Federal, State Resources Will Help Jamestown Accept Migrants 


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Helping Jamestown Accept Migrants

JAMESTOWN, NY (WNY News Now) — An influx of Colombian migrants have been seeking refuge in the City of Jamestown for the past month. Now, federal and state resources are on the horizon to help.

“To our knowledge we have not seen an influx currently of additional migrants,“ explained Jamestown Mayor Eddie Sundquist. “So we’re just kind of working with them, and the organizations that are directly working with them to get social security cards, which would allow them to get certain benefits. But also to have some type of ID, which is required for food banks and other things.”   





In an attempt to organize resources, Mayor Eddie Sundquist is in contact with multiple federal agencies.

“We’ve had direct phone calls with the Department of Homeland Security,“ stated Mayor Sundquist. “We’ve been working with The White House Intergovernmental Affairs Office, and we’re working with Social Security.” 

On a state level, Gov. Kathy Hochul’s budget includes billions of dollars to help cities like Jamestown prepare for an influx of migrants. In New York City alone, $2 billion dollars are already allocated. 





















“The executive budget includes $5 billion dollars for migrant services,“ explained Mayor Sundquist. “But that would obviously take some time to process through the state budget, and then get to where it needs to go.” 

Locally, resources like United Way are trying their best to provide necessary resources to the migrants while they are awaiting for everything to be finalized.

 









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