CT sees increase in asylum seekers coming from Haiti, Venezuela, Cuba

The number of Haitian arrivals encountered by federal, state or local officials tripled to nearly 145,000 people arriving between October 2022 and this past August, peaking above 20,000 in July before dipping slightly back below that monthly tally in August, according to U.S. Customs & Border Protection.

The numbers from Venezuela had peaked in April and May, with many of those people now able to seek employment as they pursue asylum declarations on the path to becoming legal immigrants. In Connecticut, officials say, the wait has grown longer for migrants seeking asylum.

“Our goal is to be able to book a new client an appointment within three weeks,” said Schnitzer, from the Connecticut Institute for Refugees and Immigration Services. “We’re now booking out to three months.”

As of July, Connecticut had more than 31,600 asylum cases in its immigration court system, according to researchers at Syracuse University. That was nearly 6,000 more than in October 2022 for a 23 percent increase. About 60 cases on file in Connecticut cover criminal cases involving migrants or people going through the immigration process.

In total over those nine months, Connecticut had the 20th fastest growing backlog of immigration cases in the nation. That was in line with Massachusetts, while trailing New York’s 37 percent rise that led the Northeast, and a 32 percent increase in New Jersey.

“Our outdated and broken immigration system is harming people, and it is also harming our economy,” U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., said during a Senate hearing last week when he noted the disproportionate impact that immigrants have had boosting the U.S. economy. “We can fix it — and we should try.”

The road to asylum

As of 2021, Connecticut was home to some 534,000 people who were born in other countries, according to the Migration Policy Institute. That included more than 136,000 immigrants from Central America, South America and Caribbean nations, who make up the large majority of new arrivals across the Mexico border according to the Washington Office on Latin America. Brazil natives now make up the largest current backlog of immigration cases in Connecticut, according to Syracuse University researchers.

Under “Operation Lone Star,” Texas has been busing people to northern states after detaining them upon crossing the Mexico border, in advance of any determination of whether they might qualify for asylum. Undocumented migrants can argue for asylum based on fears of persecution back home due to their religion, political beliefs, race, nationality or identification with any particular social group.

As of Sept. 8, Texas confirmed having bused 13,500 people to New York City who had crossed the border illegally, and another 22,500 to Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Chicago, Denver and Los Angeles. 

Lamont’s office says that there have been no reports of busloads of migrants being sent to Connecticut, but they are nevertheless finding their way to the state, and seeking help as they look to plant roots in what they hope will be a fresh start in America.

“When we talk about migrants or refugees or asylum seekers, I just view them as humans in need of safety and opportunity,” said Rachel Kornfeld, CEO of Jewish Family Services of Greenwich, who joined the refugee and migrant assistance agency after a dozen years with Lutheran Social Services of New York in the Bronx. “We have seen a huge increase.

Schnitzer said many of those people arrive in order to tap support from existing family or acquaintances living in Connecticut. But she added some arrive with no local connections, figuring out who to contact for help and figuring out other critical steps on the fly.

Under U.S. law, asylum seekers have one year to apply for a designation from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. From there, it can take up to several years based on the current backlog to get an asylum application approved, setting up the process for permanent residency and future citizenship.

In Connecticut, adult asylum seekers and refugees get enrolled in a range of services, including cash cards to meet immediate purchasing needs; temporary assistance for rent; SNAP food benefits; and the Health Care for Uninsured Kids and Youth program. For undocumented migrants this summer, Connecticut expanded HUSKY coverage to cover children through age 15, from the prior cutoff at age 12.

Asylum seekers and refugees also get classes in English as a second language, financial “literacy” and digital proficiency; and job training with the assistance of the Connecticut Department of Labor.

Kornfeld said many of the newcomers arrive with skills that make them instantly employable, given the right opportunity. JFS of Greenwich itself has hired five former refugees, who Kornfeld described as impressive educational backgrounds and “incredible ability to connect” with others.

Connecticut policymakers have long emphasized that immigrants represent a major pipeline for employers to find people to hire, who are willing and able to do the work at hand at the wages employers are willing to pay. In survey results released Thursday by the Connecticut Business & Industry Association, four of every five employers reported difficulties finding or retaining qualified workers.

As of 2019, private households were the largest employers of both legal immigrants and those entering the country without authorization, according to studies by Pew Research Center, with farms the next largest employer of illegal immigrants. Grounds maintenance was the most prevalent type of work for unauthorized immigrants, with triple the number of people working in those fields compared to those offering other household services.

Kornfeld lives in Stamford where the majority of the refugees helped by JFS of Greenwich choose to live. She said she has been impressed with the Stamford schools’ efforts to help children assimilate and learn.

“I’m just blown away by the efforts of the teachers in the new arrivals’ classrooms, the administrators and at the district level — what they are doing to be proactive instead of reactive,” Kornfeld said. “They understand the specialized needs of these children — from the academic perspective and a trauma-informed perspective.”

Includes prior reporting by Andy Tsubasa Field, Sandra Diamond Fox, Shaniece Holmes-Brown, and Jordan Nathaniel Fenster who contributed to this report.