Asylum Seekers

On this week’s 51%, we speak with Carol Cleaveland and Michele Waslin, author of Private Violence: Latin American Women and the Struggle for Asylum. As President Trump effectively shuts down processing at the southern border and ramps up deportations, asylum seekers in the U.S. are left in a precarious position, especially women fleeing domestic and gender-based violence. Through interviews and eyewitness accounts of closed court proceedings, Cleaveland and Waslin demonstrate how difficult it is for these women to seek shelter in the U.S., and why “gender-based violence” is still not considered grounds for asylum — even before the second Trump Administration.

Upstate New York officials are calling for aid to help provide services for migrants sheltering in upstate hotels who will soon be relocated.

Nearly a year ago, migrants began arriving in Albany County as part of a political dispute stretching from the southern border to New York City. While the newcomers try to assimilate, local leaders say work continues to accommodate the new arrivals.

As New York state continues to deal with an influx of tens of thousands of migrants, Albany city and county officials gathered Wednesday to discuss strategies for integrating asylum seekers.

The company hired by New York City to coordinate services and the relocation of migrants upstate is being investigated by state Attorney General Tish James.

The Mohonasen and North Colonie school districts are preparing to welcome students from migrant families when school starts next month.

Asylum-seekers, migrants and refugees have long looked to the United States for shelter from economic and political turmoil. As they continue to arrive in upstate New York from New York City, the migrants and local communities are both confronting confusion and uncertainty.

(Airs 08/10/23 @ 3 p.m.) WAMC’s David Guistina speaks with Ed Cox, Chairman of the New York State Republican Party about redistricting, bail reform, climate change, Donald Trump's indictments, and more.

The Rotterdam Town Board has approved a new law addressing panhandling.

Since last spring close to 100,000 asylum seekers have arrived in New York City. In early May, Mayor Eric Adams announced plans to begin busing asylum seekers upstate. By the end of the month buses reached the Capital Region. No one was prepared for what happened next.