Migrant crisis explained: Where do we go from here?

Migrant crisis explained

As NYC continues to struggle with the migrant crisis, one of the big questions still being debated is "how did we get to this point and where do we go from here?" FOX 5 NY's Morgan McKay has more.

The pressures of population, poverty, civil wars and natural disasters has pushed people from all over the world to the United States’ borders.

However, it’s been over 30 years since there was real immigration reform and both sides of the aisle are still far away from a solution.

Now the country is facing an unprecedented backlog.

More than 2.1 million people are still waiting to be granted asylum, but the average asylum case takes between 4 and 5 years to complete.

Yale-Loer says there is not a quick fix to solving this crisis.

"Yes we do need to try to manage our border," Loer said. "The second prong would be to provide more work visas for people who do want to come and work so they can do so legally… And the third prong is to legalize the estimated 10 million people in the United States who lack authorization right now."

Both Democrats and Republicans acknowledge that the system is broken but won’t agree on how to fix it.

Last Thursday, Republicans passed a bill that would build more of the border wall between the US and Mexico and impose new restrictions on asylum seekers.

Yet this bill has virtually no chance of passing the Democrat led Senate.

Meanwhile, a bipartisan group of Senators is proposing extending Title 42 for another two years.

However, it’s not popular as Senator Chris Murphy pointed out on Meet the Press.

But county leaders in New York are reaching their limit now that New York City has started to bus migrants upstate.

Almost everyone is in agreement about one thing, an executive order to allow migrants to start working.

"The federal government must reform the 180-day waiting period for work authorization," Stephen Acquario, the Executive Director of the New York Association of Counties said. "We don't want letters. We want results. The Federal Government must release funds immediately to the states bearing the brunt of this national security crisis."

Governor Kathy Hochul on Friday sent a letter to President Joe Biden asking for federal assistance and to use certain federal bases as sites for migrant facilities.

She said on Monday she has not heard back.