Ten Commandments

We are told over and over again that we are to take care of the stranger in our midst. On this eve of Shavuot, when we became a people and received the 10 Commandments, it behooves us to remember the plight of others. We too were wanderers, we too had little, but we did have one another as we marched together.

With that in mind, we share with you information as to what is happening to the migrants who are being sent to our area with little or no supplies and to the intrepid volunteers who have been meeting buses over the last number of months.

From the Synagogue Coalition on the Refugee and Immigration Crisis (SCRIC): Statement on Mayor’s New Policy Excluding Groups Assisting Migrants.

The Synagogue Coalition on the Refugee and Immigration Crisis (SCRIC) and its members have been active supporters of Team TLC NYC and Athletes Artists and Activists, groups greeting and providing assistance to asylum seekers as they have arrived in NYC.

We learned last Thursday that the city is now immediately moving people from the Port Authority and bussing them to the Hotel Roosevelt and possibly other hotel sites. Volunteer groups are now unable to provide food, clothing and general information as they have done since buses began arriving in NYC as their Port Authority welcome center has been shut down by the city. Further, the city is excluding volunteer groups from operating at the new locations.

 These groups have been on the ground at the Port Authority from the beginning providing significant support that enhances the city's response. Team TLC NYC and Athletes Artists and Activists are both qualified 501(c)(3) not for profit organizations who have been expending all of their resources to help the migrants, including providing food and clothing to people arriving with nothing, and even paying for Lyft and Uber fares for those arriving at the airports.

 This exclusion of NGO assistance is a major concern of our members who support and volunteer with these organizations. At a time when the mayor speaks about lacking funding to properly assist new arrivals, his administration is now rejecting assistance from volunteer groups. Additionally, the mayor’s spokesman, Fabien Levy, unfairly blamed activists, who have for almost a year been doing the city’s job at the city’s request, for “attracting” and “luring migrants [to New York] with false promises.”

 We are asking our local council members, elected officials, and the mayor’s office to ensure that groups already active in assisting migrants be allowed to continue to operate effectively side by side with the city’s efforts rather than turning them away. Additionally, we ask the mayor to disavow statements that volunteers are creating a problem by Welcoming the Stranger and providing food, clothing, and advice on accessing services to those in need.

 For more information, please contact SCRIC at info@synagoguecoalition.org

Contact our local council member, elected officials, and the mayor's office:

Eric Dinowitz, (718) 549-7300, edinowitz@council.nyc.gov

Speaker Adrienne Adams, (212) 482-6731, SpeakerAdams@council.nyc.gov

Mayor Eric Adams, (212) 788-3000, https://www.nyc.gov/office-of-the-mayor/contact-the-mayor.page