NY Attorney General Will Investigate DocGo, a Troubled Migrant Contractor

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The office of the New York State attorney general, Letitia James, has begun an investigation of the medical services provider DocGo for possible violations of state or federal laws over the treatment of migrants in its care, according to correspondence obtained by The New York Times.

State investigators are looking into allegations that the company gave inaccurate information to them about employment opportunities, made “explicit or implicit threats,” and took “other actions that may jeopardize migrants’ ability to obtain asylum.”

They are also looking into reports that DocGo “enrolled migrants in a healthcare plan for which they are not eligible,” the correspondence states.

“We write to raise serious concerns with these reported practices, which may violate various state laws and other federal laws prohibiting discrimination and retaliation for engaging in protected activity,” the correspondence says.

DocGo could not provide immediate comment about the attorney general’s letter. The company’s chief executive, Anthony Capone, has said the company was working to rectify problems that had surfaced since New York City gave the company a no-bid $432 million contract to assist with relocating migrants and other services.

The Times reported last month that many of the migrants DocGo bused to Albany said they were treated like prisoners in a halfway house. They said they were threatened by the company’s hired security team and provided with deceptive work and residency papers while in the contractor’s care. At one Albany hotel where DocGo is housing migrants, a sign falsely warned they could be banned from seeking asylum for drinking or smoking; DocGosaid it took the flyer down after discovering it.

More recently, the police in the Buffalo suburb of Cheektowaga told The Times that they were investigating whether DocGo might have interfered in an investigation into two allegations of sexual assault at migrant shelters it runs in motels upstate. Mr. Capone has said that DocGo was fully cooperating with law enforcement’s investigation into the assault cases.

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