New York City announced on Tuesday it is parting ways with DocGo, a company that provides services to migrants under a controversial contract.
Last year, the city announced it had entered a no-bid $432 million contract with DocGo, a medical supplier servicer that specialized in COVID-19 testing. Prior to the contract, the company had no experience with migrant services.
The contract between the city and DocGo is set to end on May 5. Mayor Eric Adams said he plans to submit a competitive request for a contract with a different company. Garner Environmental Services, which has an existing contract with the city, will take over the services DocGo provided while a new contract is found. DocGo will continue its contract with other cities in New York state.
“We are working with the comptroller on a temporary extension for the upstate DocGo hotels to ensure we are not disrupting children in school and are not leaving our upstate partners without proper notice,” Adams chief of staff Camille Joseph Varlack said in a statement.
“This will ultimately allow the city to save more money and will allow others, including nonprofits and internationally recognized resettlement providers, to apply to do this critical work, and ensures we are using city funds efficiently and effectively,” Varlack said.
The city originally entered the contract with DocGo to provide migrants with social services such as case management, medical care, food, transportation, and housing. Since signing the contract, the company has been riddled with controversy.
Some migrants were told there were more opportunities if they went north to Albany, New York. Upon arrival, many realized their work eligibility and residency letters were fake. Some migrants said they were treated “like prisoners” in motels, facing written threats that they could be barred from seeking asylum in the United States if caught drinking or smoking.
“Supposedly, they were going to help us get work, but in reality, I see this is false. It’s a lie,” one migrant who was sent to Albany told the New York Times. “It’s all illusions. It’s all falsehoods.”
Albany officials said DocGo did not provide information such as migrants’ names, backgrounds, or immigration status upon arrival. DocGo said that was due to medical privacy laws, but Albany said DocGo rejected other real solutions.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“I don’t know how this is a partnership when you have 300 people on the way here to Albany, and we’re screaming and telling you that we don’t have the resources to help these people,” said Evelyn Kinnah, director of the Albany County Immigration Assistance Center.
“All you want to do is put these people on a bus and ship them somewhere else,” she added.
