A promising program to settle migrants in Buffalo

Some 2,000 migrants will serve as test subjects for a new New York program aimed at helping them get back on their feet, not here, but north and west of Buffalo, as Gothic reports. Unlike some previous efforts, this program does not aim to keep asylum seekers in stasis, but to allow them to thrive.

There will inevitably be those who compare this effort to Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s inhumane and politically motivated plan to put migrants on buses to the Port Authority, sometimes without their knowledge and without coordination or even notice to the jurisdiction of welcome. It’s a stupid comparison.

This program is aimed at migrants who are already in hotels in Buffalo and, instead of throwing them out on the street with nowhere to go, aims to tap local nonprofits to help these migrants find a job and housing.

We wonder why this wasn’t done when the migrants were first sent to Buffalo. This is not a new or unprecedented approach; it largely mirrors the federal government’s global refugee program, which resettles those fleeing persecution in pre-selected jurisdictions with sufficient support and a trail to help them get back on their feet.

New York City would have already made a lot of progress if it had adopted this strategy in the first place, although, of course, the entity that already has the infrastructure, operational expertise, capital and reach To achieve this easily is the federal government itself, which has instead stepped back and let the localities deal with it.

Throughout this ordeal, the practical solutions have never really changed: newcomers need social services, language support, professional training, some financial flexibility and a access to housing. If they have these elements, it will stop being a crisis and can become an opportunity, a lesson Buffalo has already learned well.

Buffalo’s refugee boom over the past two decades has helped reverse population decline and generate economic growth, making it an excellent candidate for a similar program locally.

As much as we love New York, not everyone has to live here. Some asylum seekers will find additional opportunities elsewhere, and many cities, if they are smart, will welcome them with open arms as long as they get some of that runway. Ultimately, this will cost less than the current shelter-based approach and will actually improve the lives of migrants, not to mention that as communities of new migrants establish themselves in other localities, more will join them organically, reducing some of the pressure on New York. .

All of this will need to be done carefully and with appropriate oversight to ensure that migrants actually receive adequate services, but we imagine the results will be encouraging enough to create an appetite for similar programs elsewhere. Perhaps the federal government, seeing the results in Buffalo, will also remember that it is the one that has the tools already developed to do this on a large scale and will actively begin relocating asylum seekers as they do for refugees.

Whatever electoral points the White House thinks it will lose by reaching out, we can guarantee it will lose more by ignoring the issue altogether. Rather than tinkering with asylum restrictions, simply help those already there.