Tag: DRUM

JHISN Newsletter 04/08/2023

Posted on April 8, 2023 by - News, Newsletter

Dear friends,

We offer two stories this week of immigrant justice struggles here in New York City. First, we report on Mayor Adams’ betrayal of a hard-won agreement between street vendors and the City to decrease harassment and increase new permits for vendors. We then take a brief look at the brewing battle for a fair and equitable 2024 NYC budget that protects essential services for all New Yorkers.  

Finally, with grief and outrage, we mark the deaths of 39 migrants in a blaze inside a detention center just across the border from El Paso, Texas, on March 27. The fatal fire is the latest evidence of the inhumane conditions in which growing numbers of asylum seekers and refugees are being held in Mexico, under pressure from the US government to stall their entry into the US.  

Newsletter highlights:
  1. Adams administration undermines agreement with street vendors
  2. A People’s Budget for NYC fiscal year 2024

1. Street Vendors Under Attack

“We are not a public safety issue. We are vendors, and we are what makes New York City great.” –Guadalupe Sosa, longtime Harlem street vendor

Street vendors’ epic struggle for economic survival and respect on NYC streets has recently suffered a sharp setback. The bad news for vendors—almost all immigrants—began with a March 8 news conference, at which Flushing City Councilmember Sandra Ung launched a petition in English, Chinese, and Korean demanding strict enforcement of city street vending regulations. In particular, Ung called for clearing out a downtown Flushing no-vending zone approved by the Council in 2018. Standing alongside the executive director of the Flushing Business Improvement District (BID), with a group of like-minded brick-and-mortar business people, Ung characterized Flushing’s crowded street vendor scene as a threat to public safety. She described “out of control” street vending as a vector for counterfeit goods, live seafood, and illegal cannabis.

Quickly seizing the opening provided by Ung, the Adams administration suddenly transferred enforcement of street vending regulations from the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) to the Sanitation Department (DSNY) and its police force, effective April 1. DSNY has been heavily criticized in the past for summarily crushing street vendor property in its garbage trucks.

Putting vendors at the mercy of the DSNY Police undermines a careful agreement reached by vendors, the City Council, and Mayor de Blasio in 2021. This plan included the formation of a Street Vendor Advisory Board with a range of stakeholders, de-emphasis on police action, and substantial increases in the number of vending permits, which have been almost impossible to get for decades. Before April 1, the spirit of this agreement had already been violated by the Adams administration, which implemented major increases in inspections and ticketing. New permits, meanwhile, have been repeatedly delayed.

Street vendor advocates responded to the latest development with shock and anger. “What message is the administration sending us? Are they considering us trash that needs to be picked up?” asked Mohamed Attia, executive director of the Street Vendor Project (SVP). Vendors complained that neither the Advisory Board nor the City Council had been consulted about Adams’ change.

Shortly after the mayor signaled his intentions, a March 16 demonstration at City Hall promoted a different path: full and immediate implementation of the 2021 street vendor agreement. This event was attended by many politicians, including Councilmembers Shekar Krishnan, Oswald Feliz, Shahana Hanif, and Tiffany Cabán. At another protest on March 22, after Adams’ plan was formalized, protesters demanded its reversal. Organized by Councilmember Sandy Nurse, chair of the Sanitation Committee, the demonstration included Alexa Aviles, Pierina Sanchez, and Queens reps Jennifer Gutierrez and Julie Won. Street vendors also have elected allies at the state level, where Assemblymember Jessica González-Rojas and state Senator Jessica Ramos have been promoting matching bills that would uncap vending permits, create a fair and equitable street vending licensing program, and expunge the records of vendor violations.

The issues surrounding street vendors have exposed differences along class and ideological lines within NYC immigrant communities. While members of the City Council’s Progressive Caucus from immigrant families have strongly supported the vendors, other immigrant Democrats, like Sandra Ung and her predecessor Peter Koo, have taken the side of brick-and-mortar businesses and “law and order.” Ung, elected in 2021, is carefully navigating the political cross-currents in her district. Speaking about changes in Asian voting patterns in the city, she commented, “I recognized at the very early stage that my constituents, the community, their views are probably not going to be aligned with the progressive caucus stances.”

Immigrant street vendors have more immediate concerns. They are worried about becoming enmeshed in the legal system. And they feel that their economic survival is imperiled. As vendor Guadalupe Sosa puts it, “It’s traumatizing and heartbreaking when you spend your savings and all your time preparing your merchandise or cooking what you sell just for the health department to come alongside with NYPD to dump or confiscate your merchandise into a garbage truck.” 

WHAT CAN WE DO?

2. Immigrant Justice Groups Support a People’s Budget

“Budgets are moral documents.” –attributed to Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Financial budgets are maps of action priorities, worldly statements of what will be valued and what will not. In February, Mayor Adams released a preliminary fiscal year 2024 NYC budget that defunds and devalues core city services including libraries, education, CUNY, and pre-K for 3-year-olds. Just days ago, on April 4, he ordered another round of 4% cuts for almost all city agencies—on top of two previous rounds last year of mandatory 3% cuts. One of the administration’s justifications for the new cuts is the unexpected costs of the city’s migrant crisis.

Local immigration groups including DRUM (Desis Rising Up and Moving) and Make The Road NY are fighting back with the People’s Budget #CareNotCuts. The coalition of groups supporting a People’s Budget campaign state clearly:

“These harmful cuts most deeply impact low-income New Yorkers of color who rely on the City’s public safety net, schools, and institutions. The Mayor’s budget cuts are unacceptable for a city that is home to the most billionaires in the world …. In the long run, divesting from these necessities will make NYC a less safe, stable, healthy, and desirable place to live.”

In response to the Mayor’s proposed cuts in the preliminary $102.7 billion budget, the City Council announced this week that they’ve identified $1.3 billion in taxpayer monies that the city can use to avoid additional cuts to core services. A budget agreement between the Mayor and the City Council must be reached by July 1. Join immigrant justice and local progressive groups in demanding a fair and just budget that meets the needs of all New Yorkers.

WHAT CAN WE DO?
  • Use this Action Network link to send an e-letter to Mayor Adams and the City Council in support of a People’s Budget.

 

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 03/25/2023

Posted on March 25, 2023 by - News, Newsletter

Dear friends, 

With Ramadan starting and spring officially arrived, we send wishes to all for collective blooming and community health. Three years ago this month, with the city shutting down and the pandemic spreading fast in our neighborhoods, JHISN launched a weekly e-newsletter as a form of local solidarity and mutual aid. We thank you for the support and solidarity you have shared in return. To those who still bear the loss of beloveds in the pandemic, and to all whose own health has been threatened or diminished, we offer our collective embrace.

This week’s newsletter is all about the local. The postponement—for now—by the Adams administration of a promised wage hike fought for by delivery workers. An update on the new program that allows local groups to sponsor refugees, including here in Jackson Heights. And the statewide campaign to secure health insurance for immigrants, led by legislation sponsored by Queens Assembly member Jessica González-Rojas.  

Newsletter highlights:
  1. Fair wages for NYC delivery workers: the struggle continues
  2. Community Sponsorship Hub welcomes new refugees
  3. #Coverage4All promotes health insurance for immigrant workers 


1. Deliverista Wage Hike Under Attack

In 2021, after a powerful struggle in the streets by Los Deliveristas Unidos (LDU), the New York City Council passed legislation establishing a minimum wage for delivery workers—one of the few such laws in the US. The base wage is intended to be equivalent to that of ride-hail drivers like those at Uber and Lyft. The Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) was tasked by the Council with calculating the new hourly rate, taking into account waiting time, delivery rates, and other factors. Regulations were supposed to be published this January 1, taking effect on February 15.

In November, after conducting a detailed analysis, the DCWP proposed a $23.82-an-hour minimum wage. This was a major increase from deliveristas’ current hourly average of $7.09 before tips. App workers looked forward to a dramatic improvement in their standard of living. But the delivery companies resisted. DoorDash New York, for instance, submitted a comment arguing that the new minimum wage “will likely result in substantial new costs that will need to be passed along to consumers…and many NYC families will likely no longer be able to afford delivery services.”

Bowing to the app companies, the Adams administration let the legal deadline for the minimum wage law pass with no implementation. No raise for deliveristas. And then on March 2, the DWCP suddenly proposed a new, lower pay rate—$17.96 this year, rising to $19.96 in 2025. Their rationale for the reduction was that delivery workers sometimes connect with more than one app, and might collect waiting pay from more than one employer. But the new proposal is actually a direct gift from the mayor to the app companies. Not only has the proposed minimum wage been lowered, but its implementation has been stalled for an unknown period. As THE CITY reports, “The turnabout…kicks off another rulemaking and public hearing, scheduled for April 7.”

Comptroller Brad Lander, who sponsored the delivery worker wage law during his time on the City Council, was harshly critical of the administration’s delay and wage-cutting tactics:

“Every day deferred violates the law …. The only thing that has come out of this prolonged process is the weakening of standards at the behest of massive Silicon Valley gig companies. DCWP should not give in to corporate bullying. The delivery workers who were so critical to our city during the pandemic deserve their due, now.”

Fahd Ahmed of JH-based DRUM (Desis Rising Up and Moving) agreed, criticizing “pressure from the corporations.” For their part, Los Deliveristas Unidos has no intention of passively accepting the administration’s downgrade. Delivery worker Sergio Ache told THE CITY that he is “keeping the faith.” “This is not over,” he insists. “Just like the companies organized to oppose the original rule, we need to keep organizing to win a fair wage.”

WHAT CAN WE DO?

 

2. Community Sponsorship Hub to Administer the Welcome Corps

As you read in our 2/25 article “Biden Team Introduces the ‘Welcome Corps,’” the US government launched a new program in January to enable small groups of individuals to sponsor migrants already approved for resettlement. During a webinar about refugee resettlement on 2/27, JHISN learned that the Welcome Corps program will be administered by a consortium led by the Community Sponsorship Hub (CSH) with funding provided by the US government: “The Community Sponsorship Hub Welcome Corps exists to grow the role of communities in the protection, welcome and integration of refugees and other forcibly displaced people.”

CSH will train the sponsor groups signed up through Welcome Corps, and will rely on the expertise of the five organizations in the consortium that have long experience assisting refugees: CWS (Church World Service), IRC (International Refugee Committee), IRAP (International Refugee Admissions Program), IRIS (Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Services), and Welcome.US. These organizations will provide assistance in preparing the Welcome Plan, and offer guidance in securing funding and housing.

CSH began in September 2021 (with financial backing from Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, Inc.) as a response to the needs of Afghan refugees. Its goal was to enable local communities to participate directly in welcoming and integrating refugees into society through sponsorship. CSH’s Sponsorship Circles claim a track record of success assisting Afghan refugees (since 2021) and Ukrainian refugees (since 2022).

WHAT CAN WE DO?

 

3. A New York ‘Disgrace’: Many Immigrant New Yorkers Excluded from Health Coverage

“Immigrants make up 54% of essential workers in New York and 70% of undocumented workers are employed in essential businesses. These New Yorkers contribute billions in taxes and economic productivity, yet do not reap benefits like accessing state health coverage options.” –Gustavo Rivera and Jessica González-Rojas

At least 8,200 New Yorkers have reportedly died from COVID-19 because they did not have health insurance. Over 425,000 New York state residents are ineligible for public health care programs due to immigration status, and 250,000 remain uninsured. Eight out of ten New Yorkers believe immigration status should not be a barrier to quality healthcare, so New York could be leading the country by providing immigrant access to health services. But other states are leading the way.

California, Colorado, Illinois, Oregon, Washington state, and Washington DC have all initiated legislation to provide health coverage to people regardless of immigration status while extending to folks of different ages and income brackets. Each state approached this issue differently, but Colorado and Washington took a path that Governor Hochul had previously indicated New York could follow: securing a section 1332 waiver of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to allow federal funds for the ACA to provide insurance coverage to undocumented immigrants.

In 2015 New York secured federal support for ACA funds to cover “lawfully present” immigrants—but not undocumented workers—in a health coverage program now called the Essential Plan. The Essential Plan Trust Fund Account currently has a $9 billion surplus that is estimated to grow by $2 billion more in a year. Federal rules require these funds can only be spent on health insurance coverage.

Last year advocates supported a “Coverage for All” bill that would request a 1332 waiver for New York to cover undocumented immigrants. Instead, Hochul expanded Medicare to cover undocumented seniors over age 65. In February 2023, Queens Assemblywoman Jessica González-Rojas reintroduced the “Coverage for All” bill which also has support from NYC Comptroller Brad Lander.

The statewide #Coverage4all campaign continues to advocate for the bill’s passage and recently exceeded its goal to add 1,500 supportive comments to the bill. At the beginning of March, immigrant New Yorkers hand-delivered pill bottles to the Governor with notes inside prescribing #Coverage4All. This week a caravan and rally to support the initiative were organized in Long Island as well as a March to Albany. There is still time to demand that Governor Hochul request this important waiver from the federal government. 

WHAT CAN WE DO?

 

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 03/11/2023

Posted on March 11, 2023 by - News, Newsletter

Dear friends,

 While it did not make many headlines this week, hundreds of excluded workers marched across the Manhattan Bridge on Monday, demanding the state budget fund unemployment assistance for all workers, including undocumented immigrants. Our first article also covers an under-reported story: the recent legal challenge to new city district maps that split the vibrant South Asian community in South Queens into three separate districts. Our second article takes a deeper look behind a news story on immigration that actually is—for the moment—getting lots of attention: the systematic labor exploitation of unaccompanied child migrants. 

 Newsletter highlights:
  1. New City Council maps disenfranchise Asians in Queens
  2. Child migrants funneled into exploitative jobs

1. Lawsuit Challenges City Council Redistricting

“Despite the protections of the NYC Charter and our warnings throughout the redistricting process, the council map carved up the community and muffled their voices, continuing our city’s painful history of dividing, marginalizing, and disenfranchising communities of color.”—Jerry Vattamala, Democracy Program Director of the AALDEF

Last weekend, just before the petitioning process began for the NY City Council primaries in June, many Queens elected officials marched up Skillman Avenue in the St. Pats for All parade. Celebrating the inclusivity of Queens, they walked in the Sunnyside parade that was created 23 years ago in response to the St. Patrick’s Day parade in Manhattan refusing entry to LGBTQ+ marchers. Congresswoman Grace Meng reminded the Queens crowd in attendance that the Irish who came as refugees were not always welcomed with open arms, nor with equitable laws and policies. And Councilwoman Marjorie Velazquez raised cheers from the crowd as she said “Immigrants make America, America.”

The City Council electeds who were marching may have an additional hurdle to overcome this year: petitioning for the primaries may be delayed by a lawsuit brought by the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) on behalf of South Asian community members including DRUM (Desis, Rising Up and Moving), our local immigrant workers’ organization. The lawsuit charges that 2022 redistricting decisions “unlawfully separat[ed] the Asian community” by carving up south Queens and “dilut[ing] the community’s voting strength.” The lawsuit calls for altered council maps that would create a new “opportunity district” for Asian American voters in the Queens areas of Richmond Hill and Ozone Park, and for a halt to petitioning until the district lines are settled. Judge Leslie Stroth ruled for a hearing last week and then recused herself from the case because she is also up for election as a candidate for the Supreme Court.

This lawsuit follows substantial debates, which began in November 2021, about redistricting maps that produced electoral districts that egregiously diminished the strength of Black, Asian, and Latino communities and voters. The New York City Charter says redistricting plans must ensure “the fair and effective representation of the racial and language minority groups in New York City,” protected by the 1965 United States Voting Rights Act. However, as Fulvia Vargas-De León, a lawyer with Latino Justice, noted, “Redistricting is often the silent voter suppressor.” 

This is not a new issue. Thirty years ago a coalition was formed to create districts that accurately reflect demographic shifts in New York populations: the outcome was a set of “Unity Maps”. Many immigrant advocacy organizations, including the AALDEF, put their support behind the Unity Maps and presented them to the Independent Redistricting Commission (IRC) as examples of how redistricting could be non-partisan and be an accurate reflection of the minority populations in those areas. DRUM created a town hall series with the APA Voice (Asian Pacific American Voting and Organizing to Increase Civic Engagement), South Queens Women’s March, and the Caribbean Equality Project to oppose the redistricting that split the communities in Richmond Hill and Ozone Park. According to Patrick Stegemoeller, group attorney for the AALDEF, the Unity Maps were “ignored, in favor of a final plan that prioritized surrounding white-majority communities.” 

This is not the first lawsuit for this election cycle: the Our City Our Vote law, allowing 800,000 eligible immigrants to vote in municipal elections, was passed by NYC voters in 2022. However, plaintiffs in Staten Island alleged the law was “adopted with impermissible racial intent.” They claimed Black citizen voters would be negatively impacted when more “Hispanic foreign citizens” vote: Justice Ralph Prozio of Staten Island agreed, and struck down the new law. The city is currently appealing that ruling and it is unlikely we will see that case resolved for the 2023 election cycle.

WHAT CAN WE DO?

 

2. Unaccompanied Migrant Children: Alone and Exploited

When the New York Times story about exploited migrant children dropped on February 2, it was a bombshell. The Times reported that in the past two years, 250,000 unaccompanied minors have entered the US; many of them are “ending up in dangerous jobs that violate labor laws—including in factories that make products for well-known brands.” Some work 12- or 14-hour shifts, while still trying to go to school. Dozens have been killed or seriously injured on the job. The heartbreaking Times article—based on interviews and stunning photography of more than 100 migrant child workers in 20 states—offered readers an emotional testament, and created a political sensation.

By the very next day, lawmakers in Congress were “clamoring for action.” The Department of Labor solemnly declared that it “takes these egregious violations very seriously and investigates every child labor complaint they receive and acts to hold employers accountable.” They promised a new “Interagency Taskforce to Combat Child Labor Exploitation” and a host of bureaucratic measures to beef up child protection and labor law enforcement policies.

It was as if the politicians didn’t know that exploitation of migrant children was happening. But as recently as last year, Reuters ran a series of articles about underage refugees working in the Hyundai-Kia supply chain and in poultry factories. And immigrant justice advocates have been urgently raising the predicament of young refugees for years. What the Times story accomplished was to give some of these oppressed children a face, and a voice. It forced the shameful treatment of unaccompanied minors into the mainstream of political discussion—at least temporarily. 

From the point of view of immigrant justice, two issues stand out. The first is that the federal government, under Biden, is still separating children from their families at the southern border, although in new ways. By turning away almost all adult refugees under various cruel pretexts, in violation of international law, the US is forcing desperate refugee families to split up and send their children North alone—hoping that they can survive, and maybe help the family survive economically. This isn’t the openly racist carnival of the Trump years, which often targeted young children. It’s more of a cold-blooded unpublicized assembly line, trapping adult and infant refugees in war zones or fetid, dangerous encampments in Mexico, while rapidly processing tweens and teens to be sent all over the US. 

The second issue is that the immigration system is effectively organized to funnel young asylum seekers into labor exploitation. The US government doesn’t just fail to provide these children with a basic income, legal representation, or services after they leave preliminary detention-–it doesn’t even know where many of them are. States and cities also do little to help. It is the volunteer sponsor-–often a distant relative or friend of a friend-–who is supposed to “provide for the physical and mental well-being of the child, including but not limited to, food, shelter, clothing, education, medical care and other services as needed.” But this isn’t realistic. As the Times story makes clear, almost everyone in and around the system that “processes” unaccompanied minors expects the children to work and figures that into their decisions. 

Young people crossing the border are usually desperate to make money. They may owe thousands of dollars to smugglers who brought them here. They are risking everything with the goal of sending financial help to their endangered families. Their sponsors, who are often low-income people themselves, may expect the children they sponsor to contribute to their own upkeep. Some sponsors traffick the labor of migrant children, treating it like a business. On the other hand, school-age asylum seekers aren’t allowed to work legally because of “child protection” laws. This contradiction forces minors into the shadow economy and leaves them at the mercy of capitalism’s most unscrupulous profiteers.

And so there are thirteen-year-olds with fake IDs washing sheets in the back rooms of hotels, and exhausted fifteen-year-olds picking tomatoes all day in the sun or cleaning slaughterhouses with toxic chemicals all night. Young teenagers wait on the curb at day labor sites, competing for hard day labor in construction. As the Times story continues to reverberate nationally, we should be aware that thousands of unaccompanied child immigrants are living and working all around us in New York State. And we should always remember the local tragedy of Edwin Ajacalon, who migrated alone from Guatemala to Brooklyn at the age of 14. Edwin was riding his delivery bike in Brooklyn when he was mowed down by a speeding hit and run driver in a BMW. A whole family’s hopes suffered a huge blow with his death. The driver was never charged.

WHAT CAN WE DO?

 

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 12/31/2022

Posted on December 31, 2022 by - News, Newsletter

Dear friends,

As the year 2022 comes to a close, we invite our readers to look back on some of the recent activism of local immigrant groups, and look ahead to the ongoing struggle to dismantle the US detention and deportation system. We feature the recent activities of three vibrant organizations—NICE, DRUM, and Make the Road NY—that each have a base here in central Queens. And we report on what a ‘true’ alternative to detention might be while remembering that, as the new year approaches, over 23,000 immigrants are currently in detention, and over 377,000 people are being monitored under ICE’s ‘Alternative to Detention’ (ATD) programs.

As we usher in 2023, we wish you joy, and community, and collective imaginings of a more just world for all.

Newsletter highlights:
  1. Year-end activities of local immigrant-led groups
  2. Implementing real alternatives to detention

1. Local Immigrant Justice Groups@End of Year 2022

As the calendar year turns, we take a look at three immigrant-led groups based here in Central Queens, and report back on some of their recent activism and advocacy. 

NICE (New Immigrant Community Empowerment) held a demonstration with City Council member Shekar Krishnan in front of City Hall on November 22, advocating for more resources to fight against wage theft. Undocumented workers are especially vulnerable to not being fully paid for their work, or not being paid at all. 

NICE’s commitment to protecting workers includes their support for Carlos’ Law. Named for Carlos Moncayo, a 22-year-old undocumented Ecuadorian construction worker killed on the job in 2015, the bill was proposed in 2018 and passed the NY State Legislature in August. It would raise the maximum fine for criminal liability for worker injury or death from $10,000 to no less than $500,000, or, in the case of a misdemeanor, no less than $300,000. The bill has been sitting unsigned on the desk of Governor Kathy Hochul, even though three more workers were killed this November, for a total of at least 24 construction worker deaths this year. Over 80% of construction workers who die in New York are employed at non-union work sites, and immigrant construction workers are disproportionately vulnerable to dying on the job. 

On December 13, members of NICE together with CUFFH (Churches United for Fair Housing), CASA, Make the Road NY and Center for Popular Democracy rallied in Washington, DC, to demand climate, health, economic and immigration justice. NICE met with six different congressional offices: Senator Bernie Sanders and Representatives Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Grace Meng, and Nadya Velazquez.

The Omnibus federal budget bill recently approved by Congress allots $500,000 to NICE.

DRUM (Desis Rising Up and Moving) joined more than 100 organizations on November 15 calling on Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to designate Temporary Protective Status (TPS) and Special Student Status (SSR) for Pakistani nationals working and studying in the US. The devastating floods of 2022 have created ongoing health and economic crises in Pakistan, with at least 33 million people (1 in 7 Pakistanis) directly affected by the disaster. No safe return of Pakistani immigrants to their country of origin is currently possible. Support TPS and SSR for Pakistani by signing this petition. 

DRUM’s director of organizing, Kazi Fouzia Kabir, joined Grassroots Global Justice Alliance’s delegation in November at the United Nation’s COP27 meetings in Egypt. Kabir works to connect with civil and government representatives from countries that DRUM’s members come from, in order to coordinate their demands for climate justice.

On November 22 and again on December 7, DRUM participated in a Care Not Cuts rally at City Hall demanding that Mayor Adams protect city services for working-class New Yorkers—threatened by Adams’ proposed budget cuts in fiscal 2023—and roll back the Mayor’s dangerous plan to forcibly detain New Yorkers deemed by the NYPD to have a mental illness. The proposed budget cuts and hiring freeze will affect vital city services, including a proposed cut to the extension of the universal 3-K Child Care Program. DRUM is fighting for housing, childcare, education, and care, instead of cuts and criminalization.  

DRUM is also working with ICE Out! NYC, Make the Road NY, African Communities Together (ACT), and other immigrant justice organizations to advocate for three crucial bills being considered by the City Council. The proposed legislation would further restrict the city from funneling people into ICE custody and detention by: ensuring accountability and compliance with existing detainer laws; limiting the Department of Corrections from communicating with ICE about a person’s release; and limiting the NYPD’s ability to hold a person for ICE.

Make the Road NY’s (MTRNY) Trans Immigrant Project (TrIP) held a vigil on November 19 in Corona Plaza to honor the lives of trans and gender-diverse siblings lost in 2022 and previous years. They renewed their commitment to protecting those who are still with us, and the generations that come after us.

MTRNY also held a series of Town Halls for members to meet with Queens legislators ahead of the 2023 legislative session. The November 16 Town Hall included State Senator Jessica Ramos, and Assembly members Catalina Cruz, Jessica Gonzalez-Rojas, Juan Ardila, and Steven Raga. Two more events were held on November 17 in Brooklyn and November 29 in Westchester.

On November 16, MTRNY launched its 2023-24 Respect and Dignity for All state policy platform to address the persistent inequities across NY State and improve the lives of immigrant, Black, and brown families. Proposals include:

  • Permanent inclusion in the unemployment system for all. Excluded No More.
  • Ensure immigrant healthcare access. Coverage for All.
  • Pass Good Cause Eviction legislation to bring renter’s rights to tenants in smaller buildings.
  • Pass the Solutions Not Suspensions Act for youth.
  • Pass the Stop Violence in the Sex Trades Act

The just-passed federal budget allots $400,000 to MTRNY which will help them implement their policies.

WHAT CAN WE DO?
  • Sign the petition supporting TPS for Pakistani immigrants.
  • If you are able, make a donation to any of the local immigrant activist and advocacy groups mentioned here–check their website for donation information!

2. The Real Alternative to Detention is No Detention

“The point is not to provide an alternative to electronic monitoring, an alternative to probation …  and so on—but to look instead at the actual problems we face, and to take lessons from projects around the country that are addressing these problems in effective ways.” –Prison by Any Other Name, by Maya Schenwar and Victoria Law (p.241)

Immigrant advocates including Mijente, Detention Watch Network (DWN), the National Immigrant Justice Center, and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops with the Center for Migration Studies have each issued reports opposing ISAP (Intensive Supervision Appearance Program), an Alternative to Detention (ATD) program run by ICE agents. They highlight the many problems of ISAP, and the value of community-based support programs as true alternatives to detention. ISAP, launched in 2004, is run by prison corporations and has been renewed four times despite sustained criticism by immigrants and activists. 

The government has piloted a few community-based ATD programs. In 2000, the Vera Institute for Justice worked with the INS (Immigration and Naturalization Services) to run one such ATD called the Appearance Assistance Program (AAP). The AAP was a break from the carceral approach to immigration policy which ramped up after Cuban and Haitian refugees arrived on Florida’s shores in the late 1980s, prompting Congress to amend the Immigration and Naturalization Act to require mandatory detention for immigrants with specific criminal convictions. The association of immigration with criminality was expanded by the 1996 Illegal Immigrant Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA) which increased the scope of mandatory detention and captured legal permanent residents as well. 

Despite the AAP’s non-carceral success, with 90% of participants attending their court hearings, the aftermath of September 11, 2001, reconfigured immigration policy as a national security issue. The creation of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in 2002 prioritized immigrant surveillance, deportation, and the escalation of detention. ISAP became the primary ATD program supported by DHS, which leverages smartphone and facial recognition software, ankle monitors, and telephone check-ins with ICE agents with a focus on discipline and supervision, not community support.

The chart below shows the increase over time of funding allocations to ATD programs, including ISAP, as daily enrollment in those programs grew, spiking at almost 225% under President Biden in one year. The chart clearly shows government spending is not reduced with ATDs because they continue to spend on detention. The data reveal that ATDs like ISAP are not a real alternative, but an addition to detention. The chart also illustrates how bed quotas in private detention facilities keep detention costs consistently high even though the actual detention population recently dropped due to the unjustified use of Title 42 as an immigration enforcement tool during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Some claim that the ISAP program is better than detention as a more humane way to approach the problem of immigration management. Participants in the program have agreed that given a choice between detention or not, then ISAP is preferred. But the report Tracked and Trapped: Experiences from ICE’s Digital Prisons shows the direct human impact that ISAP has on people (not by comparison with detention): 

  • When there are problems with the technology, ICE case officers will not blame the technology, instead punishment will fall on the participant. Because the ISAP program is run by a prison subsidiary company, the threat of detention is immediate for non-compliance.
  • Smartphone monitoring data constantly tracks people with no restrictions on how that data will be used. In fact, ISAP data was used in 2019 to assist in a Mississippi ICE raid to arrest 680 immigrant workers in meat processing plants, 300 of whom were later released. 
  • Ankle monitors have notably caused irritation, bleeding, or even electro-shocked the wearer—possibly because they are being worn for over 10 times longer than the intended length of time. 
  • 97% of people surveyed reported feeling social stigma or isolation, and two-thirds reported job-related issues. 
  • Black immigrants are given the ankle shackle twice as often as others. 

Detention Watch Network criticizes these ATD approaches as Alternatives to Freedom, but there are programs that can be community-based true alternatives, and ISAP is not the sole approach that ICE takes with ATDs. Parole allows people to live freely while they navigate their immigration cases—95% of Ukrainians were granted this option to escape the war with Russia, but only 11% of non-Ukranians were given this option during the same timeframe. In January 2016, ICE set up the Family Case Management Program (FCMP), an ATD without punitive and restrictive measures which did not use ankle monitors. The program successfully maximized court hearing attendance and ICE appointments. It was also significantly cheaper than the detention costs at just $38 each day per family unit instead of $320 per detainee per day. President Trump chose to eliminate this successful program after just one year. He also adjusted the Risk Classification Assessment (RCA) algorithm used to advise if someone can be released from detention and placed into an ATD—as a result, the continued detention of low-risk individuals rose from around 50% to 97%. When later seen by a human case officer, about 40% of people were released on bond. In 2020 the Bronx Defenders and the ACLU brought a lawsuit against ICE for adjusting RCA as a violation of due process and federal immigration law that calls for “individualized determinations” about a person’s release. 

Much immigrant justice work has tried to ensure that legal representation is provided to protect due process. However, as with the criminal justice system, the guarantee of due process does not always lead to a better outcome, which would be no detention and no deportation. But there are community programs working independently of the government that offer prime examples of successful ATDs: the New York Immigrant Family Unity Project, NYIFUP, is a coalition of groups with a process that strives for a different outcome from all the rest. It resulted in a 48% non-deportation outcome–a different measure than ensuring participation in court appearances and ICE meetings. That is a real alternative with a valuable outcome for immigrants.

WHAT CAN WE DO?

 

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 10/01/2022

Posted on October 1, 2022 by - News, Newsletter

Dear friends,

When we are writing the newsletter, we often are imagining you reading it. This week, we are imagining that our quick dive into recent activities of local immigrant justice groups could motivate and inspire you. That our update on the latest twist in revisions to NY City Council district maps might help keep your eyes on the prize of electoral power for immigrant communities. And that our brief comparison of immigration courts in New York and Florida can deepen your understanding of what some officials have called the “human trafficking” of migrants by Florida’s governor. Read on!  

Newsletter highlights:
  1. Activities of local immigrant justice groups
  2. New City Council district maps contested
  3. New York vs. Florida immigration court outcomes

1. News from Local Immigrant Justice Groups: August–September

As always, multiple immigrant-led organizations are working creatively to provide services, leadership-building, and outreach to local immigrant communities. Here are a few of their most recent efforts:

  • Make the Road NY has relaunched its Deportation Defense Handbook, a comprehensive tool helping undocumented people to assert their rights and be empowered when it comes to law enforcement. 
  • New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC) published a 13-page resource guide for immigrants. This toolkit is updated regularly based on changing laws and policies.
  • Make the Road and New York Immigration Coalition have been at the forefront of welcoming the migrants bussed in from Texas and Arizona. They’ve provided information about services and shelter, and distributed  Metrocards, prepaid phone cards, hygiene products, water, and food. In August, New Immigrant Community Empowerment (NICE) collected donations of clothes and hygiene products and will now be participating in the new NY Asylum Seekers Navigation Center on 49th Street in Manhattan. 
  • The 2020 Census necessitated changes to NY’s City Council Districts. Adhikaar and DRUM testified before the NY Redistricting Committee in opposition to proposed new City Council Districts 26, 27, and 31 that would divide the South Asian and Indo-Caribbean communities, lessening their political power. Instead, they are supporting the Unity Map. The next set of proposed maps were presented on September 22 and voted down (see below).
  • Chhaya is still fighting to get relief for families affected by Hurricane Ida in 2021, and is helping small businesses secure NY State Covid-19 Recovery Grants valued at up to $50,000. Also, on September 24, their street fair on 37th Avenue celebrated South Asian and Indo-Caribbean cultural heritage with music, food, and vendors and supplied valuable information on available services in the city.
  • Minkwon Center and DRUM Beats were very active in supplying information to voters during the June primaries. Minkwon is now campaigning to support the NY City Immigrant Voting Rights bill that will give DACA recipients and permanent residents the opportunity to vote in city elections.
  • Now that the worst of the pandemic has passed, Adhikaar and Minkwon Center have restarted their in-person English classes that were discontinued during the height of the pandemic. 
WHAT CAN WE DO?
  • If you are able, make a donation to any of the local immigrant activist and advocacy groups mentioned here–check their website for donation information!

2. Revised City Council District Maps Rejected

On Thursday, September 22, the NY Redistricting Commission held another public meeting to present its revised maps for the 51 City Council districts. Although the revisions incorporated many changes urged by 9500 public comments received during the Commission’s summer public hearings, the maps were rejected by a vote of 8 to 7. Please see our JHISN story of 08/06/22 on the importance to immigrant communities of the redistricting maps. 

Three notable changes to the original redistricting proposals were: 1) restoring District 26 as a Queens-only district by not including Roosevelt Island and part of the Upper East Side. Roosevelt Island would be part of Manhattan’s District 5; 2) reuniting in a single district Rochdale Village, the second largest co-op community in the city and largely home to Black homeowners; and 3) making Staten Island District 50 a crossover district by including a small part of Brooklyn.

Efforts were made to incorporate concerns that many immigrant communities (particularly South Asians) would be split into different districts and lack adequate representation on the Council. But the Commission says it is hampered by state law that only allows a 5% deviation in population between the most and least populated districts, and by the need to follow criteria set by the US Constitution, the federal Voting Rights Act, and the City Charter.

Dr. Lisa Handley, a prominent  Voting Rights Act expert, said the revised maps fulfilled the requirement that Blacks, Asians, and Hispanics would have the opportunity to elect their preferred candidates. But one reason for the “no” votes was that some Commissioners believed that Brooklyn and Bronx residents, and Dominican residents in Manhattan, would have their votes diluted by the new revisions to the maps. Mayor Adams was rumored to have asked his appointees to vote in opposition. 

The Commission is now required to make additional revisions before sending the maps back to the City Council. The next Commission meeting was Thursday, September 29, with time for further deliberations before the December 7 deadline for final maps.

3. New York and Florida—immigration courts in comparison

New York has had a one-way migrant connection to Florida since the 1970s, and 7% to 10% of people living in Florida were born in NY. There is a summer Jitney Bus line connecting the Hamptons with Florida; however, this summer it is the planes that Florida’s Governor DeSantis used to bus migrants North to sanctuary cities that have made headlines…prompting accusations that he may have violated the law. A review of immigration court outcomes in the two states gives us a picture of the systematic differences that shape the everyday lives of immigrants channeled through our current ‘injustice’ system. 

Going back over 20 years, Florida and New York have reviewed a similar number of deportation cases–each state handling between 500-600,000 proceedings. Some years NY has more cases than Florida, and sometimes it is the reverse. But New York consistently releases 7% more immigrants from custody than Florida, and Florida regularly detains 6% more people than New York. 

There are stark differences between how a New York and a Florida immigration court will rule in the cases that come before them. Overall, New York grants relief to 14% more immigrants than Florida, while Florida issues 8% more removal orders forcing immigrants to leave the country. Two crucial elements make the difference in case outcomes: 1) whether a person has legal representation and 2) how long they have been in the US.

Representation makes a difference in New York immigration courts: 40% of cases involving lawyers are granted relief or terminated (the person is released); without legal representation, 52% of cases end in removal orders. By comparison, in Florida, 35% of cases involving lawyers result in removal orders or ‘voluntary’ departure. So outcomes in Florida’s immigration courts, even with legal representation, are more likely to favor deportation over granting continuing residency in the US. The consequences for individuals and families coming before the court is huge. 

The best outcome is given to people who have been in New York for 1 to 2 years: 44% of them are granted a relief to stay in the country. At the other end of the spectrum, 48% of immigrants in Florida (who have been there for 3 to 4 years) face a most likely outcome of a removal order. For someone who has lived in the US for more than 5 years, immigration court rulings in Florida and New York have almost opposite outcomes: over 10% of those Florida cases will result in a removal order while the same (or a slightly higher) percentage of New York cases will result in a grant of relief and the ability to stay in the country. 

Florida processes half as many asylum cases as New York, but the outcomes follow a similar pattern. With legal representation, 64% of cases in New York are granted asylum while in Florida, even with representation, 75% of cases will be denied. Even without representation, New York will grant asylum to 24% more of their cases than does Florida.

So. Perhaps the best way for New York to respond to the DeSantis transport of migrants is to expedite the normal outcome of NY immigration court rulings.

WHAT CAN WE DO?

 

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 09/03/2022

Posted on September 3, 2022 by - News, Newsletter

Dear friends, 

We bring you this week a story of happiness and hope—a local story of one immigrant family’s successful struggle to stay together. We thank the Talukder family, who live here in Queens, for letting us share their story with you. And we are grateful for reminders that sometimes, indeed, collective work can bring the world we want a bit closer. 

Next we get behind the recent headlines about busloads of migrants landing in NYC. Sent by Republican governors hungry for a media spectacle, the thousands of migrants and asylum seekers being transported north from the southern border are part of a broader historical fight over the politics of ‘sanctuary’ and the possibility of refuge.     

Newsletter highlights:
  1. Local Story with A Happy Ending
  2. Busing Migrants to NYC: Republican Spectacle Targets Sanctuary Cities

Photo by Jennifer Deseo

1. Riaz Talukder—An Immigrant Justice Story

On August 2, 2022, after decades, Riaz Talukder and his wife Sayeda were finally granted green cards and the right to remain in the US with their two American-born sons. This is a story of the importance of community support, the alliance of several activist groups, good legal counsel, and a lot of persistence and patience. Here’s how it happened. 

In October 2017, JHISN met with Riaz Talukder, a Bangladeshi immigrant who had been living in the US since he was a teenager, to hear about his immigration situation. We learned that Riaz had come to the US in the 1980s, and been granted amnesty in 1990 under Catholic Social Services which allowed him to live and work here. During a trip to Bangladesh, he received death threats from a political organization. Consequently, when he returned to NY he filed for political asylum. Unfortunately, government policy changed in 1999, and bad legal advice led to a deportation order which Riaz didn’t learn about until 2010 when his home was raided. He was detained for several months and released under an order of supervision requiring him to report for regular check-ins.  

JHISN made support for Riaz’s case a priority and informed our JH neighbors about his situation at our annual community gathering. When Riaz’s new lawyer told us that evidence of community support would be helpful, members of JHISN, DRUM, and New Sanctuary Coalition attended Riaz’s October 21 check-in with ICE at Federal Plaza. There we learned that Riaz was to have a “final” ICE check-in on November 20, 2017, with the threat of being deported after 37 years in the US. 

Immigrant justice groups launched a petition drive asking the Department of Homeland Security to reopen Riaz’s asylum case. JHISN gathered signatures here in the neighborhood. DRUM and United We Dream crafted their petition and circulated it on social media. NY1 interviewed Riaz and the article explained how he was the sole support of his two sons and wife who was being treated for thyroid cancer. All the petitions plus 100 letters of support were brought to Riaz’s check-in on November 20, 2017.

On November 20, several of us accompanied Riaz to his check-in. We were delighted when Riaz was granted a six-month stay of deportation so that he and his lawyer could pursue his asylum case. DRUM and JHISN held a planned press conference that announced the good news. 

November 20, 2017 After the good news. Riaz (in red) and Sayeda (in blue jacket) with Ydanis Rodriquez and Edward Cuccia (at right). Photo by Kisha Bari August 14, 2022 JHISN members celebrate with Sayeda (with blue head scarf), Riaz, and his sons (at right). Photo by Jennifer Deseo

JHISN, DRUM, and United We Dream continued the petition drives, energized by the promising news. Many Jackson Heights community members—perhaps some of you—signed on in support of Riaz’s case. Then in June 2018, Riaz’s lawyer reported that the deportation order had been canceled and the asylum case reopened. The judge’s decision was influenced by the volume of community support, a psychologist’s report on the problems the family would face if the deportation occurred, and the local news coverage.

During the next four years, Sayeda’s health improved, the older son graduated from high school and entered college, and the younger son finished middle school and started high school. Riaz and his family were able to buy a taxi medallion and a house. Finally, on August 2, 2022, with the news of green cards, they have achieved stability and safety.

On August 14, Riaz and Sayeda invited JHISN to participate in a celebration dinner. The food chosen by Riaz and Sayeda was delicious. There were reminiscences and lively talk and a lot of laughs. The family thanked JHISN for our work. It was a pleasure to share their happiness and to be a small part of one immigrant story that ends with justice. 

2. The Political Theater of Abuse: Abbott Buses Migrants Out of Texas

“In Texas, they told us that here, we would get help with housing, work and everything else we needed … It was all a lie.” –Juan Rojas, migrant bused from Texas to Washington, DC

In the last several months, an estimated 8–9,000 migrants who crossed the border from Mexico have been bused to Washington, DC, and New York City. On August 31, the first bus of migrants from Texas arrived in Chicago. Migrants’ lives have become unwitting players in Republican fever dreams of punishing “sanctuary cities” for daring to protect immigrant justice and safety.

No one actually knows how many migrants are being transported in this historically unprecedented exodus. There is no communication between the Republican governors who are overseeing the expulsion of migrants from their state (Greg Abbott of Texas and Doug Ducey of Arizona) and the mayors of targeted northern cities where the chartered buses land. There is no documentation of the undocumented migrants caught in this new act of right-wing political theater.  

The extraordinary $12 million spent so far by the state of Texas on busing migrants northward is the latest cynical escalation in the ongoing demonization by Trump and the Republican Party of “sanctuary cities” as havens of immigrant crime. Launched in the mid-1980s by mostly religious organizations, the Sanctuary Movement mobilized municipal support and legal protections for hundreds of thousands of migrants displaced by wars in Guatemala and El Salvador. The aim of the Sanctuary Movement since then has been to lessen the daily threat of deportation and create greater trust between local law enforcement and immigrant communities.  

 The Right sees sanctuary as a wedge issue. Mobilizing disinformation and fear, the Trump administration threatened to cut off federal funding to “dangerous” sanctuary cities in 2017. Many mayors and cities—like NYC, Seattle, Chicago—held firm and pushed back; California declared the entire state a sanctuary space. But Texas, led by Governor Abbott, banned sanctuary cities throughout the state. Now, Abbott accuses sanctuary cities like New York, DC, and Chicago of ignoring the Biden-induced migration crisis on the southern border. He is spending millions in state taxpayer dollars to fill up charter buses with recent migrants and send them to sanctuary cities in the north. Overwhelming both city resources and local immigrant advocacy groups, the busing of migrants to NYC also creates a delicious political spectacle for right-wing corporate media.

Director of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas complains that Governors Abbott and Ducey’s busing scheme is “making things worse,” with their unilateral decisions and total lack of collaboration with the federal government. NYC Mayor Eric Adams announces emergency measures to expand the city’s homeless shelter system in response to over one thousand asylum seekers being bused into Port Authority.

On the ground, some migrants are glad to head north where there may be family awaiting, and where the court system may be more favorable for their asylum cases. But others report that they did not willingly get on the bus in Texas. Or that they were surprised to get off the bus and learn they were in NYC, having been told they were going to a different destination. Many recent migrants come from Venezuela—where six million people have left in the last decade as the country enters economic and political free fall—with no relatives or settled immigrant communities anywhere in the US. 

Some newly-arrived migrants in NYC “are sleeping in the parks,” according to the director of Catholic Charities which, along with other non-profit and grassroots groups, is trying to provide resources and a warm welcome to unexpected busloads of human hope and human need.

 Immigrant justice organizations and local volunteer groups in NYC  are asking the urgent question, “How can we welcome and aid newly arriving immigrants?” Can we also keep alive the question, “When will the United States become a sanctuary country?” 

 WHAT CAN WE DO?

 

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 co-workers so they can subscribe and receive news from JHISN.