Tag: Chhaya CDC

JHISN Newsletter 10/25/2025

Posted on October 25, 2025 by - News, Newsletter

Dear friends,

Rarely do we start with a set of asks, but extreme times give our newsletter a sense of urgency. So first, please take a few minutes to fill out our JHISN reader survey, and share how you might imagine and participate in neighborhood defense if escalated ICE raids land in central Queens. Thanks to all of you who have already responded.

Next, please check out and circulate this new state government portal to report disturbing or violent actions you witness by ICE and other federal agents in NYC; photos and videos can be uploaded to the site. The public portal was created by the NYS Attorney General one day after the militarized ICE attack on immigrant street vendors—and New Yorkers who came to their defense—on Canal Street this week. 

Our newsletter below looks more closely at the role of citizen immigrants, our own Jackson Heights-based organization DRUM Beats, and immigrant politics more broadly in Zohran Mamdani’s historic campaign for NYC mayor. And we give an update on the precarious situation affecting members of our Nepali community in Queens who have had their Temporary Protective Status terminated by the Trump regime—part of a larger campaign to rip away the legal status of hundreds of thousands of TPS holders nationwide. 

Newsletter highlights: 
  1. Zohran Mamdani: immigrant organizing boosts support for an immigrant mayor
  2. Update on cancellation of TPS for Nepali residents

1. Mamdani’s Campaign Success: Grassroots Immigrant Organizing

“[Trump] just threatened to have me arrested, stripped of my citizenship, put in a detention camp and deported. Not because I have broken any law but because I will refuse to let ICE terrorize our city.”—Zohran Mamdani

Jackson Heights group DRUM Beats, the sibling organization of Desis Rising Up and Moving (DRUM), was featured by many news organizations this year for its political advocacy work. You may have seen them last weekend at Jackson Heights Farmer’s Market doing henna tattoos, canvassing for Zohran Mamdani, and providing voting registration assistance. They are a major contributing factor to the success of Mamdani’s campaign to become the next, and first Muslim and South Asian, mayor of New York City, and, as he says himself, the first immigrant mayor in generations. DRUM Beats was one of the first grassroots groups to endorse him. Along with CAAAV Voice, the political arm of the CAAAV: Organizing Asian Communities, South Asian residents were engaged across all five NYC boroughs in support of Mamdani’s campaign. Turnout for the primary saw a 40% increase in South Asian voters for the Democratic Socialist candidate. This came less than a year after many of those same populations appeared to swing right by supporting Trump for president. One reason for Mamdani’s success is his showing up in person in their districts.

30% of the election districts won by Trump in 2024 supported Mamdani in the June 2025 Democratic primary. Many of those districts are in majority Asian neighborhoods. Indeed, across all immigrant-majority neighborhoods, Mamdani won by 7 points. New York Communities for Change has announced that a coalition of organizations representing 50,000 working-class Black and immigrant New Yorkers endorsed Mamdani. Make The Road New York officially endorses him, as does Congressmember Adriano Espaillat, an influential Latino leader for upper Manhattan and the Bronx. He also secured support from the head of the NYPD Bangladeshi American Police Association at a time when 13 other law enforcement organizations had backed the incumbent and former policeman, Mayor Adams, before he dropped out of the race. Despite having higher financial earnings than the working-class immigrants campaigning for Mamdani, many young, well-paid, white collar workers in New York’s tech sector are also giving him their support; they also worry about the affordability of life in the city. 

Mamdani, who worked as a housing counselor with the local immigrant services and housing support organization Chhaya CDC, does not include an “immigration” section on his campaign website. He clearly is a strong supporter of our sanctuary city status, but his platform emphasizes affordability, housing and food security, health, and education as the critical issues facing working-class populations. His policy memo about Trump-Proofing New York is not just about standing up to the ICE invasion, but about protecting all vulnerable New Yorkers from the multiplicitous attacks by Trump. During the first Mayoral debate last week, the topic of immigration and our sanctuary city laws was raised—Mamdani distinguished himself from the others by being more personal and talking of the horrific and ongoing abduction activities conducted by ICE at 26 Federal Plaza.

In private, Trump has indicated he thinks Mamdani is unbeatable. Trump has threatened to withhold federal money from New York if Mamdani is elected Mayor and has already moved forward to cut federal counterterrorism and transit funds. The president has stated that he will arrest Mamdani if he tries to stop masked ICE agents from deporting our neighbors. Trump, along with Tennessee Representative Andy Ogles, also questioned Mamdani’s citizenship. Ogles has been called out for censure for his bigoted and racist speech, including his letter asking the Justice Department to denaturalize and deport Mamdani. (Vickie Paladino, a Queens Council member, who also called for Mamdani to be deported, was met with minimal criticism from city officials and the current mayor.) After Mamdani won the Democratic primary, Tom Homan, Trump’s so-called Border Czar, said that ICE would double up and triple up agents in New York (and this week we watched New Yorkers defend their street vendors from ICE on Canal Street). 

These are the actions of authoritarians who will use any means, even if illegal, to silence and punish the people opposing their anti-democracy political dogma, which is hidden behind a show-of-force facade of nationalism and patriotism. Meanwhile, Mamdani was interviewed on Fox News and stated he will lead this city by building partnerships with people, and that he would do so, “not only in Washington, D.C., but [with] anyone across this country.” He has already proven he can do that by building a multi-asian coalition of support, which has expanded further and made him the current leader in the election polls.

WHAT CAN WE DO?
  • Be inspired by The Queensborough restaurant and organize a fundraising event for your favorite local immigrant-led support organization. After the No Kings March, The Q raised over $600 in cash for NICE (New Immigrant Community Empowerment).
  • Help DRUM Beats continue their political advocacy by making a financial donation. 

2. Brief History of TPS for Nepal, and Its Termination

As of 2023, there were more than 200,000 Nepalis in the US, with almost 17,000 living in Jackson Heights, many with Temporary Protective Status (TPS). As of October 2025, more than 12,000 Nepalis residing in the US–some of them our neighbors here in Queens–have had their legal TPS status abruptly canceled by the Trump administration. 

TPS was created by the Immigration Act of 1990, and grants permission for people to stay in the US if conditions in their country are unsafe from a natural disaster, an armed conflict, or some other unusual and temporary situation making it unsafe for people to return. TPS protects people from deportation, and they can be authorized to work in the US. TPS is granted for 18 months, and at the end of that time it can be extended or revoked for another 6, 12, or 18 months. At least 60 days before the period ends, the Secretary of Homeland Security must review conditions in the target country and publish the decision in the Federal Register.

In April 2015, there was a 7.8 magnitude earthquake in Nepal, followed by several strong aftershocks. There was extensive damage throughout the country: 755,000 homes were damaged; 9,000 people died and 22,000 were injured. That is why TPS was granted for Nepalis residing in the US until June 2018. Then, in 2017, serious flooding and landslides impeded food production and reconstruction of the earthquake damage. As a result of two separate court cases (Bhattarai v. Nielsen and Ramos v. Nielsen), TPS for Nepal was extended three times until June 2024. 

However, in 2018, Trump revoked the TPS status for Nepal, which was quickly challenged in court. Then, in 2023, DHS under Biden rescinded that termination and extended TPS until June 2025. On June 6, 2025, DHS Secretary Noem terminated TPS for Nepal, effective August 5, 2025. She claimed “there are notable improvements in environmental disaster preparedness and response capacity, as well as substantial reconstruction from the earthquake’s destruction such that there is no longer a disruption of living conditions and Nepal is able to handle adequately the return of its nationals.”

In July 2025, the National TPS Alliance and individual plaintiffs with TPS status challenged Secretary Noem’s actions as arbitrary and capricious, failing to provide the required 60-day notice, and violating the equal protection portion of the Fifth Amendment because the motivation was partially racial animus. On July 31, US District Judge Trina Thompson granted the plaintiffs’ motion to postpone the cancellation. The court ordered that TPS remain in effect until at least November 18, 2025. But on August 20, 2025, the District court’s stay was overridden by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, allowing TPS cancellation for Nepal, Honduras, and Nicaragua to go forward. 

Meanwhile, in September 2025, there was a political crisis in Nepal when economic dysfunction and disillusioned youth led to widespread protests, government buildings burned, a national curfew, and finally the installation of a new president, Sushila Karki, the first woman president of Nepal.

It is not clear if that political crisis will have any bearing on the status of Nepalis in the US. With the removal of work authorization and the threat of deportation the Nepali community is in danger.

WHAT CAN WE DO?
  • Make a donation to our local immigrant-led organization Adhikaar which represents the Nepali-speaking community. 

 

In solidarity and with collective care,

Jackson Heights Immigrant Solidarity Network (JHISN)

Follow @JHSolidarity on Facebook and Twitter and share this newsletter with friends, families, neighbors, networks, and colleagues so they can subscribe and receive news from JHISN. 

 

 

JHISN Newsletter 02/05/2022

Posted on February 5, 2022 by - News, Newsletter

Dear friends,

​​We welcome our readers to the Year of the Tiger, ushered in by over a billion people celebrating this past week’s Lunar New Year—including hundreds of thousands of Asian and Asian American residents here in Queens. JHISN marks the new year by a look back at the extraordinary work in 2021 of several local immigrant justice groups.

Many of us have seen the recent headlines about the fatal landslide in Quito, Ecuador’s capital city, after nearly 24 hours of continuous rain. Not all of us know that Ecuadorians compose the largest immigrant community here in central Queens. We offer a story about the history and recent increase in migration from Ecuador, which is also a story about Jackson Heights today.  

Newsletter highlights:
  1. Migrant Paths from Ecuador to Jackson Heights
  2. Local Immigrant Justice Groups @2021

1. Ecuadorian Immigrants at JH’s Heart

“If you have dreams, you can fulfill them, as long as you feel proud of who you are and where you are going. The rest just depends on work.”
José Juan Paredes, Afro-Ecuadorian musician

Ecuadorians make up the biggest immigrant group in our community: more than 100,000 in Queens and over 20,000 in the Jackson Heights area alone. In recent years, coronavirus and other factors have caused a new surge of migration that is bringing more Ecuadorians to our neighborhood.

Ecuador is highly diverse geographically, socially, and politically. Spanish, Quechua, Shuar, and other Indigenous languages are officially recognized. The northern Andean provinces were part of the Inca Empire and have much in common with Peru and Colombia, while there is a strong Afro-Ecuadorian culture in the Pacific coastal region. The eastern rainforest region is home to several Native peoples. And Ecuador is itself home to the largest refugee population in Latin America, mostly Columbians fleeing conflict in their own country. 

Ecuadorians’ reasons for migrating to the US are diverse as well, but often involve economic crises. The first wave of migrants followed the 1947 collapse in the market for Panama hats (made by Ecuadorian women). A second wave of migration in the early 1980s was caused by an oil bust and economic crash that bankrupted many poor farmers. In the late 1990s, the national poverty rate climbed to 56% due to low oil prices, flooding, and political instability. Up to a million Ecuadorians emigrated in those years, out of a total population of roughly 18 million. 

Now, Covid has set off another wave of migration. The pandemic devastated Ecuador’s already-struggling economy, causing the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs. The number of Ecuadorians arriving in the US reached its height this past summer: in July, US authorities stopped 17,314 Ecuadorians at the southern border, compared with 3,598 stops in January. 

Other factors contributed to recent Ecuadorian migration. Starting in 2018, Mexico allowed Ecuadorians to enter without a visa. This offered Ecuadorians easier access to the US border. (Mexico canceled this policy in August 2021, making migration more arduous and hazardous.) Also, Ecuadorian nationals, unlike migrants from Central America, were not targeted for automatic exclusion under draconian Title 42 “public health” regulations. Finally, many Ecuadorians hoped that Joe Biden would be more immigrant-friendly.

Ecuadorians play an important role in the economy and culture of New York. Representing all social classes, they work as everything from professionals and business owners to day laborers cleaning houses. As we know, there are many Ecuadorian-owned restaurants. But also, undocumented Ecuadorian workers are a mainstay of NYC’s entire restaurant industry. Many Ecuadorian immigrants also work in construction, often doing the most dangerous and difficult jobs.

The Alianza Ecuatoriana Internacional (International Ecuadorian Alliance), located in Corona Plaza, is a respected community center for Ecuadorian immigrants. Founded by Walter Sinche in 1994 to combat violence and racism against Latin American immigrants, it has become a multifaceted non-profit that advocates for immigrant justice while also providing public health education and supplies, job training, and cultural activities including music and dance. The Ecuadorian American Culture Center, located in Long Island City, is another important institution for immigrants. EACC provides extensive cultural programming as well as tutoring.

Like many immigrant communities, Ecuadorian Americans are underrepresented in electoral politics. When Francisco Moya became State Assembly member for the 39th District in 2017, he was the first Ecuadorian American elected to public office in the US. (Moya currently represents District 21 of the New York City Council.) It will be interesting to see how Ecuadorian American votes influence local politics once NYC noncitizen voting takes effect in 2023.

WHAT CAN WE DO?

​​2. A Year of Struggles and Victories // 2021

“In 2021 we came together in the face of compounding crises to take care of each other, and win what we needed to survive. We found ways to connect however we could, digitally over zoom, over the phone, and sometimes in person …. We built solutions even though everyone said it was impossible. We created the world we needed, one piece at a time.”  – DRUM ‘Unite & Organize!’ video

We can’t begin to truly represent all that local immigrant justice groups have faced, and accomplished, during this past year of pandemic and political crisis. But we offer here a selective story that gives some sense of their inspiring engagement with community organizing, advocacy, and direct action. 

DRUM (Desis Rising Up & Moving) is a member-led organization based in Jackson Heights that has been organizing South Asian and Indo-Caribbean working-class communities since 2000. Amidst ongoing commitments to gender justice work and their annual summer Youth Organizing Institute, DRUM in 2021 also built new solidarities and new organizational forms. Members participated in a solidarity hunger strike with taxi workers who finally won historic debt relief from the city. DRUM organized to bring South Asian and Latinx delivery workers together, building solidarity in the face of an exploitative, dangerous industry. And they launched a new sibling organization, DRUM Beats, to engage in electoral politics and creatively build ‘hyperlocal power.’

Adhikaar is a women-led immigrant justice group in Elmhurst serving the Nepali-speaking community since 2005. In July 2021, Adhikaar celebrated a historic victory: a bill dramatically expanding legal and economic protections for domestic workers passed the NYC Council. Adhikaar and coalition partners also introduced the NYC Care Campaign, aimed at gaining insurance and benefits for over 200,000 care and domestic workers—primarily immigrant women of color. Adhikaar helped lead the fight in 2021 for a New Jersey Domestic Workers Bill of Rights to secure legal rights for the state’s 50,000 domestic workers.

Adhikaar was invited to the White House in Summer 2021 to participate in a roundtable on immigrant rights with Vice President Kamala Harris. Closer to home, they continued to provide neighborhood relief during the ongoing Covid crisis, distributing Emergency Relief Funds to community members excluded from federal relief, and working with the NY Immigration Coalition to distribute food coupons to over 900 households.

The Street Vendor Project, representing about 2000 NYC street vendors, continued in 2021 to push for city legislation to decriminalize street vending and provide protections for an immigrant workforce that, literally, feeds New York. In May, the Street Vendor Project organized a well-publicized direct action at Hudson Yards where vendors had been displaced by the NYPD at the bidding of real estate developers.

In September 2021, when Hurricane Ida moved north and torrential rains slammed into the city, Queens Neighborhoods United (QNU) stepped up to provide mutual aid and financial support to immigrant households in central Queens devastated by basement flooding.  

Make the Road New York (MRNY) organizes and empowers immigrant Latinx communities. Founded in 2007, MRNY has over 23,000 members and a local office right here on Roosevelt Avenue. In 2021, MRNY provided Covid information and outreach to 40,000 people; served 1,100 weekly at MRNY food pantries; and vaccinated 1000 at community center events. As leaders in the coalition struggle to Fund Excluded Workers, MRNY celebrated a huge victory with the first-in-the-nation state fund that delivered $2.1 billion to immigrant workers excluded from federal emergency unemployment and pandemic stimulus relief.

MRNY also helped win $500 million to create a culturally responsive curriculum reflecting the diversity of NYC students, and $4.2 billion in funding for school districts with high needs. After a decade-long campaign, Make the Road celebrated the repeal in 2021 of the Walking While Trans ‘loitering’ law that profiled and criminalized low-income TGNCIQ people of color. Looking ahead, MRNY launched plans in 2021 to open a new three-story, 24,000 square foot community center in Queens in 2022.

Chhaya CDC is another Jackson Heights-based organization, focused on housing and economic justice for South Asian and Indo-Caribbean communities. In 2021, when Hurricane Ida hit, Chhaya was poised to take a lead role in aiding immigrant households devastated by flooding and property damage. They knocked on more than 200 doors to provide resources, and distributed over $53,000 in emergency relief funds. Chhaya also organized multilingual community outreach (in Bangla, Hindi, Nepali, Tibetan, and English) about the Emergency Rental Assistance Program to aid households threatened with evictions due to the pandemic.

NICE (New Immigrant Community Empowerment) is an immigrant justice organization and day laborer worker center in Jackson Heights that has, for over two decades, offered solidarity and job training to newly arrived immigrant workers. In 2021, NICE amplified its role as a community organization, helping thousands of immigrant households to weather the pandemic by providing groceries, hot meals, accurate Covid information, and reliable vaccination locations. At the same time, NICE organized multiple rallies, vigils, and trips to Washington, DC to advocate for immigration reform. Their major campaign, 11 DAYS FOR 11 MILLION, demanded that the Biden administration keep its promise of citizenship for 11 million immigrants. In mid-November, the 11 days of action culminated in an 11-mile march that started at 110th St. and ended in Brooklyn outside Senator Schumer’s home.

WHAT CAN WE DO?
  • If you are financially able, consider supporting the work of any of the above organizations! Just click on the organization’s name and go to their DONATE page. 

 

In solidarity and with collective care,

Jackson Heights Immigrant Solidarity Network (JHISN)

Follow @JHSolidarity on Facebook and Twitter and share this newsletter with friends, families, neighbors, networks, and colleagues so they can subscribe and receive news from JHISN.