupulously bused to New York from border states, primarily Texas, often under false pretenses over the last few months. I’m proud that New York is welcoming them to a city built by immigrants and working to uphold our historic “right to shelter” laws. This is also a solemn opportunity to confront the failures of our shelter system, to help tens of thousands of homeless New Yorkers, and many more on the brink of losing their homes, to find affordable, stable housing, and to operationalize housing as a human right.

In the midst of this compounding humanitarian crisis, Mayor Eric Adams and his administration are implementing extraordinary measures to provide shel ter to this incoming population, with many leaders across the city rightfully criticizing flaws in these plans. As the City worked to set up Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Centers (HERRC) at the Orchard Beach parking lot in The Bronx, I joined many col leagues to denounce these tent shelters. When the area intended for the tents flooded, the tent shelter was relocated to Randall’s Island. Upon this announce ment, I wrote a letter with State Senator Jessica Ramos, Assembly Member Jessica Gonzalez-Rojas, and Council Member Shahana Hanif, who chairs the Council’s Immigration Committee, to the mayor, making clear that tents were not habitable or acceptable temporary shel ters.

We delivered a comprehensive policy platform to address the immediate hous ing needs of the migrants and the ongo ing housing needs of New Yorkers. As the weather gets colder, it should be apparent to all of us that erecting tents for congregate shelter is not how we should be focusing our limited resources. As we bundle up and stay inside, we cannot for get the New Yorkers who don’t have a safe, indoor space to call home.

Homeless New Yorkers have long advocated for a decrease in the average length of shelter stays, which has bal looned in recent years due to unneces sary barriers to permanent housing place

deeply affordable housing. In our letter to the mayor, we outlined ways to address the bottleneck in our housing placement process. For instance, when a household receives a City Family Homelessness & Eviction Prevention Supplement (CityFHEPS) rent voucher, the prospect of having rent money guar anteed each month is a huge relief. Then come the denials. It is exceedingly diffi cult to find a landlord who will accept the voucher, despite it being illegal to dis criminate against rental vouchers or other forms of rental assistance.

New York City’s Department of Social Services and Commission on Human Rights need adequate staff to stop such rampant source-of-income discrimina tion, and enforce the law. The signatories to the letter to the mayor urged the City to ease pressure on the shelter system by fighting for voucher holders, who are often demoralized by illegal discrimina tion and prolonged stays in shelters, to identify permanent housing. With more staff, these agencies can address the backlog of CityFHEPS as well as Section 8 discrimination cases and finally place these households in permanent homes.

At the State level, we fought for the Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) to meet the needs of as many New Yorkers as possible with crippling rent arrears due to the financial hardships caused by the onset of the Covid-19 pan demic. That program also included evic tion protections for both pending and approved applicants meant to ease the transition when the pandemic-related eviction moratorium ended. Tenants working in good faith to pay rent arrears are being needlessly taken to court.

scheduling of eviction cases despite there not being enough tenant lawyers to meet the caseload.

Housing Court judges should be proac tively upholding tenants’ rights to stays of their cases when they are eligible for ERAP. Housing advocates have been sounding the alarm for months that the court system is effectively voiding New York City residents’ right to counsel and neglecting to advise tenants of these rights, particularly in the busiest Housing Courts, like ours in the Bronx. Our letter called on the mayor to join us in urging court leadership to slow down cases, to ensure lawyers can provide tenants with adequate representation and can assert their rights to stay in their homes.

This humanitarian crisis has taken our city by surprise, with no easy solutions. Many of the calls to action in the letter to the mayor were simply amplifications of what housing experts, service providers, and advocates have been demanding for months, sometimes years. I hope that the City gets the support it needs from the Federal and State governments to take bold, decisive action on housing policies that will help new and longstanding New Yorkers alike. All of us deserve a safe and permanent place to live and coura geous solutions to address the housing affordability crisis.l

Senator Gustavo Rivera has represented parts of the Northwest Bronx in the State Senate for over a decade and chairs the Health Committee in the Senate. His dis trict includes some of the zip codes with the highest rates of eviction in New York State.

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The Immigrant's Journal Legal & Educational Fund, Inc. is an organization dedicated to the educational and economic empowerment of all immigrants and immigrant organizations here in the United States. We at the Journal recog nize the enormous contribution of immigrants to this country economically, socially and polit ically. Since September 11, 2001, however, immigrants have increasingly been discriminat ed against and Congress has passed legisla tion curtailing the rights of immigrants here in the U.S., broadly claiming that immigrants are a threat to ''National Security.'' We at the Journal believe that these charges are unfounded, unsubstantiated and exaggerated.

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Women lying on beds In homeless shelter

The MTA Says Immigrant Subway Cleaners are Not Entitled to Prevailing Wages

BY AMIR KHAFAGY

When Jose Luis Dominguez describes his time working as a subway cleaner for NV Maintenance Services, it’s difficult for him not to get angry. One incident sticks out in his mind in particular; his supervi sors found out he was driving his coworkers to work every morning. After warning him not to do that, the company arbitrarily ruled that co-workers were not allowed to arrive to work together.

“We weren’t allowed to talk to each other. We weren’t allowed to be friends. We weren’t allowed to use our phones,” he said. “At the end, things started to get even worse when we weren’t allowed to ride together to work.”

To make matters worse, workers were required to arrive a half hour early before their shift and would be sent home if they weren’t early, Dominguez and his coworker Hemer Perez said. They were not paid for that time. They also claim that paychecks often had hours missing and overtime pay was not calculated. Workers were also not paid the prevail ing wage of at least $28 an hour plus benefits, instead only being paid $20. Under New York State Labor Law, all

contractors and subcontractors must pay their employees the prevailing rate of wage and benefits to all workers under a public works contract.

When Dominguez and Perez began speaking up about their conditions they were fired.

NV Maintenance Services is one of nearly two dozen cleaning companies that were contracted by the MTA to dis infect subway cars during the height of the pandemic. Documented reported at the time that the companies were paying their workers below the prevailing wage as well as forcing them to clean with few supplies and in dangerous circumstances. The workers were paid $20 per hour, despite cleaning MTA property, which prevailing wage law dictates should have a salary of $28 per hour. Then City Comptroller Scott Stringer sent two let ters to the MTA, informing them that the cleaners should be paid $28 per hour for their work. The current comptroller Brad Lander also came to the same conclu sion.

“The previous Comptroller administra tion held that workers who sanitize the cars are entitled to the prevailing wage of subway station cleaners, and this admin istration agrees,” said a spokesperson from Lander’s office.

Still, the MTA gave explicit permission to cleaning companies to not pay their workers the prevailing wage, according to emails provided to Documented by Pelton Graham LLC, the law firm repre senting the workers.

“We cannot provide you with any fur ther documentation that this contract requires prevailing wage to be paid,” Steven Picillo, Acting Chief Procurement Officer of Subways/Maintenance for the MTA told Victor Noce, the vice president of busi ness development at NV Maintenance Services. “As the Acting Chief

Procurement Officer for New York City Transit, I hereby am telling you that car cleaning at terminal stations does not require prevailing wage to be paid.”

In September of 2021, Dominguez and several of their fellow co-workers, many of whom were also fired or quit because they protested their conditions, filed a class action lawsuit against NV Maintenance Services in an effort to receive back wages. Perez, who joined the lawsuit while he was still employed with the company, was fired shortly after. The lawsuit came several months after Documented reported on the alleged abuse and wage theft essential immigrant subway cleaners contracted by the MTA were forced to endure during the height of the pandemic. At the time, the workers Documented spoke to claimed that anoth er company they worked for, LN Pro Services, failed to provide proper PPE and were also not paying prevailing wages. Leidy Almonte, owner of LN Pro Services asserted that they did not have to pay prevailing wages because the workers were cleaning the subway cars, not the station. The MTA told Documented that contractors were expected to follow applicable wage and

Editorial credit: CHOONGKY / Shutterstock.com

employment laws and that any allega tions to the contrary were unfounded. In a New York Daily News story from 2020, MTA spokesman Ken Lovett said that agency was “committed to fair pay for all those who work in any capacity inside the NYC Transit system.”

Since the early days of the pandemic, the MTA has relied on third-party con tractors who in turn employ an army of immigrant workers, many of whom are undocumented and have little English proficiency, to keep New York City’s subway as clean as possible. In 2020, the MTA spent more than $192 million on subway cleaning and station cleaning contractors. The MTA has paid NV Maintenance Services $14,750,000 since 2020. Still, the agency refused to require the company to pay the extra $8 differ ence to meet the prevailing wage.

Dominguez, a single father of two, lost his job as a cook during the pandemic. Desperate to take any job he could get in June 2020, he began working for NV Maintenance Services as a subway cleaner. He worked the overnight shift at the elevated New Lots Avenue station, the last stop for the 3 Train line in East New York, Brooklyn. For $20 an hour, Dominguez was tasked to clean filthy subway cars, often with no or very little safety equipment. Despite his protests,

the company would force him to go on his hands and knees to scrub human excrement off the floors. His children attempted to persuade him to quit out of fear he might get sick, but with few other employment options, he felt he had little choice but to continue working for the company.

“It was a high-risk job, not many people wanted to do it,” he said. “Especially at that station, it’s not in the safest neigh borhood. It’s the last stop in Brooklyn and you had a lot of homeless people. We have to clean feces, we have to clean blood stains, all kinds of stuff.”

Female workers also faced unique abuse. Alexandra Bautista, a 45-year-old immigrant from Colombia, began work ing for NV Maintenance Services in June 2020 so she could support her daughter back home in Colombia. Every day she worked Monday through Friday between 1 a.m. to 7 a.m. at the New Lots Avenue

station.

“As a female, it was very dangerous to go out in the streets at that time,” she said. “Especially because I worked the night shift.”

On a nearly daily basis, she and her coworkers were forced to bear the brunt of the city’s homeless crisis as they had to navigate the various mentally unstable people who took shelter in the subways to be able to do their job properly, Bautista and her co-workers would reluc tantly ask the homeless passengers to leave the train so they could clean. Many would refuse and hurl a barrage of insults at them. Not being properly trained to handle vulnerable and emotionally unsta ble passengers, Bautista grew fearful of interacting with them. The fear of vio lence always loomed heavy in the air. Some of her co-workers were even attacked. Yet, the fear she felt from her male supervisor was far greater, she said.

“I complained to the main manager that one of the supervisors would wait outside the door when I was using the bath room,” Bautista said. “The manager told me that she would fix the situation but the situation only got worse because he continued to do the same thing.”

Bautista says that her supervisor fixated on her and would follow her from car to car. She became so overwhelmed with anxiety that she quit in June 2021.

Neither the MTA nor NV Maintenance Services responded to Documented’s

request for comment.

For Dominguez, the situation came to a head when in March of 2021 Dominguez refused to sign a letter that affirmed that he had received an employ ee handbook and agreed to its terms. He said he and his co-workers never received an employee handbook. The letter was written in English and most of his coworkers were immigrants from Latin America and understood little to no English. When he protested, he was fired.

When asked why he decided to sue the company, Dominguez is direct.

“I want justice for many people,” he said. “The company as an entity left peo ple without jobs, without income, not really caring if we have money for rent, money to feed our families. I would love for those families, for those coworkers who like me got fired for no reason to get compensated.”

Working in the restaurant industry for as many years as he lived in the U.S, Dominguez is no stranger to workplace exploitation. As he gets older he has lost patience for exploitation of any kind.

“I have been in this county for too long and when I see injustice it just irritates me,” he said. “I don’t tolerate it.”l

Khafagy is a Report for America Corps Member who covers Labor for Documented. Reprinted with permission

Amir

Editorial credit: Jennifer M. Mason

HOME+ Program Expands, Connecting Survivors to Free Home Security Resources to Prevent Homelessness

The

Mayor’s Office to End Domestic and Gender-Based Violence (ENDGBV) announced the expansion of HOME+, a program that provides free and confidential security resources to survivors of domestic and gender-based violence who want to stay in their homes instead of entering shelter or going somewhere else. The program first launched in 2021 to provide sur vivors with emergency-response sys tems, personal alarms that clients can customize to notify trusted family, friends, service providers or police when activated. Starting today, HOME+ has expanded to provide survivors with addi tional options, including lock, door, and window repair and replacement services, when appropriate, including basic lock installation/replacement within 24 hours.

HOME+ is a redesign of New York City Human Resources Administration’s (HRA) Alternative to Shelter (ATS) pro gram, eliminating requirements for an active order of protection and police response for program participation. Through an investment of over $1 mil

lion from the Adams administration, the program supports a larger number of sur vivors by moving the program from Cityrun to operation by borough-based nonprofit service providers. This change has resulted in a doubling of the number of program participants. Like other ENDG BV programming, HOME+ services are available to survivors regardless of lan guage, income, gender identity, immigra tion status or demographic factors.

HOME+ operates through partnerships between ENDGBV and local domestic and gender-based violence services organizations, whose staff work directly with program participants to assess risk, coordinate referrals, and provide related case management services.

“HOME+ helps provide the resources needed to enhance basic safety measures for individuals and families affected by domestic, intimate-partner, or genderbased violence,” said Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Anne Williams-Isom. “There are few things more anxiety-filled than coming home to a broken window, lock, door, or having

the feeling of being unsafe in your own home. The program extends support for survivors so that they can have the peace of mind knowing that they can call for help regardless of their ability to pay or their immigration status. Thank you to ENGBV and our partners for making this program possible.”

“Everyone deserves to feel safe in their own home,” said Mayor's Office to End Domestic and Gender-Based Violence

Commissioner Cecile Noel. “HOME+ strengthens the City’s efforts to increase safety and stability for survivors of domestic and gender-based violence and helps empower survivors who often suf fer silently and fear seeking out the help they need. Survivors are never alone, and help is always here for them through a wide range of City resources including this crucial program. We are grateful for our HOME+ program partners, the Violence Intervention Program, WomanKind, Seaman’s Society, HELP R.O.A.D.S./USA, and Rising Ground without whom we could not deliver and expand the comprehensive set of servic es we offer to survivors from diverse communities throughout the City.”

“ENDGBV continues to center the needs of survivors of domestic and gen der-based violence by expanding the crit ical services provided through the HOME+ program. This program is cru cial to the City’s efforts to provide sur vivors the security devices and services they need to feel safe and remain in their continued on page 9

Commissioner Cecil Noel. Photo courtesy ENDGBV

DHS Designates Ethiopia for TPS for 18 Months

On October 21, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced the designation of Ethiopia for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for 18 months. Only individuals who are already residing in the United States as of October 20, 2022 will be eli gible for TPS.

“The United States recognizes the ongo ing armed conflict and the extraordinary and temporary conditions engulfing Ethiopia, and DHS is committed to pro viding temporary protection to those in need,” said Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas. “Ethiopian nationals currently residing in the U.S. who cannot safely return due to conflict-related violence and a humani tarian crisis involving severe food short ages, flooding, drought, and displace ment, will be able to remain and work in the United States until conditions in their home country improve.”

A country may be designated for TPS when conditions in the country fall into one or more of the three statutory bases for designation: ongoing armed conflict, environmental disaster, or extraordinary and temporary conditions. This designa tion is based on both ongoing armed con flict and extraordinary and temporary

conditions in Ethiopia that prevent Ethiopian nationals, and those of no nationality who last habitually resided in Ethiopia, from returning to Ethiopia safe ly. Due to the armed conflict, civilians are at risk of conflict-related violence, including attacks, killings, rape, and other forms of gender-based violence; ethnicity-based detentions; and human rights violations and abuses. Extraordinary and temporary conditions that further prevent nationals from returning in safety include a humanitari an crisis involving severe food insecuri ty, flooding, drought, large-scale dis placement, and the impact of disease out breaks.

This will be Ethiopia’s first designation for TPS. Individuals eligible for TPS under this designation must have contin uously resided in the United States since October 20, 2022. Individuals who attempt to travel to the United States after October 20, 2022 will not be eligi ble for TPS under this designation. Ethiopia’s 18-month designation will go into effect on the publication date of the forthcoming Federal Register notice. The Federal Register notice will provide instructions for applying for TPS and an Employment Authorization Document (EAD). TPS applicants must meet all eli gibility requirements and undergo securi ty and background checks.l

USCIS Form and Policy Updates Remove Barriers to Naturalization for Applicants with Disabilities

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) on October 19, announced updated policy guidance to clarify and conform with the revision of Form N-648, Medical Certification for Disability Exceptions.

Consistent with this administration’s goal of removing barriers to legal immi gration under President Biden’s Executive Order 14012, Restoring Faith in Our Legal Immigration Systems and Strengthening Integration and Inclusion Efforts for New Americans, Form N-648 has been shortened and simplified, and new telehealth guidelines further remove barriers for applicants and medical pro fessionals. The form revisions are also in response to this administration’s goal to remove barriers for underserved popula tions under Executive Order 13985, Advancing Racial and Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government. Changes were guided by public com ments and feedback received in response to a Federal Register notice regarding the form, and a Request for Public Input (RPI), Identifying Barriers Across USCIS Benefits and Services, both pub lished in April 2021.

“This is a wonderful example of how USCIS is listening to the public it serves in order to better address their needs, while fulfilling our responsibilities as an agency,” said USCIS Director Ur M. Jaddou. “The changes made to Form N648 are yet another way in which USCIS is removing barriers to naturalization, in accordance with President Biden’s Executive Order 14012 and EO 13985.”

Naturalization applicants with a physi cal or developmental disability or mental impairment that precludes them from ful filling the English and civics testing requirements for naturalization, may file Form N-648 to request an exception to those requirements. The form must be completed and certified by a medical professional.

Based on public comments, revisions to Form N-648 reduce burdens on appli cants and the agency by eliminating questions and language that no longer have practical utility or were redundant. Most notable changes include elimina tion of questions about how each relevant disability affects specific functions of the applicant’s daily life, including the abili ty to work or go to school. The form revi sions also eliminate dates of diagnosis, description of severity of each disability, and whether the certifying medical pro fessional has a pre-existing relationship with the applicant. Further, the form revi sion allows the medical professional the option to indicate an applicant’s need for an oath waiver, thereby eliminating the need for separate medical documenta tion.l

It's time to make a career choice that you will LOVE.

Editorial credit: Richard Juilliart / Shutterstock.com

Buying a New Home? Four Key Questions to Ask Your Mortgage Advisor

Areyou in the market for a new home? If you are planning on borrowing some or most of the home's purchase price, you'll want to pre pare yourself for the mortgage process.

Let's take a look at four key questions that you will want to ask your mortgage pro fessional when you first meet to discuss your home loan.

What's the Best Mortgage Option for Me?

As you probably know, there is a wide variety of mortgage loan options and pro grams on the market today. You may qualify for a number of mortgage loans along with certain government programs or specialty mortgages. Your mortgage advisor will be able to share the pros and cons of each type of mortgage loan so you can decide which option best suits you.

What Interest Rate and Amortization Period Fit My Budget?

Next, you'll want to determine what loan term and interest rate combine to produce a monthly payment that fits your budget. For example, in some cases, you may pre fer a lower interest rate over a longer

amortization period like 15 or 20 years, which can reduce the amount you pay each month. Conversely, you may decide that you want to pay the loan down faster and take a shorter term with a slightly higher interest rate.

What Fees and Closing Costs Will I Incur?

When you borrow a mortgage to buy a home, you will inevitably incur some additional costs and fees. Some are con nected to the home itself, such as home inspection or home appraisal fees. Others are due to the mortgage and might include loan origination fees or discount points that you choose to buy to lower your interest rate. Your mortgage advisor will be able to give you an honest assessment of what fees you'll need to pay and which you can potentially avoid.

What Documents and Paperwork Do I Need to Prepare?

Finally, you'll want to get an idea of what documents and other paperwork that you'll need to prepare. Your mortgage lender will require a number of items to verify your income, credit history and for

risk assessment purposes. This might include past income tax forms, pay stubs, bank statements or other materials if you're self-employed.

These are just a few of the talking points you'll want to cover when you first meet your mortgage advisor. Now that you are ready to make the commitment, help is just a phone call away. Call Equity Smart Realty Inc at 888-670-6791 l

HOME+/ continued from page 7 homes,” said Department of Social Services Commissioner Gary P. Jenkins. “We are so thankful for the incredible work ENDGBV is doing to serve the City’s survivors, regardless of their immigration status or income, and for the HOME+ program partners who will ensure that all those in need of these serv ices will have access to them.”

HOME+ operates in all five boroughs through partnerships with non-profit organizations HELP R.O.A.D.S./USA (Brooklyn), Rising Ground (Manhattan), Seaman’s Society (Staten Island), Violence Intervention Program (Bronx), and WomanKind (Queens). City-contact ed vendor Maximum Security of Brooklyn provides lock, door, and win dow repair and replacement services. All calls and emails to ATS will be referred to the HOME+ provider in the appropri ate borough. For help with HOME+, sur vivors can contact these numbers in their borough:

BRONX: Violence Intervention Program (VIP), 1-800-664-5880

BROOKLYN: HELP R.O.A.D.S./USA, 1-718-922-7980

MANHATTAN: STEPS at Rising Ground, 1-877-783-7794

QUEENS: Womankind, 1-888-888-7702 (call), 1-929-207-5907 (text only)

STATEN ISLAND: Seamen’s Society for Children & Families, 1-917-524-5819l

NYC Must Fully Fund Schools Supporting Asylum Seeker Children to Meet Needs of All Students

NewYork, NY: On October 21, the New York Immigration Coalition, Comptroller Brad Lander, City Council Committee on Education Chair Rita Joseph, allies and immigrant New Yorkers rallied at the Tweed Courthouse steps to call for trans parency, full funding for, and proper placement of newcomer asylum seeker students in New York City schools.

Currently, October 31 is the day that schools submit their final headcounts for budgeting to the NYC Department of Education (DOE). But new asylum seek er children may continue to arrive beyond this date. In order for schools to meet the needs of all of their students, schools must be adequately resourced and receive funding for students who arrive after October 31. The DOE must also place newcomers, many of whom are English Language Learners (ELLs), in the right schools with the right aca demic and social-emotional supports to meet their unique needs and unlock their potential. This includes older newcomer youth, who now have access to six new programs opened by the DOE in Transfer High Schools outside of Manhattan – a model that should be deepened and fully funded to serve newcomer immigrant youth where they live and work.

Andrea Ortiz, Senior Manager of Education Policy, New York Immigration Coalition said: “New York City schools have been sup

porting immigrant students for a very long time. But the monthly increase in the enrollment of asylum seeker young people is new. As a result, the city must ensure that they are fully funding and supporting schools to meet the needs of their entire student population by basing funding calculations for schools on enrollment numbers monthly rather than on one arbitrary date annually. Additionally, students must be placed in schools that are experienced and best placed to meet the myriad needs of immi grant students. Six new ELL programs in Transfer High Schools are an exciting and crucial step in addressing the long standing gap in programs close to where older immigrant youth live and work. For those who have been here for 2 years already, and for those arriving now, New York City must fully fund the schools that best serve our newcomers and con tinue to enhance and expand innovative models for our older newcomer youth. We must invest in the success of every New York student to safeguard the city’s economic success in the future.”

Brad Lander, New York City Comptroller said:

“Showing up for newcomer students means ensuring that their schools get the funding and resources they need to sup port a wide variety of new needs, from language assistance to counseling. Many schools were already facing funding and staffing shortfalls due to cuts based on

enrollment projections, yet they are working hard to welcome these new stu dents from asylum-seeking families. We’re asking for some transparency from the Department of Education so that we can help ensure schools are resources to support these students.”

Shahana Hanif, NYC Council Member District 39, Committee on Immigration (Chair) said: “Since the summer, we’ve had over almost 5,000 school-aged children come through New York City seeking asylum. Our City must step up to ensure our edu cation system is equipped to properly care for these new students. With robust

investments, proper student placements, and prioritization of social-emotional support, we can ensure every school-age asylum seeker gets the help they need in our school system. These are simple pol icy fixes that will make a world of differ ence to thousands of children. We have the tools to meet this moment - we’re asking DOE for the coordination and transparency measures to ensure this gets done.”

Rita Joseph, NYC Council Member District 40, Committee on Education (Chair) said:

"New York City has a moral imperative to support our students from asylum seeking families. The DOE must provide language access for all students, an extension of the deadline for when schools are required to submit their enrollment numbers, an expedited process for getting midyear adjustment funds released prior to January. New York City is a city of immigrants, and as an immigrant myself and a former public school teacher, this fight is deeply per sonal to me. I thank Comptroller Lander and the New York Immigration Coalition for their partnership in working on behalf of our city's young people."

Rita Rodriquez-Engberg, Director, Advocates for Children New York said:

“New York City needs to enroll newcom er youth in schools that are best equipped to help them succeed - with teachers who help ELLs learn English while they learn new subjects, bilingual social workers, and wrap-around supports. Getting placed in the right school is essential for all our newcomers, and especially for older youth who have less time to earn a high school diploma. We’re very encour aged that six additional Transfer High Schools are welcoming newcomer ELLs age 16-21, and we look forward to con tinuing our work with the DOE to devel op this important model program.”l

Comptroller Lander, City Council Committee on Education Chair Joseph, City Council Committee on Immigration Chair Hanif, advocates and allies. Editorial credit: New York Immigration Coalition

Grandparents and Other Relatives with Eligible Dependents Can Qualify for 2021 Child Tax Credit

WASHINGTON:

The Internal Revenue Service reminded families today that some tax payers who claim at least one child as their dependent on their tax return may not realize they could be eligible to bene fit from the Child Tax Credit (CTC).

Eligible taxpayers who received advance Child Tax Credit payments last year should file a 2021 tax return to receive the second half of the credit. Eligible taxpay ers who did not receive advance Child Tax Credit payments last year can claim the full credit by filing a 2021 tax return.

The IRS urges grandparents, foster par ents or people caring for siblings or other relatives to check their eligibility to receive the 2021 Child Tax Credit. It's important for people who might qualify for this credit to review the eligibility rules to make sure they still qualify.

Taxpayers can use the Interactive Tax Assistant to check eligibility. Taxpayers who haven't qualified in the past should also check because they may now be able to claim the credit. To receive it, eligible individuals must file a 2021 federal tax return.

What is the Child Tax Credit Expansion?

The Child Tax Credit expansion, which is a part of the American Rescue Plan, increased the amount of money per child families can receive and expanded who can receive the payments.

The American Rescue Plan increased the Child Tax Credit from $2,000 to $3,600 per child for children under the age of six, from $2,000 to $3,000 for chil dren at least age 6 and raised the age limit from 16 to 17 years old.

The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 expanded the Child Tax Credit for tax year 2021 only.

Who Qualifies for the Child Tax Credit?

Taxpayers can claim the Child Tax Credit for each qualifying child who has a Social Security number that is valid for employ ment in the United States and issued by the Social Security Administration before the due date of their tax return (including an extension if the extension was request ed by the due date).

To be a qualifying child for the 2021 tax

year, the dependent generally must:

•Be under age 18 at the end of the year.

•Be their son, daughter, stepchild, eligible foster child, brother, sister, stepbrother, stepsister, half-brother, half-sister or a descendant of one of these (for example, a grandchild, niece, or nephew).

•Provide no more than half of their own financial support during the year.

•Have lived with the taxpayer for more than half the year.

•Be properly claimed as their dependent on their tax return.

•Not file a joint return with their spouse for the tax year or file it only to claim a refund of withheld income tax or estimat ed tax paid.

•Have been a U.S. citizen, U.S. national or U.S. resident alien.

What are the eligibility factors?

Individuals qualify for the full amount of the 2021 Child Tax Credit for each qual ifying child if they meet all eligibility factors and their annual income is not more than:

•$150,000 if they're married and filing a joint return, or if they're filing as a quali fying widow or widower.

•$112,500 if they're filing as a head of household.

•$75,000 if they're a single filer or are married and filing a separate return.

• Parents and guardians with higher incomes may be eligible to claim a par tial credit. Claiming these benefits can result in tax refunds for many individu als. Individuals should file electronically and choose direct deposit to avoid delays and receive their refund faster.l

Healthcare + Childcare Workers/ continued from page 1 for specific workers.

In August 2021, the agency released a comprehensive advisory guideline to support government officials and other vital employers of workers. Operators within the essential critical infrastructure on ways to reduce and prevent the spread of COVID-19 among these workforces.

The comprehensive document detailed all relevant categories of workers that qualify as Essential Critical Infrastructure Workforce.

Last month, on Oct 20 2022, the depart ment released an updated guideline specifically addressing the delay and decision to accelerate the renewal and approval of work authorization docu ments (EAD) for two critical categories of workers - Healthcare/Public Health workers and Childcare Workers.

Under the initial USCIS guidance, over 20 categories of workers enlisted qualify under the HealthCare/Public Health for the accelerated work authorization (EAD) being implemented:

•Workers needed for COVID-19 or other diseases

•Healthcare providers

•Workers required for direct patient care, complete healthcare, and public health spectrum.

•Workers that support transportation to and from the healthcare facility and provider appointments

•Workers who provide laundry services, food services, reprocessing of medical equipment, and waste management.

•Workers who manage health plans, billing, and health information (nonremote)

•Workers performing cybersecurity func tions at healthcare and public health facilities(non-remote)

•Workers (non-remote) acting on behalf of healthcare entities, including health care coalitions

•Vendors and suppliers of medical equip ment

•Workers at manufacturing and related organizations that operate and manage associated activities to COVID-19

•Pharmacy staff, including workers nec essary to maintain uninterrupted pre scriptions, and other workers for pharma cy operations

•Workers and materials needed to con

duct bloodspot and point of care for new born screening, as well as workers and materials needed for confirmatory diag nostic testing and initiation of treatment.

•Home health workers that go into the homes of individuals with chronic, com plex conditions and/or disabilities to deliver nursing and/or daily living care.

•Workers in retail facilities specializing in medical goods and supplies.

•Public health and environmental health workers, like:

-Workers that specialize in environmen tal health prevent COVID-19 disease transmission.

•Public health/community health work ers (non-remote).

•Human services providers, especially for at-risk populations like: -Home-delivered meal providers and Homemaker services for frail, home bound, older adults.

-Personal assistance services providers

•Home health providers deliver health care services for persons who live inde pendently in the community with support and assistance

-Workers who provide human services

-Governmental entities and contractors that work in support of services neces sary for supporting the COVID-19 response

-Workers for providers and services sup porting effective telehealth

-Mortuary service providers

•Workers that qualify under Childcare Workers include:

-Childcare Workers (39-9011) and “Special Education teachers" (25-2011) and (25-9042)

For those that qualify for an expedited EAD as a health or childcare worker, as defined in the detailed guidance list of USCIS, you need to make a request for expedited processing of the EAD appli cation.

Evidence required includes proof of profession (current or immediate prospective employment) as a healthcare or a childcare worker like an employ ment verification letter, recent earnings statement, or pay stubs) and current valid immigration status.

The expedited process only includes those with pending but valid immigration status for over 90 days and an initial Form I-765 Application for Employment Authorization. l

The Wrong Advice Can Hur t You

BY KRYSTAL RAMSAROOP

can be classified as a "vul nerable population" because they are constantly at an increased risk for poor physical, psychological, and social health. They are faced with the day-today challenges of obtaining the basic desires of life, such as freedom, human rights, and flexibility. With the influx of thousands of migrants entering the State of New York, it is important to gain accu rate information to understand the situa tion better and be aware of different legal pathways for those migrating. According to the New York Times, Mayor Adams has been struggling exponentially to find proper shelter for these persons, amongst other crucial resources. As these individ uals become more exposed and dis tressed, they may be victims of specific entities such as fraud or criminal miscon duct. Due to this, most immigrants seek lawyers or legal aid to help with their process and any further occurrences as a form of protection.

Immigrants

Just as a doctor who makes mistakes, the consequence of gaining wrong or bad legal advice can change your life in the worst way possible. In the area of immi gration, there would be an increased risk

of removal, deportation, missed dead lines, and increased costs. Therefore, you must get good advice. There are many benefits to gaining proper professional help, such as understanding your legal rights and responsibilities, proper paper work, representation in a court of law, saving time, and navigating the legal complexities. At the recent "An Introduction to Immigration Law Boot Camp," speakers from the Manhattan District Attorney's Office and the United States Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) shared some valuable information.

The Immigrant Affairs Unit of the District Attorney's Office in Manhattan

has many resources to assist persons in clarifying legal suspicions or reporting any misconduct. They specialize in inves tigating and prosecuting fraud against immigrants and educate the population on the accessibility and availability of their services through various seminars. Luis Morales, the head of this unit, stated, "We take complaints regardless of immigra tion status. Our responsibility is to the cit izens of the State of New York and to ensure we are looking out for and protect ing your rights."

Mr. Morales also stated that they have multiple interpreters. However, even though their department is limited to Manhattan only, branches in the other

boroughs of New York are available. A few tips he shared to avoid specific scams when people seek legal representation are asking whether an attorney is licensed or accredited.

Secondly, do not pay cash because it is not as easily traceable. Thirdly, do not sign blank documents in a language you are unfamiliar with. Apart from the impersonation of attorney scams, some of the most common frauds to be aware of are persons disguised as ICE agents, employment investment scams, and pub lic housing scams.

For further information, you can send an email directly to Mr. Morales at moralesl@dany.nyc.gov, or you can con tact the hotline at 212-335-3600. There is also a WhatsApp/WeChat available at 347-371-0877. The general email for this unit is iau@dany.nyc.gov. You can also verify attorneys or gather further informa tion on the following websites:

•iapps.courts.state.ny.us/attorney.ser vice/search?1;

•justice.gov/eoir/file/probonoNY/down load;

•justice.gov/eoir/list-of-currently-disci plined-practitioners

Just as a doctor who makes mistakes, the consequence of gaining wrong or bad legal advice can change your life in the worst way possible.

City’s Dirty Little Secret / continued from page 1 ended up at the shelter system after get ting sick.

I have been in the shelter system for about three years and a half. I came into the shelter in February 2019. I started at the intake shelter in Williams Avenue where I spent two months before being transferred to a shelter in the Bronx. The intake shelter is one step away from being like a prison.

When people first enter, the way it is designed, inside or outside, they half faint — literally. People cry, it is unlike anything they have ever known. The only people that do not have a problem are people who have been doing a lifetime of crimes. Or those that have been in jail or spent their whole life in trouble with the law. For them this is home.

A Culture of Violence

I don’t know how I am still alive. I should have been dead twice.

[In April of 2019] I was in a room with four other people. All three of them were blatantly smoking cigarettes or shooting heroin in the bathroom. I spoke against it and they came after me and attacked me. I was bleeding. And even then, with blood all over my white shirt, the securi ty guards told me they could not see any blood. They said if I wanted to press any charges against the people that attacked

me, there would be charges against me too because I was in a fight.

I had videotaped one of the attacks to show it to the security guards. When I showed it to them, instead of taking steps to remove me or do something, they shared the information with the attackers and my situation became even worse.

I felt my life was in danger because I was coming to the shelter security with evidence of the video and they turned me into the aggressor.

After they showed them the video, I had to fight with two people. That’s how I was attacked. One of them took the phone out of my hand and destroyed it. So that night they had to move me out of

that room because it became so bad after they knew I had video taped them.

When there are fights in the shelter, the perpetrator is not worried because the [shelter employees] do not move them. Instead they move the people who are non-violent. Which encourages them to continue doing what they do. The nonviolent person then loses their bed, gets moved to a different dorm, and the perpe trator will attack the next person again and again.

If the [clients] can make a deal with the shelter people for something that is ben eficial to them. Kind of like you scratch my back and I will scratch yours, then they will let them bring in drugs. At the

shelter at [The Bronx] where I was attacked, the male employees were hav ing sex with the female clients. They will do that with the young ones. And that’s the reason they would protect them if you have a problem with one of those people.

Health Conditions Worsened

My anxiety has gone up since entering the shelter system. I feel like I have inhaled but I have not been able to exhale yet. I’m constantly anxious about [get ting] a notice saying I will have to move to a new shelter. It’s always traumatizing.

Before I came into the shelter, I never had any heart conditions. I never had sleep apnea. Now I need to use a CPAP machine that a non-profit was able to buy for me. Because I don’t have insurance and emergency medicaid doesn’t cover it, I was not able to get one before.

I had two heart attacks this year. The heart problems I am having is because there is a lack of oxygen to my heart– I am not pumping enough blood into my heart. That is because I was not using a CPAP machine for more than a year and a half.

The beds are terrible. If you don’t have a joint problem, you will get one and you will become crippled and will have to use a cane to walk around.

NY Immigration Coalition held a press conference at City Hall demanding the city do more to help asylum seekers arriving in NYC

Editorial credit: Steve Sanchez Photos / Shutterstock.com

Because of my medical condition I have to use Access-A-Ride. I cannot walk more than two blocks without stop ping to gasp for air. But even with Access-A-Ride, I cannot afford it because I have no income. They offered me a low price Metro Card that I cannot afford either. As you get sicker and you don’t have insurance, you have to go to the hospital and they will have to pay for that. It’s always in the emergency room and it is costly.

“We become the City’s dirty little secret”

For the longest time I started to lose jobs due to a serious depression which caused me to miss work. When I would go into work, I would just stare in front of the computer without doing anything. I was overwhelmed. No matter how hard I tried to do things, I could no longer do them. That’s how I started to lose my jobs–they let me go. From 2014 I was able to survive until I was evicted in 2017 after depleting my savings.

I was staying with some friends but they told me that I had to go, that I could not stay with them anymore. So I tried to commit suicide. And I ended up at the hospital. When I was released, my friends said I could not stay with them and that I should go to the shelter. When you become the most vulnerable,

for people like us [who are undocument ed], we become the City’s dirty secret because what they do is push us into the shelter system were we will be staying forever.

I have met [undocumented] people who have been here for ten years. How’s it that these people that have paid taxes are being kept here instead of [being includ ed] in a housing budget? Everybody is getting older in the shelter. They just dump you, and, once you are here, you cannot get out. Your mental health dete riorates overtime.

It becomes worse and worse. And we see it physically. Everybody gains weight here. I put on 40 pounds since I have been in the shelter system for the s*** food that we eat. Everything is processed. Nothing is fresh. The only good thing they give sometimes is an apple or an orange. You keep getting

blown up. Week after week, the food they give you is either sugar or sodium– [you get] fatter and fatter.

Hotels Are No Better

Right now I am staying at a single occu pancy hotel-turned shelter operated by the AACP. But it is no different than other shelters, just because we have sin gle occupancy it’s not different. They removed all the furniture from the hotel so we have the same furniture as the community shelters, except that each room has a TV.

Double room occupancies have a microwave. Single rooms only have one microwave per floor– I don’t understand that logic.

Somebody was complaining about the person next door because they had been smoking near the vent which was con nected to the room of a lady who had

asthma. She was having problem breath ing. They moved the person who was smoking to another room, and then they also moved the lady, from the large room [that she was in], to a tiny room that looked like a big closet. Their reasoning: she was not a nice neighbor.

The same happened to me. Someone who was in the room with me was smok ing one night and I woke up choking– I confronted that person but she kept smoking cigarettes and marijuana.

I guarantee you that if I had not been evicted from my apartment, and gotten help that I needed right away, I would not be sitting here talking to you. I would be working because I would not have deteri orated to the point where I had taken so much beating, trauma after trauma in the shelter system. It should not be like that.

It is stupid to want to spend that much money when it can be cost effective to address the problem once and for all. It costs the city less money to deal with housing. It will also cost less money in terms of medical care, too, because we end up getting sicker and sicker in the shelter.l

Rommel is a bilingual journalist and filmmaker based in NYC. He is the com munity correspondent for documented. his work focuses on immigration, and issues affecting the Latinx communities in New York. Reprinted with permission of Documented NY.

City’s Dirty Little Secret /

Hotel rooms, shelter dorms and bed frames photos. Courtesy of Karla

Omicron BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 – An Expert Answers Three Key Questions About These New COVID Variants

BY MANAL MOHAMMED THE CONVERSATION

Two new omicron subvariants, BQ.1 and BQ.1.1, are quickly gaining traction in the US, collec tively accounting for 27% of infections as of October 29. Both are descendants of BA.5, the omicron variant that has dominated around the world for some months.

Although they appear to be most com mon in the US at this stage, BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 have also been identified in the UK and several countries in Europe, with the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) having classified BQ.1 as a variant of interest.

Based on modelling esti mates, the ECDC expects that by midNovember to the beginning of December 2022, more than 50% of COVID infec tions will be due to BQ.1 and BQ.1.1. By the beginning of 2023, they could account for more than 80% of cases.

When we hear about new COVID vari ants, three key questions spring to mind: is it more transmissible compared with previous variants? Can it cause more severe illness? And can it escape our immune response? Let’s take a look at what we know so far.

1. Are these variants more transmissible?

Transmissibility refers to the capacity of a pathogen to be able to be passed from one person to another. This characteristic is determined by many factors relating to the pathogen, its host and the environ ment.

At this stage, we have limited data on how transmissible these two new variants are. But BQ.1.1 appears to be highly transmissible, with social media reports calculating it took only 19 days to grow eight-fold from five sequences to 200 sequences.

Although BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 currently comprise a small proportion of all COVID cases globally, in some countries the proportion of cases is increasing at a rate which suggests it’s more transmissi ble than other circulating variants.

2. Can they escape our immune system?

The ECDC suggests the observed increase in the growth rate of BQ.1 is probably driven mainly by immune escape. This refers to the virus’ capacity to evade our immune response from prior infection or vaccination.

BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 contain mutations to the spike protein, a protein on the surface of SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) which allows it to attach to and infect our cells. These mutations

include K444T, N460K, L452R and F486V. BQ.1.1 contains an additional mutation, R346T, also found in the BA.5 variant.

These mutations have been associated with significant immune escape and anti body evasion.

One study indicated that it’s likely that immunity induced by infection from pre vious omicron sublineages and vaccina tion will not provide broad protection against BQ.1.1 infection. However this study is a preprint, meaning it’s yet to be peer-reviewed.

Although the current COVID vaccines and previous infections provide good protection against severe disease, they do not provide full protection from infection or reinfection. Likewise, while they reduce COVID transmission, they do not prevent it entirely. And these new vari ants appear to have the highest capacity for immune evasion yet. That said, COVID vaccines will continue to offer strong protection against severe disease and death.

3. Can they cause more severe illness? We still don’t know much about the severity of illness associated with BQ.1 or BQ.1.1. But based on the limited data available, the news is good on this front. There’s no evidence that BQ.1 is associ ated with more severe illness than BA.4 and BA.5.

Worryingly though, a recent preprint study suggests that BQ.1.1 could be resistant to Evusheld, an antibody thera py designed to protect people who are immunocompromised and don’t respond as well to COVID vaccines.

The pandemic is not over yet

Beyond the US and Europe, BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 have also been identified in other countries around in the world including New Zealand, Thailand, Singapore and Canada, where they’ve been detected in wastewater. Sewage samples often give us a good indication of possible COVID spikes.

The continued emergence of new COVID variants indicates that the virus is very much still with us, and rapidly evolving. As we face resurgences head ing into winter in the northern hemi sphere, we need to keep our eyes on these and any other new variants, and carefully observe how they behave.

We also need studies which test how well the new bivalent vaccines – those which target omicron alongside the orig inal strain of SARS-CoV-2 – work against BQ.1 and BQ.1.1.l

Manal Mohammed is a Senior Lecturer, Medical Microbiology, University of Westminster

Know Your Rights with ICE

If approached by ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agents, you have rights!

What can I do if ICE is at my door?

• You do not have to immediately open the door for ICE and you do not have to speak to ICE.

• From behind the closed door, you may ask them who they are and to show their badge, ID or business card through the window or peephole or to pass it under the closed door.

• You can ask if they have a judicial warrant:

If they say No, you do not have to let them in. You may say,

“I do not want to speak with you.”

If they say Yes, you can ask them to slide it under the door. To know if it is a judicial warrant, look to see who signed the warrant.

A judicial warrant is a warrant from a court, signed by a judge. For example, judge signatures may have “Honorable/Hon.” “Judge” “Justice” or “Magistrate” in front of them.

• In an emergency, such as a threat to public safety or a threat to someone’s life, ICE can come in without asking your permission. If this happens, you still do not have to speak to ICE.

• If ICE is looking for someone, you do not need to speak. If you choose to speak, you can ask ICE to leave contact information. While you do not need to tell ICE where the person is located, providing false information puts you at risk.

What can I do if ICE is inside my home?

• If ICE enters your home without your permission, you can tell them clearly: “I do not consent to you being in my home. Please leave.” Saying this may not always stop them, but it may help any future legal case.

• If ICE starts to search rooms or items in your home, you can tell them, “I do not consent to your search.” You can continue to repeat this if they continue to search without consent.

• You can tell them if there are children or other vulnerable residents in your home.

What can I do if ICE stops me on the street or in public?

• Before you say anything, you can ask, “Am I free to go?”

If they say Yes: you can say, “I don’t want to answer your questions”

If they say No: you can say,

“I want to remain silent.”

If ICE agents try to search your pockets or belongings, you can say,

“I do not consent to a search.”

If they search you anyway, you cannot physically stop them, but clearly saying it may be important in any future legal case.

This fact sheet gives only general information. It is not legal advice. Consult an attorney for legal advice. English

Call 855-768-8845 for an Immigration Consultation

Early Counts of Flu Already Breaking Records

BY LISA O’MARY, WEBMD

Thespread of flu, also called influenza, is growing faster across the United States than it has in more than a decade, causing alarm among health care providers.

“The data are ominous,” Vanderbilt University School of Medicine professor William Schaffner, MD, told The Washington Post. “Not only is flu early, it also looks very severe. This is not just a preview of coming attractions. We’re already starting to see this movie. I would call it a scary movie.”

So far this flu season, the CDC has recorded 880,000 flu cases, 6,900 hospi talizations and 360 deaths from flu. Already, one pediatric death has been recorded as caused by the flu.

Details of the child’s death were not reported by the CDC, but the Brownsville, Texas, NBC-affiliate sta tion KVEO recently reported that a 3year-old girl had died after testing posi tive for the flu, according to NBC News.

to flu was listed for the 2020-2021 sea son; and 199 pediatric deaths due to flu were recorded during the 2019-2020 flu season, according to CDC data.

"The best time to protect yourself against influenza is before we see it start circulating in large amounts," said Nipunie Rajapakse, MD, a pediatric infectious diseases physician with the Mayo Clinic Children's Center. "Now is the perfect time to go and get vaccinated. It takes about two weeks after you get

response. You need to factor that time into it as well.”

The biggest impact so far has been among adults 65 and older and children 4 and under, who are being hospitalized at the highest rates, the CDC reported. Hospitals nationwide have admitted 2,332 patients with influenza this past week, up from 1,674 patients admitted with flu the week prior.

Middle-aged and older people are most at-risk of being severely impacted by flu because the virus causes an inflammatory response lasting up to six weeks after recovery, increasing the rate of heart attacks and strokes, Schaffner told the Post.

The rise in flu cases comes during an anticipated increase this winter of COVID-19 infections and another respi ratory virus already escalating called RSV that is especially dangerous for young children.

"We realize the potential implications of the co-circulating viruses all at once," Lynnette Brammer of the CDC told NBC News. "We're taking it very seriously." l

USCIS Extends COVID-19-related Flexibilities

U.S.

Citizenship and Immigration Services is extending certain COVID-19-related flexibilities through Jan. 24, 2023, to assist appli cants, petitioners, and requestors. Under these flexibilities, USCIS considers a response received within 60 calendar days after the due date set forth in the fol lowing requests or notices before taking any action, if the request or notice was issued between March 1, 2020, and Jan. 24, 2023.

In addition, USCIS will consider a Form I-290B, Notice of Appeal or Motion, or a Form N-336, Request for a Hearing on a Decision in Naturalization Proceedings (Under Section 336 of the INA), if: The form was filed up to 90 calendar days from the issuance of a decision we made; and

We made that decision between Nov. 1, 2021, and Jan. 24, 2023, inclusive.

As a reminder, the reproduced signature flexibility announced in March 2020 became permanent policy on July 25, 2022.

Please visit uscis.gov/coronavirus for USCIS updates.l

Eric Adams Mayor

Ashwin Vasan,

How to Know If You're Ready for Marriage

BY MARY CAMPBELL

Areyou and your partner ready to get married? If so, congratula tions! Marriage can be one of the most rewarding experiences in life, but it also comes with its own unique set of challenges. It is important to discuss all of the issues that arise from entering into this new phase of life. Here are a few guidelines for having a successful and enjoyable union.

Know Where You Stand

It's important that both partners under stand the challenges of getting married, which can lead to honest conversations about their expectations and shared val ues. Some people may never want kids; others may want children, but not right away; some might want a big wedding while others would rather keep it small. That's why everyone should take time early in the relationship to discuss their long-term goals honestly, because these conversations are easy to avoid or put off until later. Marriage can be difficult for many couples. In fact, roughly half of all marriages end in divorce. Understanding where you stand and having open discus sions about your plans for a future

together will help make sure you enter into marriage with realistic expectations.

Talk about Money Before Marriage

Money issues are a common cause of friction in many relationships. In some cases, these can be resolved before get ting married. But if not, it can cause rifts once you're married. It's always a good idea to talk about money with your sig nificant other before deciding to make it official. Good communication regarding money matters is necessary for financial security.

Be on the Same Page

Marriage is an incredibly long-term com mitment, but it can be hard to think far ahead when you're newly engaged. Both partners should have similar long-term goals. A short list of plans for the future will help you anticipate major life events and make decisions that will benefit both partners during these times. You might even consider taking a premarital inven tory to help determine where you stand on certain issues and whether they are deal-breakers for you. For example, a lot of couples don't realize just how impor tant their religions are until they have children. Talking about these issues before marriage might mean less stress down the road.

Discuss Family Plans

As you plan your wedding, don't forget what happens afterward. Newlyweds have a lot on their plates, so it can be easy to neglect discussing family plans with your partner. Children, careers, liv ing arrangements, and other topics may seem insignificant at first but could become topics of division later. Setting aside time before marriage for these con versations can prevent nasty surprises in your future marriage.

Set Goals Together

Setting goals together is important for newlyweds. Goals should be about creat ing a life together based on shared inter ests and values. Having goals in common can lead your relationship in a positive direction, while not having them can cause conflict and distance. Engaged couples should sit down together and dis cuss their hopes, dreams, and goals.

Couples are Still Individuals

Newlyweds often want to spend all of their time together during the throes of the initial honeymoon phase. However, these couples must still respect the need for individual space if they have hopes of staying together long-term. When cou ples enter into marriage, it's often with visions of happiness and romance for years on end. The reality is that newly weds want to spend time together but also have different interests and outside obligations that may pull them in differ

Department of Homeland Security

One needs to be aware of the duties and responsibilities of various Homeland Security departments. Ms. Shyconia A. Burden-Noten of the NYC Community Relations Department of USCIS was delighted to shed some light on the topic. USCIS is responsible for adjudicating applications for immigration benefits such as green cards, work permits, or US citizenship located at 26 Federal Plaza NYC.

Secondly, there is ICE, responsible for making arrests and removing persons from the USA and has jurisdiction over immigrants in custody.

Thirdly, Customs and Border Protection determines who is admissible to the USA and who can enter.

Ms. Burden-Noten acknowledges that scammers perpetrate lawyers and prac tice fraudulent behavior. Hence, going to the right website at www.uscis.gov is best. She advised that when signing off on applications, read the details carefully because there can be severe repercus sions for acknowledging incorrect infor mation. "It is never a good idea to lie to an immigration officer," stated Ms. Burden-Noten. "Never give anyone your original documents, and always keep receipts," she emphasized. This is crucial for keeping a record of accountability and protecting your information. You can visit the following website to prevent fraud: www.uscis.gov/scams-fraud-andmisconduct/avoid-scams/commonscams.

If you know someone affected by immigration fraud, kindly pass on the information and spread knowledge regardless of the situation so that persons can be aware of the information provided here.l

Dating After Divorce: What You Need to Know

BY JANET HOWARD

Somepeople will be ready to start dating soon after moving out of their house. They may be interest ed in seeing who else is out there or try ing to gain confidence in themselves again through dating. Others may want to take things slower and may not be ready to date for months or even a year or longer after a divorce. Regardless of when you decide to start dating again, there are a few things you need to know to make this process easier and more pro ductive for you.

Have Different Expectations

If you are like many dating after a divorce, it may have been years or even decades since you last dated. Things may have changed since you were last in the dating pool. Expect to find some individ uals like you who want what you want, whether it is casual dating or something more profound and serious, but you can also expect to find many others who wish to the exact opposite. It can help make your needs and desires clear up-front so that you are both on the same page before proceeding through the dating process

with someone. This will help you avoid wasting your time on incompatible indi viduals with you.

Give Yourself Time

Although you may think that you are ready to date, it can be unnerving or sur real to be on a date with someone new. The process will get more comfortable for you as you date more, but it can be a rough go at first. Provide yourself plenty of time to ease into the routine. If you start dating and feel as though you are not ready after all, please pull yourself out of the dating scene for a little longer.

Wait for Intimacy

You might also consider waiting for inti

macy until you are more serious about an individual. STDs are a serious problem, and they are more common than you might think. Even when you use protec tion, you are not fully protected. This is because all contraceptives can fail or be used incorrectly, and they simply will not work properly when this happens. While you still want to use protection when you are intimate with someone you know bet ter, you also may feel more and comfort able when you are less concerned about STDs.

Dating can be a new and exciting expe rience for you, but it also can be stressful. These tips can help you navigate these waters more easily with success.l

Ready for Marriage / continued from page 20

ent directions. Couples who allow each other space without resentment are more likely to stay happy over time.

Learn to Compromise

Think of a compromise as a win-win sit uation in which neither party feels like they've lost. Instead, both people can feel like they've achieved what they wanted and walk away satisfied. If you can learn how to compromise on small things with your partner, then big things will seem easier to work out later.

Tying the Knot

Deciding to get married is a big deal. You're making a vow to spend the rest of your life with another person, so it's important to make sure you're really ready. The most important factors are that both partners feel comfortable in their commitment and that they've dis cussed things like family, children, money, and other plans at length. When couples don't take these steps, marriage can end up being more difficult than it needs to be. When people rush into get ting married because they think it will fix something or because everyone else around them is getting married, they often miss out on an opportunity for real communication and connection. l

Fostering Relationships Between the New York City's Council Members & Immigrants

BY LINDA NWOKE

An article by the Pew Research Center (2020) notes that over 70% of voters in the United States believe elected officials don't care about average citizens. A view that is equally held by both Democrats and Republicans. A similar report (2019) released by a program from the University of Maryland shows many reg istered voters firmly believe that Members of Congress do not listen to the people they represent.

Sadly, when citizens believe their elect ed officials are not listening to them, it threatens the fundamentals of democra cy, built on the people's role and deci sions. Over time, many experts have attempted to provide possible reasons behind this perception. Some have linked the cause to the media's role in framing the issues, including social media's effect in portraying related messages. Additionally, movie storylines and mes sages have contributed immensely to the public's mistrust of elected officials.

Interestingly, legislators do not work specifically to promote policy problems highlighted by their constituents. Evidence in the type of bill sponsorship often does not reflect their constituents' preferences. Instead, they appear to be continually driven by their district's elec tion cycle and committee assignments, acting more like trustees or delegates.

Hence, after gaining power through the election, they lose their sense of account ability toward their constituencies. Yet, most citizens expect to see their repre sentatives working for them because they are elected to be their voice in the crowd ed and competitive political arena.

New York City and Its Peculiarities There are obvious exceptions and exam ples of when legislators fight for the citi zens' rights even when it is deemed unconstitutional. One example is the recent ruling against the people's demand in June 2022. A New York City Judge ruled against the request for noncitizens to be allowed to vote in local elections, which he deemed unconstitutional.

Consequently, the decision affected an estimated 850,000 noncitizens – includ ing many taxpayers. Furthermore, the ruling prohibits legally documented, vot ing-age New York noncitizens from par ticipating in performing a critical civic duty. Noncitizens in Maryland, Vermont, and San Francisco are allowed to cast ballots in local elections.

While the ruling was a victory for rep resentatives of the thirty-eight percent of Republicans who fought the law, it was disappointing for many Democrats. The City Council Speaker, Adrienne Adams, and other council members believed the law would empower immigrants, espe cially people of color, to be part of the City's governance.

Despite the rulings, the representatives are determined to keep demanding the

rights of their constituents. "Now more than ever, people's rights have been threatened. We need more civic and com munity engagement, not less," says Speaker Adams.

There is an unmistakable cordial rela tionship between the City's Council Members and members of the black and brown communities in New York City. Many representatives fight for their rights to good health care, housing, and education. There is a forum called the New York City Council Black, Latino, and Asian Caucus. The platform aims to advocate, protect, and empower the City's people of color using oversight, budgetary and legislative powers of the Council.

However, this does not tell the whole story. There are no doubt cases where the people's interests - mainly black and brown immigrants- are not well repre sented. Some claim it has led to repeated harassment, discrimination, and intimi dation.

Curiously, with few exceptions, some immigrants feel they live out the same experiences of black and brown American citizens whose opinions do not always count. In their view, they confront anti-black discrimination and racial prej udice because of their skin color, lan guage barrier, accent, etc.

Some of these factors expose them to high risks of poverty, increased incarcer ation, lack of access to quality health care, over-policing, and lack of afford able housing. More than another immi grant group, undocumented black immi grants, are also caught in the possibility of criminal-based deportation, with over seventy percent of black immigrants deported on criminal charges, compared to forty percent of other immigrants.

Responses from a few undocumented black and brown immigrants show a feel ing of losing identity to the label of being 'black' and voice, resulting in the same treatment as other blacks.

Kwame Osei, who lives in the Bronx, reports that his views are nonexistent as an immigrant, just like other blacks in America. "Nobody listens. My right in this country, especially New York City, is not protected because the land belongs to the white people," he says. Interestingly, they know that their rights

and concerns can be addressed through the representatives at the various levels of government, especially within their districts. However, most need clarifica tion on steps to take to get their views known.

Findings from a poll report show that voters were equally divided in their action toward contacting one of their congressional representatives. More than forty-seven percent of citizens had reached out, while fifty-three percent had yet to reach their representatives. Interestingly, irrespective of whether they received a response, the majority felt ignored by their members of Congress.

Suggestions to Improve Relationships Between Legislative and Constituents

Surprisingly, the solution to the problem is embedded within enhanced methods of communication, raising awareness of the role of the media and general relationship management of both parties.

A New York City Council Member said, "Being more accessible and meeting your constituents in the community is the most important way of bridging the gap." The process aims to cooperate toward making critical decisions in everyone's best inter ests.

Communication

Effective communication is critical. "I can't think of anything more important than communication," says Jewelyn. "We should be able to talk to our representa tives about our concern."

The communication channel between legislators and citizens in various dis tricts enables the representatives to decide on ways to resolve citizens' con cerns and express opinions. Therefore, citizens, including immigrants, can use formal mechanisms to participate in the legislative process, such as committee hearings, public access, and informative sessions held at city halls or designated legislative buildings.

Legislative meetings hold frequently, and stakeholders, including immigrants, meet to engage in public decision-mak ing. At such gatherings, they reach a con sensus on different issues affecting every citizen and the future prosperity of the community/district and State.

Some basic steps for effective individual participation start from a basic under standing of the legislative process. Potential resources to gather relevant information include:

•Call the Information Center or Council member's office

•Learn how to read a bill

•Watch or listen to broadcasts of commit tee hearings

•Ask questions to gather more informa tion and clarity

Get to Know Your Council Members

You must know who to talk to and devel op a relationship with to be heard. For Ada Rosa, "One of my goals in this city is to get Latinos elected," she said. "So, I try to know who is running and talk to them, you know, form a Latino caucus of our own."

Thus, it is essential to build a positive relationship with the representatives by having the right attitude – remember, you are not the only one they represent. Endeavor to arrange a meeting with them outside their peak period of activities and try to find common areas of interest with in the community where you can meet them. You can meet with them by writing a letter, sending an e-mail message, or testifying before a committee.

Become Known to the Legislative Staff

Most council members have staff they depend upon for gathering information and analysis; you can become a resource for providing information about people's concerns and issues.

Network with Other Immigrants

Most people live in communities, the more information you can gather from other concerned immigrants and citizens, the more impact you can make with your voice. You can also join groups and net works with similar interests and con cerns. A group of concerned citizens is more effective than individuals trying to accomplish the same objective alone.

Regardless of how you feel about your representative, avoid being aggressive with them when you disagree with their opinion. The 51 Council Members repre senting the districts are at the New York City Hall in New York City. Each Council Member has an office at 250 Broadway and offices in each of their neighborhoods.

They always want feedback on improv ing their constituencies, the City, and the State, either in person or online. However, for issues peculiar to a neigh borhood, it is best to contact the Council Member representing that community to lend your voice.

Remember that your participation is essential and makes a difference.l

This article is part of the 2022 NY State Elections Reporting Fellowship of the Center for Community Media at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY.

New York NY/USA-July 11, 2019 NYC Council Member Carolina Rivera speaks at a press conference with New York taxi drivers on the steps of NY City Hall calling for debt forgiveness for their medallions. Editorial credit: rblfmr / Shutterstock.com