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Q&A

Council Member Brewer Inquires About Asylum Seeker Population Estimates

New York City Council · May 28, 2026 · starts 5:22:15 · 53 sec

Council Member Gale Brewer asks for estimates on the number of asylum seekers in the city who could benefit from targeted employment programs.

Luisa Linares

Okay.

Luisa Linares

And is there a sense of I have no sense.

Luisa Linares

I mean, I wish that every single person who came here was able to stay who was seeking asylum.

Luisa Linares

Um we need the schools, we need we need them all.

Luisa Linares

That's not the case with the person in in uh Washington.

Luisa Linares

So my question is do we have some sense of how many folks here are seeking asylum and who are obviously not everybody's in shelter, not everybody is able to be found.

Luisa Linares

You can't find the people in my house, I bet.

Luisa Linares

So my question is how do we have any sense of the numbers?

Luisa Linares

Many of whom could use these programs that Ruth is uh trying to establish.

Luisa Linares

I don't have that number handy, but we will get it and we can circle back with that.

Luisa Linares

Okay, because I think that would be helpful give some sense of where we're going in terms of those kinds of programs.