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It’s been two months since Hurricane Ida hit New York, flooding streets, basements and subways and even taking 13 New Yorkers’ lives. Low-income and immigrant communities were heavily affected by the storm’s flooding. In late September, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio created a $27 million relief program for roughly 5,100 undocumented immigrants who were affected. Yet only 32 applicants have received aid as of Nov. 24. According to Hochul’s office, an additional 53 individuals were approved but are pending payment. The fund is expected to close to new applicants on Monday. City Limits
In other local immigration news…
Abuse Allegations of ICE Detainees in Orange County
Attorneys are alleging immigrant detainees faced abusive and racist treatment at New York’s Orange County Correctional Facility. In recent weeks, the Immigrant Rights Clinic at New York University’s School of Law filed complaints with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Orange County Sheriff’s Office. One of the allegations includes the mistreatment of a mentally disabled and cognitively impaired Mexican immigrant. The individual attempted suicide four times since coming into Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody. Lawyers said even though he attempted suicide, he wasn’t given proper mental health treatment and was put into solitary confinement. Gothamist
New Jersey Applicants Face Obstacles for Excluded Worker Fund
The Excluded New Jerseyans Fund started accepting applications in late October from undocumented immigrants who didn’t get federal pandemic relief. But almost a month later, immigrants say they’re dealing with obstacles to get their applications approved. According the state Human Services Department, out of the more than 6,000 fund applications, just 406 applications were approved. Another 151 were declared ineligible and over 5,000 are waiting to be processed. Many applicants say they were told they’re missing documents, but are unclear on what they need to upload, or are unable to upload additional documented to their application. Meanwhile some say their profiles expired with no way of fixing them. New Jersey Monitor
