Raymond Pignone reports for Columbia-Greene Media that the Department of Labor says that Rep. Marc Molinaro's claim that Gov. Kathy Hochul directed it to identify job openings for illegal immigrants statewide is false. Beau Duffy, deputy commissioner of strategic communications for the Labor Department, said, “The New York state Department of Labor initiative is only available to individuals who have attained legal work status.... It is illegal under federal law to employ individuals without legal work status, and we follow federal law in all cases.” The Labor Department did create a portal on its website where employers can tell them if they would be willing to hire asylum seekers once they have federal work authorization. The story says that the Department of Labor does not place workers in jobs, but gets them in touch with employment opportunities. Hochul did authorize a survey to that found more than 18,000 private sector job openings at 379 companies who have identified roles that could be filled by immigrants with legal work status. Molinaro complained about those policies, saying, “Upstate New York job seekers should come first.... If Gov. Hochul can have a campaign that identified thousands of job openings for illegal immigrants, then it’s within her authority to launch a similar campaign with just as much resources and effort to help upstate New Yorkers land jobs.” Read moore about this story at HudsonValley360.com.