News

Open Letter to the President & Congressional Leaders from Concerned Business Leaders Regarding the Asylum-Seekers Humanitarian Crisis

August 28, 2023

Dear President Biden and Congressional Leaders:

The New York business community is deeply concerned about the humanitarian crisis that has resulted from the continued flow of asylum-seekers into our country. The situation is overwhelming the resources not only of the border region but of city and state governments across the nation. New York City, alone, has received more than 100,000 asylum seekers whose status is uncertain and who lack authorization to work. Increasingly, these are families with young children.

We write to support the request made by New York Governor Hochul for federal funding for educational, housing, security, and health care services to offset the costs that local and state governments are incurring with limited federal aid. In addition, there is a compelling need for expedited processing of asylum applications and work permits for those who meet federal eligibility standards. Immigration policies and control of our country’s border are clearly a federal responsibility; state and local governments have no standing in this matter.

There are labor shortages in many U.S. industries, where employers are prepared to offer training and jobs to individuals who are authorized to work in the United States. The business community is also providing in-kind assistance and philanthropic support to organizations that are addressing the immediate needs of this largely destitute population.

Bipartisan action by Congress and the Administration is ultimately the way to resolve immigration issues, but that will take time. In the interim, we urge you to take immediate action to better control the border and the process of asylum and provide relief to the cities and states that are bearing the burdens posed by the influx of asylum seekers.

Sincerely,

Albert Bourla, Chairman & CEO, Pfizer Inc. and Co-Chair, Partnership for New York City

Rob Speyer, President & CEO, Tishman Speyer and Co-Chair, Partnership for New York City   

 

Jeffrey H. Aronson, Managing Principal, Centerbridge Partners

Robert Bakish, President & CEO, Paramount Global

Neil Barr, Chair & Managing Partner, Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP

Jeff T. Blau, Chief Executive Officer, The Related Companies, L.P.

Tim Cawley, Chairman, President & CEO, Con Edison

Carmine Di Sibio, Global Chairman & CEO, Ernst & Young LLP

Jamie Dimon, Chairman & CEO, JPMorgan Chase & Co.

John Q. Doyle, President & CEO, Marsh McLennan

Blair W. Effron, Co-Founder, Centerview Partners

Catherine Engelbert, Commissioner, WNBA

Laurence D. Fink, Chairman & CEO, BlackRock

William E. Ford, Chairman & CEO, General Atlantic LLC

Jane Fraser, Chief Executive Officer, Citi

Jeff Gennette, Chairman & CEO, Macy’s, Inc.

Barry M. Gosin, Chief Executive Officer, Newmark

Evan G. Greenberg, Chairman & CEO, Chubb

Kenneth M. Jacobs, Chairman & CEO, Lazard

Brad S. Karp, Chair, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP

Charles R. Kaye, Chief Executive Officer, Warburg Pincus LLC

Henry R. Kravis, Co-Founder & Executive Co-Chairman, KKR

Kewsong Lee, Founder & Managing Partner, Waterfront Partners LLC

Martin Lipton, Partner, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz

Peter W. May, President & Founding Partner, Trian Partners

Andrew McMahon, CEO & President, The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America

Charles E. Phillips, Jr., Managing Partner & Co-Founder, Recognize

Steven L. Rattner, Chairman & CEO, Willett Advisors LLC

Steven Rubenstein, President, Rubenstein Communications, Inc.

Kevin P. Ryan, Founder & CEO, AlleyCorp

Charles Scharf, CEO & President, Wells Fargo & Company

Alan D. Schnitzer, Chairman & CEO, The Travelers Companies, Inc.

Alan D. Schwartz, Executive Chairman, Guggenheim Partners, LLC

Stephen A. Schwarzman, Chairman, CEO & Co-Founder, Blackstone

Joshua Silverman, Chief Executive Officer, Etsy, Inc.

David M. Solomon, Chairman & CEO, Goldman Sachs

Jeffrey M. Solomon, President, TD Cowen

Robert K. Steel, Vice Chairman, Perella Weinberg Partners

Steven R. Swartz, President & CEO, Hearst

James S. Tisch, President & CEO, Loews Corporation

George H. Walker, Chairman & CEO, Neuberger Berman

Kathryn S. Wylde, President & CEO, Partnership for New York City

 

William D. Abramson, Principal, Buchbinder & Warren Realty Group LLC

Lee S. Ainslie, Managing Partner, Maverick Capital

Simon Allen, Chief Executive Officer, McGraw Hill

Glenn R. August, Founder & CEO, Oak Hill Advisors L.P.

Barbara Becker, Chair, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP

Candace K. Beinecke, Senior Partner, Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP

Charles R. Bendit, Co-Chief Executive Officer, Taconic Investment Partners LLC

William H. Berkman, Co-Chairman & CEO, Radius Global Infrastructure, Inc.

Gary Binning, Founding Managing Partner, Dominus Capital

Frank J. Bisignano, Chairman, President & CEO, Fiserv

Kathy Bloomgarden, Chief Executive Officer, Ruder Finn, Inc.

Marty Burger, Chief Executive Officer, Silverstein Properties, Inc.

Donald A. Capoccia, Principal, BFC Partners

Kenneth I. Chenault, Chairman & Managing Director, General Catalyst Partners

H. Rodgin Cohen, Senior Chair, Sullivan & Cromwell LLP

Richard A.C. Coles, Founder & Managing Partner, Vanbarton Group 

R. Cromwell Coulson, President & CEO, OTC Markets Group

Joanne Crevoiserat, Chief Executive Officer, Tapestry, Inc.

Jean-François Decaux, Chairman of the Executive Board & Co-CEO, JCDecaux SE

AnnaMaria DeSalva, Global Chairman & CEO, Hill+Knowlton Strategies

Annemarie DiCola, Chief Executive Officer, Trepp, Inc.

Corey duBrowa, Chief Executive Officer, BCW

Scott A. Edelman, Partner and Chairman, Milbank LLP

Joel S. Ehrenkranz, Partner and Co-Founder, Ehrenkranz Partners L.P.

Sean Feeney, Co-Owner of Lilia & Misi & Co-Founder, Grovehouse

Peter Finn, Chief Executive Officer, Finn Partners

John Fish, Chairman & CEO, Suffolk

Winston C. Fisher, Partner, Fisher Brothers

Alan H. Fishman, Founder, Willow Holdings, Inc.

Adam Flatto, President & CEO, The Georgetown Company

Bethlam Forsa, Chief Executive Officer, Savvas Learning Company

Peter Furci, Presiding Partner, Debevoise & Plimpton LLP

Michael Gerstenzang, Managing Partner, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP

Jeffrey Goldberg, Chief Executive Officer, Fairstead

Perry Golkin, Chief Executive Officer, PPC Enterprises LLC

David J. Greenwald, Chairman, Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP

Efraim Grinberg, Chairman & CEO, Movado Group, Inc.

Stewart KP Gross, Managing Director, Lightyear Capital

Christopher Grosso, Chief Executive Officer, Intersection

Samer Hamadeh, Founder & CEO, Zeel

Matthew Hiltzik, President & CEO, Hiltzik Strategies, LLC

Leslie W. Himmel, Managing Partner, Himmel + Meringoff Properties LLC

Marc Holliday, President & CEO, SL Green Realty Corp.

Michael Houston, President, US, WPP

Frederick J. Iseman, Chairman & CEO, CI Capital Partners LLC

Alan Jones, Senior Managing Director, Intermediate Capital Group plc

John Josephson, Chairman & CEO, SESAC Music Group

Erik W. Kahn, Partner, Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP

Harry Kargman, Founder & CEO, Kargo

Michel A. Khalaf, President & CEO, MetLife, Inc.

Andrew Klaber, President, Bedford Ridge Capital

Arvind Krishna, Chairman & CEO, IBM Corporation

Rochelle B. Lazarus, Chairman Emeritus, Ogilvy

Jeffrey E. Levine, Chairman, Douglaston Development

Mehdi Mahmud, CEO & President, First Eagle Investment Management, LLC

Tracy V. Maitland, President, Advent Capital Management, LLC

Anthony Malkin, Chairman, President & CEO, Empire State Realty Trust

Anish Melwani, Chairman & CEO, LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton

Daniel Meyer, Founder & Executive Chairman, Union Square Hospitality Group

Ken Moelis, Chairman and CEO, Moelis & Company

Greg Mondre, Co-Chief Executive Officer, Silver Lake

Daniel Moore, President & CEO, Rockefeller Group International, Inc.

R. Tyler Morse, Chairman & CEO, MCR Hotels / MORSE Development

Deanna M. Mulligan, Chief Executive Officer, Purposeful

Liz Neumark, Chair & Founder, Great Performances

Mark Pearson, Chief Executive Officer, Equitable Holdings, Inc.

Douglas L. Peterson, President & CEO, S&P Global

Deirdre Quinn, Co-Founder & CEO, Lafayette 148 New York

Daniel Ramot, Co-Founder & CEO, Via

Gerald Rizzieri, President & CEO, Mizuho Securities USA LLC

Michael M. Roberts, President & CEO, HSBC Bank USA

James D. Robinson III, Co-Founder & General Partner, RRE Ventures

Robert K. Rockwood, President, Sabey Data Centers

Steven Roth, Chairman & CEO, Vornado Realty Trust

Mitchell E. Rudin, Chairman & CEO, Savills Inc.

William C. Rudin, Co-Chairman & CEO, Rudin Management Company, Inc.

Leo Salom, President & CEO, TD Bank, N.A.

Michael Schmidtberger, Partner & Chair of the Executive Committee, Sidley Austin LLP

Barry Schwartz, Vice Chairman Emeritus, MacAndrews & Forbes Incorporated

Frank J. Sciame, Chairman & CEO, Sciame Construction, LLC

Kathleen Shanahan, Chief Executive Officer, Turtle & Hughes, Inc.

Suzanne Shank, President & CEO, Siebert Williams Shank & Co., LLC

Tarek Sherif, Co-Founder, Medidata 

Stanley S. Shuman, Senior Advisor, Allen & Company LLC

Stefan Simon, Member of the Management Board, Deutsche Bank 

Douglas C. Steiner, Chairman, Steiner Studios

Owen D. Thomas, Chief Executive Officer, BXP

Mary Ann Tighe, Chief Executive Officer, NY Tri-State Region, CBRE

Gary M. Tischler, Founder & Managing Partner, Vanbarton Group

Daniel R. Tishman, Vice Chairman, AECOM & Principal, Tishman Realty

William B. Tyree, Managing Partner, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.

Robert Vecchio, Chief Executive Officer, SOCOTEC Engineering, Inc.

Robin Vince, President & CEO, BNY Mellon

Pamela S. Wasserstein, President, Vox Media

Jeffrey Weiner, Chairman & CEO, Marcum LLP

Charles Weinstein, Chief Executive Officer, Eisner Advisory Group LLC

David Winter, Co-Chief Executive Officer, Standard Industries Inc.

Rudolph Wynter, President, NY, National Grid

Strauss Zelnick, Partner, ZMC

James Zelter, Co-President, Apollo Global Management, Inc.

Michael Zetlin, Senior Partner, Zetlin & De Chiara LLP

Eric Zinterhofer, Founding Partner, Searchlight Capital

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