New York Mayor Eric Adams and Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz are calling on New York state officials to take measures to better protect migrant populations after two separate accusations of sexual assault on migrants occurred within two weeks of each other.
In the first incident, Jesus Guzman-Bermudez, a 26-year-old Venezuelan asylum seeker, was accused of raping his partner in front of their 3-year-old child at a Cheektowaga hotel in the Buffalo area. Poloncarz, a Democrat, initially downplayed the incident, saying that only one serious crime and two minor ones had occurred among the 570 migrants housed in Erie County as a result of the influx.
However, a second incident followed just a week later when a 22-year-old man from the Democratic Republic of the Congo allegedly forced himself upon a worker at a second Cheektowaga hotel near the Buffalo airport. Poloncarz responded to the second incident by demanding the state to stop sending migrants and to provide more security measures for those already present.
“Two serious violent crimes are alleged to have occurred in the past two weeks, and they are two too many,” Poloncarz said in a statement. “Our trust and good faith has been betrayed. I am calling on the governor to send the National Guard to provide security at the hotels and shelters in which asylum seekers are being relocated or housed.”
Poloncarz has been joined in his call for action by Mayor Adams of New York City, who has called on other states and communities in New York state to help bear the burden of caring for the migrants who have been shipped from Texas and other places to the city. “We are appreciative of all our partners across the state, especially in Erie County, who are stepping up and doing their part to meet the needs of asylum seekers,” Adams said.
Meanwhile, the New York State Office of Children and Family Services has announced that the state will be implementing new safety measures at locations where asylum seekers are being housed. They have also pledged to work with law enforcement to carry out rigorous background checks on all potential asylum seekers.
These incidents of sexual assault have cast a light on the importance of protecting vulnerable migrant populations. As Poloncarz stated, “Any asylum seeker who shatters the sacred trust placed in them by violating the law, including against a fellow asylum seeker, as in this matter, should be swiftly prosecuted and deported after they are punished for their crimes.”
