Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York has moved forward with a plan to adjust New York’s Civil Service Commission to help hire illegal immigrants to fill 4,000 state jobs, a move critics contend would put illegal immigrants ahead of Americans in the line for state jobs. The big step forward came at the end of January 2024, when Hochul approved a plan to hire 4,000 illegal immigrants for entry-level jobs in New York.
To make hiring those thousands of illegal immigrants possible, the plan Hochul approved and the Civil Service Commission passed would eliminate several key requirements to make the illegal immigrants eligible for the thousands of entry-level jobs.
Specifically, the Civil Service Commission approved, on January 18 of 2024, a measure that would drop application requirements like proficiency in English and proof of a high school diploma. The thousands of entry-level jobs are one that are currently unfilled within state agencies. The roles mainly include clerical roles, administrative roles, technical support, equipment service, repair services, and food services.
The Civil Service Commission, in a press release on the plan, said, “Governor Hochul has taken several steps to address the migrant crisis, including identifying more than 18,000 job openings with hundreds of employers who are willing to hire migrants and asylum seekers with legal work status in the United States. The Governor is also looking for State agencies to participate in this effort. Agencies have identified approximately 4,000 positions, many in hard-to-recruit, entry level titles that can potentially be filled by these individuals and others.”
Continuing, it explained the reason for dropping the traditional requirements, saying, “Agencies, however, have identified several barriers to employing such individuals. First, many migrants and asylum seekers are unable to verify their educational attainment such as high school completion or equivalent education, which is required for some of these positions. Second, some have limited English proficiency. Lastly, even if they have successful experience performing the work to be done, it may be difficult for agencies to verify previous employment outside the United States. Despite these obstacles, these individuals are able to perform many of the core duties of the positions that State agencies seek to fill.“
Governor Hochul, commenting on the plan, said, “I have 10,000 openings in the New York State workforce. From our operations to SUNY, I have 10,000 openings. So this is to give options to people but to say we are working intensely to get work authorization — these are all legal people.” She added, “I’m anxious to get this moving quickly, and once they’re approved, we can match people to jobs. They don’t need to be reliant on services any longer, which I think is the objective to not have people supported by taxpayers in our shelters.”
Similarly, Mayor Adams of New York City said, “I would love to get migrants and asylum seekers to help with the lifeguard shortage. We’ve been successful in getting almost 30,000 people to [file] applications, including work authorization, asylum, TPS — we want more.”
Watch a report on the plan here:
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