CAPITAL REGION, N.Y. (NEWS10) — The New York City administration confirmed they have nearly 62,000 asylum seekers still in their care. NEWS10 breaks down how many asylum seekers can start the process to get to work. 

A representative with New York City Mayor Adams’ administration confirmed nearly 40,000 asylum seekers are aged 18 and over and could possibly be ready to start the process that gets them working.

Roughly 15,000 Venezuelan asylum seekers have been assessed and are confirmed to have been in the country before July 31st.  Around 1800 asylees are living outside of the city, not all of them are Venezuelan. 

Carlos, a Capital Region Venezuelan asylum seeker, talks about the new temporary protected status that allows for the early start time, he told NEWS10 that he feels the rules are unfair for others.

“This is really hard it’s really hard for everyone what rights come to one person should go to every person if some of us can work then everyone should have the opportunity to do the same because we all have the same needs,” said Carlos.

The New York City Mayor’s administration initiated what they say is a “three-week sprint” to identify which asylum seekers are ready to work, and which are not. They say this plan will take several weeks to complete. 

We have been communicating with Mayor Adams’ office and they say they will have a better idea of exactly how many Asylees are ready to start work in the coming weeks. NEWS10 will bring you those updates both on-air and online.