gov travel new york

Update April 12, 2024

Information for u.s. citizens in the middle east.

• Travel Advisories |
• Contact Us |
• MyTravelGov |

Find U.S. Embassies & Consulates

Travel.state.gov, congressional liaison, special issuance agency, u.s. passports, international travel, intercountry adoption, international parental child abduction, records and authentications, popular links, travel advisories, mytravelgov, stay connected, legal resources, legal information, info for u.s. law enforcement, replace or certify documents, external link.

You are about to leave travel.state.gov for an external website that is not maintained by the U.S. Department of State.

Links to external websites are provided as a convenience and should not be construed as an endorsement by the U.S. Department of State of the views or products contained therein. If you wish to remain on travel.state.gov, click the "cancel" message.

You are about to visit:

Cookies on GOV.UK

We use some essential cookies to make this website work.

We’d like to set additional cookies to understand how you use GOV.UK, remember your settings and improve government services.

We also use cookies set by other sites to help us deliver content from their services.

You have accepted additional cookies. You can change your cookie settings at any time.

You have rejected additional cookies. You can change your cookie settings at any time.

• Passports, travel and living abroad
• Travel abroad
• Foreign travel advice

Warnings and insurance

This travel advice also covers American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and United States Virgin Islands.

Before you travel

No travel can be guaranteed safe. Read all the advice in this guide and any specific travel advice that applies to you: 

• women travellers
• disabled travellers
• LGBT+ travellers
• solo and independent travel
• volunteering and adventure travel

Travel insurance

If you choose to travel, research your destinations and  get appropriate travel insurance . Insurance should cover your itinerary, planned activities and expenses in an emergency.

About FCDO travel advice

The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office ( FCDO ) provides advice about risks of travel to help British nationals make informed decisions. Find out  more about  FCDO  travel advice .

Follow and contact  FCDO  travel on  Twitter ,  Facebook  and  Instagram . You can also sign up to  get email notifications  when this advice is updated.

Related content

Is this page useful.

• Yes this page is useful
• No this page is not useful

Help us improve GOV.UK

Don’t include personal or financial information like your National Insurance number or credit card details.

To help us improve GOV.UK, we’d like to know more about your visit today. We’ll send you a link to a feedback form. It will take only 2 minutes to fill in. Don’t worry we won’t send you spam or share your email address with anyone.

An official website of the United States government

Here’s how you know

Official websites use .gov A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

• Explore sell to government
• Ways you can sell to government
• How to access contract opportunities
• Conduct market research
• Register your business
• Certify as a small business
• Become a schedule holder
• Market your business
• Research active solicitations
• Respond to a solicitation
• What to expect during the award process
• Comply with contractual requirements
• Handle contract modifications
• Monitor past performance evaluations
• Explore real estate
• 3D-4D building information modeling
• Art in architecture | Fine arts
• Computer-aided design standards
• Commissioning
• Design excellence
• Engineering
• Project management information system
• Spatial data management
• Facilities operations
• Smart buildings
• Tenant services
• Utility services
• Water quality management
• Explore historic buildings
• Heritage tourism
• Historic preservation policy, tools and resources
• Historic building stewardship
• Videos, pictures, posters and more
• NEPA implementation
• Courthouse program
• Land ports of entry
• Prospectus library
• Regional buildings
• Renting property
• Visiting public buildings
• Real property disposal
• Reimbursable services (RWA)
• Rental policy and procedures
• Site selection and relocation
• For businesses seeking opportunities
• For federal customers
• For workers in federal buildings
• Explore policy and regulations
• Acquisition management policy
• Aviation management policy
• Information technology policy
• Real property management policy
• Relocation management policy
• Travel management policy
• Vehicle management policy
• Federal acquisition regulations
• Federal management regulations
• Federal travel regulations
• GSA acquisition manual
• Managing the federal rulemaking process
• Explore small business
• Explore business models
• Research the federal market
• Forecast of contracting opportunities
• Events and contacts
• Explore travel
• Per diem rates
• Transportation (airfare rates, POV rates, etc.)
• State tax exemption
• Travel charge card
• Conferences and meetings
• E-gov travel service (ETS)
• Travel category schedule
• Federal travel regulation
• Travel policy
• Explore technology
• Cloud computing services
• Cybersecurity products and services
• Data center services
• Hardware products and services
• Professional IT services
• Software products and services
• Telecommunications and network services
• Work with small businesses
• Governmentwide acquisition contracts
• MAS information technology
• Software purchase agreements
• Cybersecurity
• Digital strategy
• Emerging citizen technology
• Federal identity, credentials, and access management
• Mobile government
• Technology modernization fund
• Explore about us
• Annual reports
• Mission and strategic goals
• Role in presidential transitions
• Get an internship
• Launch your career
• Elevate your professional career
• Discover special hiring paths
• Events and training
• Agency blog
• Congressional testimony
• GSA does that podcast
• News releases
• Leadership directory
• Staff directory
• Office of the administrator
• Federal Acquisition Service
• Public Buildings Service
• Staff offices
• Board of Contract Appeals
• Office of Inspector General
• Region 1 | New England
• Region 2 | Northeast and Caribbean
• Region 3 | Mid-Atlantic
• Region 4 | Southeast Sunbelt
• Region 5 | Great Lakes
• Region 6 | Heartland
• Region 7 | Greater Southwest
• Region 8 | Rocky Mountain
• Region 9 | Pacific Rim
• Region 10 | Northwest/Arctic
• Region 11 | National Capital Region
• Per Diem Lookup

FY 2024 Per Diem Rates for New York

Daily lodging rates (excluding taxes) | october 2023 - september 2024.

Cities not appearing below may be located within a county for which rates are listed. To determine the county a destination is located in, visit the Census Geocoder .

Meals & Incidentals (M&IE) rates and breakdown Footnotes

Use this table to find the following information for federal employee travel:

Breakfast, lunch, dinner, incidentals - Separate amounts for meals and incidentals. M&IE Total = Breakfast + Lunch + Dinner + Incidentals. Sometimes meal amounts must be deducted from trip voucher. See More Information

First & last day of travel - amount received on the first and last day of travel and equals 75% of total M&IE.

• I'm interested in:

Primary Destination

Traveler reimbursement is based on the location of the work activities and not the accommodations, unless lodging is not available at the work activity, then the agency may authorize the rate where lodging is obtained.

Unless otherwise specified, the per diem locality is defined as "all locations within, or entirely surrounded by, the corporate limits of the key city, including independent entities located within those boundaries."

Per diem localities with county definitions shall include "all locations within, or entirely surrounded by, the corporate limits of the key city as well as the boundaries of the listed counties, including independent entities located within the boundaries of the key city and the listed counties (unless otherwise listed separately)."

When a military installation or Government-related facility (whether or not specifically named) is located partially within more than one city or county boundary, the applicable per diem rate for the entire installation or facility is the higher of the rates which apply to the cities and/or counties, even though part(s) of such activities may be located outside the defined per diem locality.

Meals & Incidentals

The separate amounts for breakfast, lunch and dinner listed in the chart are provided should you need to deduct any of those meals from your trip voucher. For example, if your trip includes meals that are already paid for by the government (such as through a registration fee for a conference), you will need to deduct those meals from your voucher. Refer to Section 301-11.18 of the Federal Travel Regulation for specific guidance on deducting these amounts from your per diem reimbursement claims for meals furnished to you by the government. Other organizations may have different rules that apply for their employees; please check with your organization for more assistance.

First & Last Day of Travel

This column lists the amount federal employees receive for the first and last calendar day of travel. The first and last calendar day of travel is calculated at 75 percent.

Additional per diem topics

• Meals & Incidental Expenses breakdown (M&IE)
• State tax exemption forms
• Factors influencing lodging rates
• Per diem highlights
• Fire safe hotels
• Have a per diem question?
• Downloadable per diem files

Need more information?

• Rates for Alaska, Hawaii, U.S. territories and possessions (set by DoD)
• Rates in foreign countries (set by State Dept.)

Related topics

• Travel resources
• E-Gov Travel
• POV mileage reimbursement rates

PER DIEM LOOK-UP

1 choose a location.

Error, The Per Diem API is not responding. Please try again later.

No results could be found for the location you've entered.

Rates for Alaska, Hawaii, U.S. Territories and Possessions are set by the Department of Defense .

Rates for foreign countries are set by the State Department .

2 Choose a date

Rates are available between 10/1/2021 and 09/30/2024.

The End Date of your trip can not occur before the Start Date.

When a military installation or Government - related facility(whether or not specifically named) is located partially within more than one city or county boundary, the applicable per diem rate for the entire installation or facility is the higher of the rates which apply to the cities and / or counties, even though part(s) of such activities may be located outside the defined per diem locality.

An Anti-Immigration Group Said Biden Flew 33K Migrants 'Straight to New York.' That's Misleading

In April 2024, the claim that U.S. President Joe Biden had authorized the flights of "33,000 illegal immigrants" straight to New York City went viral. 

The claim originated from an op-ed piece in the New York Post authored by the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), a far-right think tank that has long opposed a Biden administration program that allows asylum-seeking migrants from certain nations to fly into the United States while an immigration court adjudicates their claims.

CIS's op-ed attempted to place the purported 33,000 New York arrivals in the context of a Texas program that charters busses to send asylum-seeking migrants to New York City. New York City has initiated a lawsuit over that Texas program.

The claim rests on the assumption that migrants arriving at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York do not take a connecting flight. There are several reasons to be suspicious of that assumption, which CIS described to Snopes as "pure speculation."  

In early April 2024, critics of U.S. President Joe Biden accused his administration of flying "33,000 illegal immigrants" straight to New York City. The accusation stemmed from an April 8, 2024,  opinion piece in the New York Post authored by the anti-immigration Center for Immigration Studies.

The piece focused on a U.S. Department of Homeland Security immigration program instituted by Biden's administration that authorized some asylum-seekers to fly to the U.S. while their claims of asylum were adjudicated. CIS argued, based on its  own analysis of public data, that the initiative is of equal or greater blame for an alleged overflow of immigrants in New York City as that of a Texas program that charters buses to send asylum-seekers to New York: 

A new report from me and my organization, the Center for Immigration Studies, finds that the Department of Homeland Security secretly has okayed the flights of some 33,000 illegal immigrants directly to the New York region from foreign airports. That's 22% of the city's migrant influx. … Over 25 percent of New York's estimated migrants are bussed from Texas.

The New York Post's editorial board repeated the group's claims a day later, stating that "Biden's Homeland Security Department has also flown roughly 33,000 migrants straight to New York."

The Biden-sponsored  program at issue involves an "advanced travel authorization" (ATA) process for asylum-seekers from certain nations, allowing them to apply for asylum from abroad and then fly to America for a period of no more than two years while they wait for an immigration-court decision. CIS generated viral headlines with an  earlier report  that Snopes covered in March 2024 , which asserted that this program was "secretive" because the government would not tell the CIS which domestic airports the migrants were using.

In its latest report , CIS claimed to have uncovered those airports through the use of publicly available data. According to CIS, the majority of the program's beneficiaries arrived in the states via Miami, but a significant number, about 33,000, entered the U.S. via airports in the New York City area.

This was significant, CIS argued in its op-ed, because it was comparable to the number of migrants in New York who arrived via the Texas-sponsored charter bus program , which New York Mayor Eric Adams has initiated a lawsuit over. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced  in January 2024 that "over 37,100 migrants" had boarded charter buses from Texas to New York by the end of 2023. 

In this piece, Snopes explains why CIS' 33,000-migrant estimate is flawed, and why comparisons between these two programs are misleading. First, CIS' argument is based on the assumption that the airports through which asylum-seeking migrants go through U.S. Customs and Border Protection checkpoints are also their final destination. There is no reason to believe that is the case. Second, the people arriving with advanced authorizations paid their own way, and are subject to conditions that Texas-originating migrants, whose travel was paid for, are not.  

Snopes reached out to CIS to ask what basis it had for assuming most of the New York City arrivals would stay put in the city and not travel domestically. In response, the study's author, Todd Bensmen, told us his numbers were "pure speculation" and that the real point of his piece was that the government has not provided enough information to make an informed estimate. "The problem there is that the government refuses to release the meat and potatoes of this supposedly fully open kimono program  — departure and destination airports," Bensman wrote. "In the absence of information, reasoned analytical speculation naturally arises." 

CIS — which described a rise in U.S. immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Venezuela, and Nicaragua as " hair-raising " in its April report — has a history of publishing dubious arguments that bolster conservative talking points about immigration. In 2018, for example, Snopes examined a mathematically flawed argument by the center that then-President Donald Trump's border wall wouldn't really cost the government billions of dollars because it would "pay for itself" thanks to reduced welfare costs. The Southern Poverty Law Center has  classified CIS as a hate group.

Conditions That Preceded the Texas and Federal Programs

Both Abbott's and Biden's initiatives are theoretically designed to solve the same problem: a buildup of asylum-seeking migrants at the U.S. southern border. The bottleneck, in part, is a result of Biden-era policy changes following the expiration of a pandemic-related law that allowed federal officials to remove undocumented immigrants from the U.S. without any court proceedings.

Before the pandemic, as The Associated Press reported, "migrants could cross illegally, ask for asylum and be allowed into the U.S." for screening. Oftentimes, officials would release them "to wait out their immigration cases." Then, in  March 2020 , under Trump's administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published an order that authorized federal customs agents to "immediately remove migrants, including people seeking asylum, to prevent the spread of [COVID-19]," policy changes known as Title 42 .

Those guidelines of immediate deportation continued until May 2023, the date of their expiration. And instead of returning to pre-pandemic conditions after that, as  reported by the AP that month, Biden instituted stricter rules for people seeking asylum:

The Biden administration is now turning away anyone seeking asylum who didn't first seek protection in a country they traveled through, or first applied online. This is a version of a Trump administration policy that was overturned by the courts. 

One result of this new policy was a buildup of asylum-seekers from Central American nations — primarily Venezuela — at the Mexican side of the U.S. border, something to which the Mexican government objected. In late 2022 , to try to mitigate the issue, officials made an agreement that the United States could expel Venezuelan nationals to Mexico, and that the U.S. must institute a program that allows "a set number of Venezuelans with a sponsor in the United States to apply for humanitarian parole" ahead of their arrival and arrive by plane. Individuals who have requested asylum and been released pending a court decision are termed parolees.  

Here's How Abbott and Biden Took Action

As crossings increased in 2022, and in anticipation of the end of Title 42, Abbott announced Texas would "immediately begin taking unprecedented action to … secure our border" by chartering "buses and flights to transport migrants who have been processed and released from federal custody" to a variety of cities, including New York City. 

Biden's solution to the climbing number of crossings, on the other hand, was to expand the above-mentioned program BEYOND JUST Venezuelan citizens. He enacted a policy to give people from  Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua , El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Colombia and Ecuador  the same type of treatment. 

As of this writing, that system remains in place. People who are provided the option to apply for humanitarian parole receive what is known as an "advanced travel authorization" from customs officials, and go through the process using a web app named CBP One. 

Port of Entry Does Not Equate to Final Destination

The argument that the Biden administration is responsible for 33,000 of migrants in New York City rests on several assumptions, the most significant of which is that the airport in which asylum-seeking migrants first encountered federal customs officials is their final destination. 

As described in its report, CIS got its data directly from Customs and Border Protection, which publishes data on "airport customs officer encounters" on its website. CIS says it filtered the CBP data to show encounters only between nationalities involved in the ATA program and from field offices that included major international airports. These encounters, CIS reasoned, primarily represented individuals traveling with an ATA. 

(Center for Immigration Studies)

Even if you assume all 33,000 people identified by this method remained in New York, this number would still be an overestimate of the program's contribution to New York's migrant population, according to Monika Langarica , a senior staff attorney with the UCLA Center for Immigration Law and Policy. That's because CIS' filtering would also count nationals from the countries selected without "advanced travel authorization" as if they were part of that program. 

Further, John F. Kennedy International Airport is the busiest airport in America for international travel and is a common first  stop for people arriving in the United States. "JFK International Airport has repeatedly been noted to be the busiest international 'gateway' to the U.S.," Langarica told Snopes by email. "It is no surprise that it would be the first stop in the U.S. for individuals who intend to travel on into the interior of the country to meet their sponsors."

According to CIS, there were 33,408 encounters between CBP officers and nationals from the selected nations in the New York field office for the 2023 fiscal year so far (June 2023 to February 2024):

The New York Field Office, which would cover JFK and LaGuardia airports … logged 33,408 OFO encounters with inadmissible aliens from the chosen nationalities for FY 2023 through February 2024.

This is the source of the "33,000" number cited by CIS. But that assertion is flawed because it assumes that 100% of people arriving from abroad under the ATA program are staying in New York City and not connecting on a domestic flight after passing through customs. "Individuals traveling … pursuant to the program are en route to their sponsor who may be located anywhere in the U.S," Langarica told Snopes. 

The New York Post opinion piece, authored by CIS, acknowledged how connecting flights could affect the data, but only in ways that served its thesis. The piece argued that 33,000 was actually a conservative estimate because many arrivals in Miami (the first most common point of entry identified by CIS) were, in fact, getting on connecting flights — to New York City. This shifting logic is not the hallmark of sound quantitative argument.

Snopes asked Bensman , the author of the CIS report and the related New York Post op-ed, if the notion that migrants inherently flow toward New York City was based on anything more than a personal gut feeling. "Purely speculative on my part," he responded by email. 

Differences Between Abbott's and Biden's Programs

One could argue, perhaps, that the "over 37,100 migrants" Gov. Abbott says he  sent  to New York City also did not arrive there with New York as their final destination, giving the same caveat as the purported number of people arriving in New York under the federal ATA program.

However, there are key differences in the population of asylum-seekers admitted through the federal ATA program and those who take buses from Texas to New York City. Many people taking the cross-country bus trip have been released from CBP custody after requesting asylum on U.S. soil . They've made the request at a port of entry, or after crossing the Mexico-U.S border illegally, during their first encounter with CBP agents. 

This process, known as the affirmative asylum process, usually results in the initial denial of an applicant's request for asylum. They can appeal that decision to an immigration court. And while pursuing that appeal, if the individual submits biometric information and passes a criminal background check, they are released with a "notice-to-appear" document and can legally reside in the U.S. "on parole" for up to a year while their case is pending. Abbott's program provides free bus rides to any such individual, paid for by Texas . 

Because people's participation is often impromptu after illegally crossing the Texas border, there is no guarantee they have a support network in the U.S., much less in New York City (the end of the bus ride). Also, they are provided no services other than the bus ticket.

These facts are at the heart of a lawsuit  brought by New York City against charter-bus companies involved in Abbott's program. That case cites a New York law that requires "any person who knowingly brings, or causes to be brought a needy person from out of state into this state for the purpose of making him a public charge … to convey such a person out of state or support him at his own expense."   

Recipients of the federal ATA program, on the other hand, pay for their own flights into the United States, and are required to have a U.S.- based sponsor. That person must be registered with immigration officials before the trip. Also, the person traveling must submit biometric data and complete a background check.

That means ATA recipients often arrive in the United States with a plan for where, or how, they'll live. As for people who do make New York City their final stop, according to Langarica, they "will be there with the support of their sworn sponsor who has been previously vetted by USCIS as being capable of financially supporting the beneficiary, and they are eligible to apply for work authorization incident to the grant of parole." 

The Bottom Line

The assertion that roughly the same numbers of New York City asylum-seeking migrants arrived there via the ATA program and the Texas program is based on the unsupported assumption that all ATA recipients make New York City their final destination when coming to America. While they make contact with customs officials there, there is no evidence to show how many, or who, gets connecting flights to other destinations.

Affirmative Asylum Frequently Asked Questions | USCIS. 13 Sept. 2023, https://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/refugees-and-asylum/asylum/affirmative-asylum-frequently-asked-questions .

Bensman, Todd. "Government Admission: Biden Parole Flights Create Security 'Vulnerabilities' at U.S. Airports." CIS.Org, 4 Mar. 2024, https://cis.org/Bensman/Government-Admission-Biden-Parole-Flights-Create-Security-Vulnerabilities-US-Airports .

---. "Op-Ed: Joe Biden's 'Secret' Flights of 33,000 Migrants to New York Passes Buck to City Taxpayers." CIS.Org, 8 Apr. 2024, https://cis.org/Bensman/Oped-Joe-Bidens-secret-flights-33000-migrants-New-York-passes-buck-city-taxpayers .

---. "The Florida Gateway: Data Shows Most Migrant Flights Landing in Gov. DeSantis's Sunshine State." CIS.Org, 1 Apr. 2024, https://cis.org/Bensman/Florida-Gateway-Data-Shows-Most-Migrant-Flights-Landing-Gov-DeSantiss-Sunshine-State .

Board, Post Editorial. President Biden Has Been Shipping Migrants to New York under Mayor Eric Adams' Nose. 9 Apr. 2024, https://nypost.com/2024/04/09/opinion/president-biden-has-been-shipping-migrants-to-new-york-under-mayor-eric-adams-nose/ .

"CBP One: An Overview." American Immigration Council, 9 Dec. 2021, https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/cbp-one-overview .

"Center for Immigration Studies." Southern Poverty Law Center, https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/group/center-immigration-studies . Accessed 15 Apr. 2024.

Joe Biden's 33,000 Secret Migrant Flights to New York Pass the Buck to City Taxpayers. 8 Apr. 2024, https://nypost.com/2024/04/08/opinion/joe-bidens-33000-secret-migrant-flights-to-new-york-passes-buck-to-city-taxpayers/ .

"Mayor Adams Announces Suit Against Texas Charter Bus Companies Seeking $708 Million to Cover Costs o." The Official Website of the City of New York, 4 Jan. 2024, http://www.nyc.gov/office-of-the-mayor/news/006-24/mayor-adams-suit-against-texas-charter-bus-companies-seeking-708-million-cover-costs .

News, Sergio Martínez-Beltrán, KUT. "Texas Has Spent More than $148 Million Busing Migrants to Other Parts of the Country." The Texas Tribune, 21 Feb. 2024, https://www.texastribune.org/2024/02/21/texas-migrants-busing-cost-greg-abbott/ .

Processes for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans | USCIS. 1 Apr. 2024, https://www.uscis.gov/CHNV .

"Title 42 Has Ended. Here's What It Did, and How US Immigration Policy Is Changing." AP News, 12 May 2023, https://apnews.com/article/immigration-biden-border-title-42-mexico-asylum-be4e0b15b27adb9bede87b9bbefb798d .

Truitt, Brandon. Migrant Charged with Raping Teen at Rockland Hotel Being Used as Shelter - CBS Boston. 14 Mar. 2024, https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/rockland-comfort-inn-migrant-shelter-child-rape-cory-alvarez/ .

USCIS Establishes Family Reunification Parole Process for Ecuador | USCIS. 15 Nov. 2023, https://www.uscis.gov/newsroom/news-releases/uscis-establishes-family-reunification-parole-process-for-ecuador .

Westlake High School Students Travel to Westchester County to Release Juvenile Trout That Have Been Raised in the Classroom

April 18, 2024

Thousands of students from New York City and upstate towns will participate in the environmental education program; Additional photos are available on DEP’s Flickr Page

The New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) recently joined Trout Unlimited and 30 students from Westlake High School in upstate Mount Pleasant to release juvenile trout that the students have raised in their classrooms since October of last year. Sixteen fingerlings were released into the Cross River where it passes through the Ward Pound Ridge Reservation in Westchester County. The Cross River feeds into New York City’s Cross River Reservoir.

Since 2002, DEP and Trout Unlimited, a national grassroots non-profit organization whose mission is to conserve, protect, and restore North America's cold-water fisheries and their watersheds, have worked together to educate students from New York City and upstate communities about the importance of protecting our shared water resources through the Trout in the Classroom program. The conservation-oriented environmental education program teaches young New Yorkers, ranging from pre-K to grade 12, about the connections between trout, the New York City water supply system, water quality, and students from both sides of the City’s water tunnels.

In October, more than 125 classroom teachers and educators joined the Trout in the Classroom Program's Fall Teacher Conference and received trout eggs from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Thousands of students from schools in New York City, as well as the City’s upstate watersheds, incubated the trout eggs in their classrooms and raised them into juvenile trout, which are also called fingerlings. This hands-on, eight-month long program culminates with students taking part in designated field days between March and June during which they release the fingerlings into New York City watershed streams. During these trout release field days, students experience firsthand a watershed stream and forest, participate in nature hikes and macroinvertebrate studies, and sing "Happy Free Day" to their beloved fingerlings.

About the NYC Department of Environmental Protection

DEP manages New York City’s water supply, providing approximately 1 billion gallons of high-quality drinking water each day to nearly 10 million residents, including 8.8 million in New York City. The water is delivered from a watershed that extends more than 125 miles from the city, comprising 19 reservoirs and three controlled lakes. Approximately 7,000 miles of water mains, tunnels and aqueducts bring water to homes and businesses throughout the five boroughs, and 7,500 miles of sewer lines and 96 pump stations take wastewater to 14 in-city treatment plants. DEP also protects the health and safety of New Yorkers by enforcing the Air and Noise Codes and asbestos rules. DEP has a robust capital program, with a planned $31 billion in investments over the next 10 years. For more information, visit nyc.gov/dep , like us on Facebook , or follow us on X, formerly known as Twitter .

Sylvan Water (Credit: Sara Evans)

Letitia James

Attorney general james secures more than $700,000 from pathward bank for illegally freezing bank accounts and turning over consumer funds to debt collectors, bank required to refund dozens of new yorkers in new york city and pay penalties, april 17, 2024.

NEW YORK – New York Attorney General Letitia James today secured more than $700,000 from Pathward, National Association (Pathward), a national bank formerly known as MetaBank, for unlawfully freezing customer accounts and illegally transferring money to debt collectors . An investigation by the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) found that Pathward illegally sent debt collectors tens of thousands of dollars from New Yorkers’ accounts and froze hundreds of customers’ accounts more than 1,400 times. New York law prohibits debt collectors from obtaining funds that include certain government benefits and prevents banks from freezing bank accounts with protected wages. The OAG investigation found that Pathward regularly sent debt collectors funds that were government benefits or that should have been subject to the protected wages threshold. As a result of this agreement, Pathward is required to refund dozens of New Yorkers in the Bronx, Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens nearly $80,000 and pay $627,000 in penalties.

“Vulnerable New Yorkers had money taken out of their bank accounts by the very institution they trusted to protect them,” said Attorney General James . “Pathward’s illegal actions deprived New Yorkers of their hard-earned wages and critical government benefits. My office is refunding New Yorkers for every dollar they lost due to Pathward’s illegal actions. If any New Yorker suspects that money is being improperly removed from their bank account, I encourage them to contact my office immediately.”

Pathward is a nationally chartered bank that issues debit cards, prepaid cards, payroll cards, and gift cards, primarily through third-party servicers. These third-party servicers market prepaid reloadable debit cards online or at retail locations, and Pathward issues those cards and holds the funds loaded onto them. An OAG investigation found that from 2016 to 2022, Pathward illegally froze more than 1,400 accounts belonging to New Yorkers in violation of New York’s Exempt Income Protection Act (EIPA). The EIPA prohibits banks from freezing consumer accounts that include certain government benefits, such as Social Security benefits, veterans' benefits, disability insurance, and unemployment insurance, worth up to $3,425. The EIPA also bars banks from freezing bank accounts with protected wages, which is 240 times the state's current minimum wage, meaning $3,840 for residents of New York City, Long Island, and Westchester, and $3,600 for all other New Yorkers.

The OAG investigation found that Pathward repeatedly instructed its third-party servicers to illegally freeze accounts and turn over consumers’ funds to debt collectors, in violation of the EIPA. After 2020, Pathward failed to supervise its third-party servicers, which resulted in hundreds of additional illegal account restraints. For example, in April 2021, a third-party servicer froze a Pathward bank account that had a balance of less than $800, which is several thousand dollars below the wage threshold under EIPA. The consumer could not access their account for a full year. 

Pathward cooperated with OAG’s investigation and voluntarily began to remediate these illegal practices last year. As a result of today’s agreement, Pathward has agreed to make its remediations permanent and to change its account agreements going forward so that they accurately describe consumers’ rights and Pathward’s legal obligations.

In addition, Pathward is refunding $79,664 plus interest to approximately 88 New Yorkers whose funds were illegally turned over to debt collectors. The OAG will contact affected New Yorkers and distribute the refunds.

Today’s agreement also requires Pathward to pay a penalty of $627,000 for its illegal and deceptive conduct. This is the first time that a party has been assessed a penalty in connection with violations of the Exempt Income Protection Act. Today’s penalty is a reminder that banks, debt collectors, and all other parties involved in debt collection in New York must work diligently to satisfy their obligations under the law.

Attorney General James encourages all consumers who have had their bank accounts illegally frozen or had funds illegally turned over to creditors to  report it online to OAG’s Consumer Frauds Bureau . 

This matter is being handled by Assistant Attorney General Chris Filburn with the Consumer Frauds and Protection Bureau. The Consumer Frauds and Protection Bureau is led by Bureau Chief Jane M. Azia and Deputy Bureau Chief Laura J. Levine, and is part of the Division of Economic Justice, which is overseen by Chief Deputy Attorney General Chris D’Angelo and First Deputy Attorney General Jennifer Levy.

We Value Your Privacy We use cookies to enhance your browsing experience, serve personalized content, and analyze our traffic. By using this website you consent to our use of cookies.

• Share full article

Advertisement

Supported by

A Cyberattack Could Make N.Y. State’s Late Budget Even Later

Days after lawmakers in Albany reached agreement on the framework of a $237 billion state budget, a digital security breach threatened to delay proceedings.

By Grace Ashford and Claire Fahy

Reporting from the State Capitol in Albany, N.Y.

First it was an earthquake, then an eclipse. What else could throw a wrench into the works of New York’s budget process?

A cyberattack.

The early-morning attack affected the New York State Bill Drafting Commission, a little-known legislative agency responsible for writing and printing bills — temporarily disabling a critical system as the Legislature and the governor move closer to a full agreement on the state budget, now 16 days late.

Gov. Kathy Hochul said that the attack was expected to slow down the process on the legislative side, adding that it would force the state to dust off computer systems from the early ’90s.

“We have to go back to the more antiquated system we had in place from 1994,” Ms. Hochul said in an interview with Brian Lehrer on WNYC. She said it was too soon to determine whether the attack had been politically motivated, adding that the state’s cybersecurity team was scrutinizing it.

But representatives for the State Legislature seemed less concerned that the attack would be disruptive, stressing that staff were continuing to work regularly with both houses even as they sought to resolve the issue.

“Nothing is delayed,” said Mike Whyland, a spokesman for the Democratic majority in the State Assembly.

When asked to clarify the governor’s remarks, a spokesman, Avi Small, said the administration would not comment further on an “ongoing investigation.”

Sanjay Goel, a professor of Information Security and Digital Forensics at the University at Albany, said that there are often two motivations behind these kinds of attacks: disrupters just looking to cause chaos or nation states that wished to directly interfere in the democratic process.

“The question is who is attacking them and why and what the extent of damage is,” Dr. Goel said. “From what I can see, this was designed just to pull them offline and delay this process.”

Dr. Goel said that those chaos agents could have been scanning any system for any vulnerability to exploit, while a nation state, like China, Russia or Iran, would have specifically targeted New York and waited for a weakness to arise before capitalizing on it.

News of the cyberattack ricocheted through the State Capitol Wednesday morning, drawing considerable speculation as to what it might mean, and who was behind it.

“This is like the Albany game of Clue!” said Blair Horner, a legislative director for a watchdog group and longtime Albany observer. “It could be anyone who doesn’t like how the budget is going. Or it could be Russia!”

The attack comes just days after leaders in Albany reached a tentative deal on a more than $237 billion state budget that is said to include more money for Medicaid, a housing deal and authority to crack down on unlicensed cannabis vendors.

Dr. Goel said he had not heard of a similar attack on a state legislature before. In an election year, he added, these kinds of attacks should only be expected to increase.

“We are under constant threat,” Dr. Goel said, before noting that most local and state governments have braced ourselves pretty well. But, he added, “you never know.”

Grace Ashford covers New York government and politics for The Times. More about Grace Ashford

Claire Fahy reports on New York City and the surrounding area for The Times. She can be reached at [email protected]. More about Claire Fahy

Politics in the New York Region

State Budget: New York State leaders have agreed on the outline of a $237 billion state budget  that includes a sweeping package  aimed at stemming one of the worst housing shortages in the nation.

Jail Project: The demolition of a Manhattan jail complex in Chinatown to make way for a bigger one has damaged a neighboring building  and raised concerns about years of dust and disruption.

Adultery as Crime: An antiquated but seldom-enforced state law categorizes adultery as a crime, and past efforts to repeal it have gone nowhere . But that seems poised to change.

Limiting Social Media’s Hold: New York’s governor and attorney general joined forces to pass a law  trying to restrict social media companies’ ability to use algorithms to shape content for children. Big Tech is putting up a battle with a high-stakes lobbying effort.

Targeting Trans Athletes: A proposed ban on transgender women playing on women’s sports teams  has turned a Long Island county into the latest battleground for conservatives who have put cultural issues at the center of a nationwide political strategy.