Tag: immigrants

JHISN Newsletter 09/14/2024

Posted on September 14, 2024 by - News, Newsletter

Dear friends, 

We spend time at each JHISN meeting discussing what topics to write about in our next newsletter—the work of local immigrant justice groups? Immigrant organizing and struggles at the state or national level? This week we decided to pull together a longer article around what is happening with the influx of new migrants–an estimated 210,000–who have arrived in New York City since spring 2022. We realized that if we were not sure what was happening, maybe you, our readers, would value an update, too. And we continue to ask ourselves, and you too, what can solidarity look like with tens of thousands of new New Yorkers trying to rebuild their lives in the face of extraordinary challenges? 

1. Update on Migrant Politics in NYC

The flow of migrants to NY has slowed because of President Biden’s stringent restrictions on asylum seekers. But politics in the city is still roiled by disputes over how to care for the 64,000 migrant children and adults enmeshed in a makeshift, underfunded emergency shelter system, and the tens of thousands more pushed out of the shelters, who are struggling with homelessness, bureaucracy, inadequate services, and lack of solidarity. While the Adams administration works to erode the Right to Shelter, imposing cruel new time limits for shelter stays and disrupting asylum seekers’ attempts to form survival communities, advocates are warning officials in NYC and Albany about immigrants’ dire precarity and loss of human rights. 

 In early 2024, NYC began—for the first time since historic Right to Shelter policies were put in place—to enforce 30-day eviction notices for single migrant adults, and 60-day eviction notices for some recently arrived migrant families sheltering in the city’s emergency housing system. But evictions were spared for all migrants staying in over 160 Department of Homeless Services (DHS) shelters, located largely in Manhattan and Queens and housing just over half of recent migrants.

 That all changed this past month when New York State gave the green light for the city to begin issuing 60-day eviction notices to any migrant family in DHS shelters except for those registered for public assistance, or who have successfully applied for asylum or Temporary Protective Status (TPS). Thousands of recent arrivals, including school-age children, are now threatened with displacement by the new emergency shelter policy (which does not affect non-migrant adults or families).

 In August the city also began conducting sweeps to take down migrant encampments that had grown up beneath an overpass in Brooklyn, and next to shelters from which people had been evicted, including outside the 3,000 person mega-shelter on Randall’s Island. Some people set up tents at dusk and take them down in the morning, others sleep in the open under blankets. These newly established communities feel cooperative and safer, according to participants; people pool their money to buy food that they share. A statement by the Legal Aid Society and the Coalition for the Homeless criticized destruction of the encampments, saying: “These continued sweeps are cruel, confusing, and have a chilling effect on our clients and their willingness to seek City services to which they are entitled.”

The experience of recently arrived children is especially dire. The new DHS shelter evictions mean many school-age children are forced to change schools—losing friends, teachers, and any sense of steady community. Nearly 40,000 new migrant children have enrolled in NYC public schools since 2022. But far from declaring an emergency, NYC schools chancellor David C. Banks recently noted that the influx of new students “has been a godsend” for some schools, making up for recent dramatic enrollment declines and helping some schools to keep their doors open. “If you want to see New York City schools at their best,” Banks says, “look at how these teachers have responded to the migrant crisis. It’s incredible. They’ve partnered kids with other kids who are serving as buddies for them. They’ve got mentors from older grades.” With shelter evictions now on the table, some schools risk a sudden, mid-year loss of enrollment which threatens budgeting and teacher placement, along with the severe disruption to children’s lives and learning.

Evictions also introduce a Kafkaesque element to migrants’ struggles to gain work authorization, or pursue their legal cases for asylum and legal status: the cascading effects of lost or undelivered mail. With tens of thousands of newly arrived migrants staying in over 200 emergency shelters throughout the city, the makeshift mail rooms in shelter spaces are simply unable to effectively handle the flow of mail. Documents to apply for work authorization or Social Security numbers, notices to appear in immigration court—all move through the mail system and must be delivered and received on time. Shelter evictions have only intensified the problem. Migrants trying to retrieve mail from shelters they have been forced out of are often prohibited from re-entry, or told that they have no mail even when they have delivery receipts.

The wave of ongoing migrant evictions has not taken place without challenge. Brooklyn Council Member Shahana Hanif has sponsored a bill that would prohibit any city agency from limiting length of stay for anyone in city shelters or emergency housing. At the NY state level, similar legislation has been introduced.

NYC comptroller Brad Lander conducted an investigation into the 60-day Rule, concluding in May 2024 that the policy has been implemented haphazardly, and should end. Instead, the city should “implement a policy that genuinely coordinates temporary shelter, legal assistance toward immigration status and work authorization, workforce development that enables people to obtain work, and case management that enables people to achieve self-sufficiency.”

Activist groups joined together statewide over a year ago to form the NY SANE Coalition to protect the legal Right to Shelter—including Housing Justice For All, the Legal Aid Society, Coalition for the Homeless, and Win. They too have demanded the elimination of new shelter limits for asylum seekers, and an end to “this cruel practice that will leave families in the cold and uproot children from their classrooms.” A letter in May 2024 from health care workers to the mayor and the governor stated clearly: “We are reminded daily in our practice that stable shelter is absolutely necessary for human health and life….Over the past two years, we’ve seen firsthand how a lack of stable housing for migrants and unhoused New Yorkers has contributed to their systemic exclusion from life-saving healthcare…”

The Adams administration seems locked onto a policy of punitive, inhumane measures to discourage migrants from coming to NYC, or from succeeding if they make it here. What they have actually accomplished is making the city worse for all of us: generating unnecessary trauma, homelessness, and conflict. This is the wrong path. With some creativity and compassion, the current wave of immigrants could quickly become part of our communities and our workforces, invigorating and strengthening our city, as wave after wave of migrants has done before. New York should welcome our new neighbors and invest in their future—our future—instead of criminalizing and obstructing them.

WHAT CAN WE DO?
  • Follow NY SANE Coalition and their fight to roll back the Mayor’s shelter eviction policy.
  • Keep the pressure on our local Council Member, Shekar Krishnan, to help win passage of Int. No. 210, the bill to protect migrants from shelter eviction.

 

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 08/31/2024

Posted on August 31, 2024 by - News, Newsletter

Dear friends,

We write as the violence in Palestine continues and intensifies, with Israel this week launching a new, ferocious attack on the West Bank and in particular the Jenin refugee camp. It is easy in the US to forget that the 1948 founding of the state of Israel took place by turning hundreds of thousands of Palestinians into refugees; Palestinians, however, do not forget. Our newsletter offers a brief report on immigrant justice groups’ recent solidarity work with Palestinians under the US-backed genocidal siege, while looking more broadly at the kinds of political action and expression available to different kinds of non-profits. We also update you on the ongoing fight for economic and legal rights for New York City’s street vendors, who are largely immigrant workers.

Newsletter highlights:
  1. Rally for Street Vendor Reform Platform 
  2. Make the Road Action: the difference non-profit status can make

1. For NYC Street Vendors, the Struggle Continues

“I’m a street vendor in Queens, New York … I sell Mexican food. We’re here to demand that the City Council pass a reform of the street vending rules. We’re tired of being criminalized… We’re thousands of parents, many of them single mothers who don’t have other sources of income for their families than working in the streets… We’re working people who want to be part of the economy of this country.” –Cleotilde Juarez, Democracy Now (August 24, 2024)

Over 600 street vendors marched from Union Square to City Hall on August 15, calling for passage of the Street Vendor Reform Platform, a set of four new bills making its way through the City Council. Part of a years-long struggle for the decriminalization of street vending, and for economic opportunity and protection for vendors, the rally emphasized that vendors are desperate for a legal landscape that is predictable and fair. Of the nearly 20,000 vendors in our city, the vast majority are immigrants, people of color, women and veterans.

Currently, more than 9,800 New Yorkers are on the city’s waitlist—which is now closed to new applicants—for mobile food vending permits, with over 10,900 people waiting for licenses for general vending. Guadalupe Sosa, a vendor and rally participant, said she has been waiting a quarter-century for a permit for her family’s snow cone business, started by her mom over 20 years ago. The inefficient waitlist ‘system’ forces unlicensed street vendors to work in a precarious shadow economy where they are subject to harassment and $1000 city fines.

The Street Vendor Reform Platform, if passed through the City Council, would ensure vendors increased access to legal permits; reduce criminalization of vending; and create a new division of Street Vendor Assistance within the city’s Department of Small Business Services. The NYC Independent Budget Office reports that passage of the Reform Platform could earn the city $17 million in new revenue.

But instead of supporting just reform of the city’s vendor policies, Mayor Adams has played games with hard-working people’s lives. In May 2022, the Mayor publicly embraced a set of reform recommendations made by the Street Vendor Advisory Board (see newsletter 07-09-22). But by Summer 2023, Adams had transferred enforcement of vendor regulations from the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection to the Department of Sanitation—aided by the NYPD. He denounced our own vibrant Corona Plaza vendor market as “dangerous,” and within days the Sanitation Department police targeted the Plaza, ransacking vendor goods and confiscating carts, handing out $1000 tickets and shutting down more than 80 local vendors (see newsletter 08-26-23).

The City Council’s bundled Street Vendor Reform Platform would begin to address the dysfunction and sanctioned violence of the city’s current vending regulations. As local Councilmember Shekar Krishnan states: “Street vendors provide a lifeline for many immigrant New Yorkers. They are our smallest businesses …. No vendor should face jail time and a criminal conviction for trying to feed their families.”  

WHAT CAN WE DO?
  • Give NYC street vendors your business!
  • Sign the NYC Street Vendor Reform petition supporting the Reform Platform.
  • Become a member, donate, or volunteer with the immigrant-led Street Vendor Project.

2. Political Action: Using All the Levers

The immigrant justice groups in our neighborhood don’t hold back when it comes to responding to pressing political issues. One recent example is their expressions and acts of solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza. On July 25, during Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s visit to the US, Desis Rising Up and Moving (DRUM) demanded his arrest as a war criminal and called for a permanent ceasefire and arms embargo. Damayan has joined protests against genocide in Palestine. Chhaya has called for “peace in the region, the return of Israeli hostages, an immediate ceasefire, and the flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza.”

In a related initiative, Astoria Assembly member Zohran Mamdani and Senator Jabari Brisport are advancing Palestine solidarity legislation originally sponsored by the Adalah Justice Project and supported by DRUM and many other progressive organizations. Called “Not On Our Dime!,” the legislation would forbid New York State nonprofits from “aiding or abetting activity in support of illegal Israeli settlements in violation of the Geneva Conventions of 1949 or illegal pursuant to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.”

Most local grassroots immigrant justice groups are registered as 501(c)(3) non-profits. This status has lots of benefits, including the ability to accept tax-deductible donations, access grants and government programs, tax-free purchases and indemnification from personal liability. But there is a significant limitation: 501(c)(3)s are not allowed to take sides in political elections. 

Make the Road New York (MRNY) is one of our local 501(c)(3) nonprofits, and in that role has been similarly outspoken on a range of political struggles that they see as sibling struggles for “respect and dignity,” including the Palestinian freedom struggle. But Make the Road has also evolved into a national organization, with affiliates in Connecticut, Nevada, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. In 2009, its members decided to find ways to participate in electoral campaigns, including national elections. The vehicle they gradually developed for this work is Make the Road Action (MRA). 

MRA was organized in partnership with the Center for Popular Democracy, a group dedicated to “building organizational infrastructure” for progressive groups. MRA is a different kind of non-profit: a 501(c)(4). Ironically, this type of group became popular after the Supreme Court’s reactionary 2010 Citizens United decision, specifically because it allowed corporations (including certain non-profits) to directly endorse candidates. 

501(c)(4) non-profits aren’t supposed to coordinate formally with campaign organizations, but they can accept funds from most sources, including political action committees and foundations, for their own initiatives to support candidates. MRA started slowly: as late as 2017, its tax return listed donations of $347,149, and a net loss of -$359,321. But by 2022, MRA reported revenue of almost six million dollars, mostly from gifts and grants. 

In 2020, MRA supported Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primary. This summer, they backed Jamaal Bowman’s unsuccessful Congressional re-election campaign. And then on August 15, the non-profit announced its endorsement of Kamala Harris for President—its first endorsement in a presidential race. That decision was ratified by large assemblies of hundreds of activists. According to The Guardian, the assemblies discussed “issues including housing affordability, the climate crisis and the US government’s role in Israel’s war on Gaza. But immigration rights were the main focus of deliberations.”

MRA’s financial resources will be barely a drop in the bucket for an election contest that is burning through hundreds of millions of dollars. But Make the Road is known for its prowess in grassroots organizing, especially in working class Latin American immigrant communities. MRA activists have a plan: to knock on a million doors in support of the Harris-Walz ticket, mostly in the crucial swing states of Pennsylvania and Nevada. They have already started.

“Our members are excited. Harris is a woman of color, and a person who comes from an immigrant family. So they see their children or themselves in this candidate. They feel that she is someone who at least understands where we are coming from….We talked about this deeply, because the Biden administration, and by extension, Kamala Harris as Biden’s vice-president, have not been perfect on immigration. When we’re doing endorsements, we’re not picking a savior. We’re picking someone we think we can move and push to the right direction.”  —Theo Oshiro, MRNY

WHAT CAN WE DO?
  • Support the ‘Not on Our Dime!’ Act.
  • Follow Make the Road Action (MRA) on Instagram.

 

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 08/03/2024

Posted on August 3, 2024 by - News, Newsletter

Dear friends,

As we swerve into August, heat is rising in the US presidential elections, in Israel’s state violence in the Middle East, and in the climate-fueled wildfires surging across the western United States. We wish you some cool breezes in your own worlds. 

Today’s newsletter reports on the latest survey report from Make the Road NY on immigrants’ experiences here. We then invite you to send us your ideas about a possible mural project here in JH that celebrates the immigrant communities of Jackson Heights. We are inspired by the vibrant mural showing a portal that reflects who the Peruvians of Jackson Heights are and where they come from, recently unveiled near Northern Blvd. on 85th Street—renamed Calle Peru.  

1. New York’s Newest Are Left Behind

Make the Road, NY annually surveys the experience of migrants and asylum seekers. For this year’s survey, they joined forces with the community urban planning group Hester Street, and the Bronx/Harlem community building organization, Afrikana. The latest report, “Leaving Behind the Newest New Yorkers”, was released in May and identified the shortcomings of welcoming asylum seekers to NYC.

Some of this year’s findings are similar to those of “Displaced and Disconnected”, their 2023 report. For example, access to legal services, healthcare, and social services provided by Community-Based Organizations, are all still crucial needs. The major difference revealed this year is related to housing. In 2023 there was just one recommendation: extend the CityFHEPS program to help people move from shelters to apartments by expanding eligibility for the program to include people who are undocumented. Expanding CityFHEPS remains on the 2024 recommendation along with three additional items: Expanding Temporary Shelter options; restoring Right to Shelter Protections; and allowing faith-based institutions to house new arrivals. That last item was a program announced by Mayor Adams in June 2023, which reportedly identified 50 houses of worship that could provide such housing—after 9 months only four were actively providing housing. 

Another new finding is related to workers and labor development. While last year’s report recommended expanding the low-wage worker support program and funding for training, this year emphasizes extending work authorization for public jobs, allowing more positions to be filled by asylum seekers. There was also a new recommendation to invest $50 million in adult literacy programs and expand access to after-school programs, both of which help immigrants overcome language barriers and gain access to the workforce. The importance of literacy programs in Jackson Heights and Corona was recently highlighted when Literacy Partners, which has been active for over 50 years, was honored with the 2024 Mayor’s Office Community Impact Award. 

One area that has not been modified from last year is the recommendations for Federal changes, showing that not much has improved nationally for asylum seekers:

  • Expedite work authorization for asylum seekers.
  • Send more resources to NY to support asylum seekers.
  • Reverse efforts to undermine the asylum system.
  • Expand and renew Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) for countries affected by political unrest and natural disasters.

Several charts in the report give readers insight into the people surveyed and the varied levels of success they have accessing city and state services depending on race. One observation is that 93% of “Black single adults” had received notice to leave shelters in comparison to 66% of “Latine Single Adults”.  Another chart highlights that, of people eligible for TPS, 69% have submitted their applications; in comparison, only 42% of those seeking asylum without TPS have submitted their applications. Among non-TPS applicants: only 17% of Black people have applied for asylum in comparison with 49% of Latine asylum seekers.  

This year’s survey emphasizes images that Immigrants Are Essential, particularly in the US labor market, and that they are here to stay. One statistic notes the increasing percentage of people who want to stay in New York. Last year 67% of people said they would like to stay here even if they had an opportunity to live elsewhere in the US. This year that number rose to 86%. Once again we see a racial difference: 93% of Black immigrants would choose to remain in New York compared to 84% Latine. These new New Yorkers want to be part of NYC.

WHAT CAN WE DO?

2. Can We Have a Mural Project?

At our Jackson Heights Immigrant Solidarity meetings in the fall of 2019, we dreamed and we imagined banners hanging from local buildings, posters pasted on houses and in the windows of businesses, all affirming the beautiful power of our immigrant communities. We imagined monarch butterflies, slogans, and images showing our rich diversity, because behind us was the horror of having seen children separated from their parents and placed in cages. Unfortunately, Covid-19 came and our visions vanished with it.

Four years later, we want to dream again but now with your participation, readers. JH is an extraordinary community of diversity and struggle, an immigrant neighborhood driving most of its creativity and vitality. In short, we want to count on your support for the creation of a mural or two, as a way to promote solidarity and neighborhood pride.

Who do you know, recommend, propose that we can turn to (artists, writers, leaders) to design a mural project for Jackson Heights? Would you like to be involved in developing the project that would be presented to Flushing Town Hall for funding? Please let us know your suggestions and your desires about forming a committee to make murals a reality for the neighborhood–murals that speak for you and that illustrate what Jackson Heights is.

Send us your ideas at info@jhimmigrantsolidarity.org.

 

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 07/06/2024

Posted on July 6, 2024 by - News, Newsletter

Dear Friends,

It can be hard to maintain optimism as fascism and climate disaster advance across the globe, including in the US. But then we’re reminded that those who must fight back, do fight back—and claim victories. As we publish, word arrives that 309,000 “unauthorized” migrants from Haiti have gained extension and reauthorization of Temporary Protected Status, allowing them to remain in the US until at least 2026. In another cause for hope, our newsletter celebrates the naming of an impressive new leadership team at Adhikaar, a local social justice organization for Nepali-speaking immigrants. Our second article describes a cynical, two-sided approach to migration recently announced by the Biden administration. The new approach channels Trump’s racist cruelty on border policy. But it also establishes a new pathway to legal status for undocumented spouses that immigrant justice activists have demanded for years. Can we find a way to stitch our multiple justice battles and partial victories together into a powerful resistance?

1. New Leaders at Adhikaar

Last November, Adhikaar, a leading social justice advocate for Nepali-speaking immigrants and refugees, announced that it would hire two Co-Executive Directors to replace long-time Executive Director Pabitra Benjamin. The organization has now completed its search, choosing two activists with impressive backgrounds.

Narbada Chhetri was appointed the first Co-Executive Director in November 2023 and fully assumed her role on April 1 of this year. Narbada was a human rights activist in Nepal for 15 years before she came to the United States. She joined Adhikaar in 2007 as an organizer, and at the time of her appointment was Director of Organizing and Programs. She has been a fierce advocate of rights for Nepali-speaking communities, successfully organizing and campaigning for passage of the NY State Domestic Workers Bill of Rights and the NY State Nail Salon Workers Bill of Rights. She will focus on Programs.

As announced in an email to supporters, the search for a second Co-Executive Director ended on June 18 with the appointment of Cynthia Saxena to focus on Adhikaar’s infrastructure. Cynthia’s background includes work with both large organizations and grassroots NGOs. She has mobilized resources and nurtured growth for non-profits, small enterprises and UN agencies. She has extensive experience developing strategic partnerships, fundraising and international relations.

JHISN congratulates Narbada Chhetri, Cynthia Saxena and Adhikaar, and wishes them continued success!

WHAT CAN WE DO?

2. Pain for Some, Hope for Others: Biden’s New Immigration Policies 

In a transparent effort to defuse the issue of immigration during an election year, President Biden announced two major policy initiatives, backed by executive orders, in June. The first initiative drastically reduces the number of asylum seekers allowed to cross into the US. This is Biden’s response to the “out of control border crisis” being weaponized against him by the anti-immigrant Right. The second initiative, an extension of “parole in place,” could make it significantly easier for many undocumented spouses of US citizens to get green cards. This is a last-minute concession to immigrant families and progressive voters.

By simultaneously promoting tough border enforcement and family unification for long-established migrants, Biden hopes to mollify critics to his right and left, managing the volatile politics of immigration that imperils his reelection. But beyond electioneering, these initiatives will have a major impact—good and bad—on the lives of hundreds of thousands of migrants.

In the case of asylum seekers, the impact is very bad indeed. Biden has employed the same legal argument Trump used for his “Muslim ban” in order to impose a restrictive cap on the number of asylum seekers allowed to stay in the US. The administration says that anyone claiming asylum without prior permission to enter has “illegally” crossed the border, and is therefore subject to deportation at the discretion of the US government. This is a direct violation of the letter and spirit of humanitarian laws passed after the horrors of World War II. Those laws—national and international—specify that anybody on US soil has the right to request asylum, no matter how they arrived. 

Biden argues that he has no choice, since there is chaos on the border and the Republicans refuse to make a deal on border legislation. He also points out that the cap has exceptions for victims of human trafficking and unaccompanied minors. But the reality is that on his watch, thousands of asylum seekers a week are now illegally returned to Mexico and other countries, blocked from making their legitimate claims, often after arduous struggles to reach the border.

Many Democratic politicians and civil rights groups denounce the asylum cap. The ACLU is one of the groups that have promised to fight it in court. They commented that Biden’s executive order “will severely restrict people’s legal right to seek asylum, putting tens of thousands of lives at risk.”  

In stark contrast, Biden’s new “parole in place” expansion policy has been widely hailed by immigrant justice groups, some of whom claim it as a major victory achieved after years of organizing.

Current US law allows citizens to sponsor non-citizen spouses for permanent residency as long as they entered the US in an “approved” way. But in order for undocumented spouses to gain legal status, they must leave the US, go to a consulate in another country, and apply for an immigrant visa to return. This process can require the spouse to be away from their family for up to ten years. Even then, obtaining a visa is not guaranteed.

There is also a long-standing executive branch program called “humanitarian parole” which permits beneficiaries to temporarily enter or remain in the US for a specific time. When humanitarian parole is granted to people who are already inside the US, it is known as “parole in place.” That is, without leaving the country and their family, paroled people can receive a work permit and begin the process of receiving a green card.

What Biden announced on June 18 was a major extension of parole in place. The new program will allow eligible spouses and step-children of US citizens (theoretically up to 500,000 people) to receive temporary protections and work permits, enabling them to apply for lawful permanent resident status through their spouses or step-parents without risking years of separation from their families.

Applications for expanded parole in place are expected to become available later this summer. According to US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) parole will be granted for up to three years, at which time people will either have a pending or final adjustment application completed.

Exactly who will be eligible, the fee, and what kind of documentation will be needed is still to be determined by DHS. However, here are the announced requirements:

An undocumented person may be eligible if they

  • Have never been admitted or paroled.
  • Have been in the US since at least June 17, 2024.
  • Were married to a US citizen on June 17, 2024, or have a parent who was married to a US citizen on June 17, 2024 (if the marriage occurred before their 18th birthday and they are currently under 21 and unmarried).
  • Do not pose a “threat to public safety or national security.”
  • Convince DHS to exercise discretion in their favor.

Make the Road New York (MTRNY) has expressed cautious optimism about the new program. They point out that DHS has yet to publish the full details of eligibility, including who DHS believes poses “a threat to public safety or national security.” 

“While this is not enough, we believe this is a step in the right direction, and we will continue to fight for a path to citizenship for all the 11 million undocumented immigrants in this country.”—MTRNY

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 06/08/2024

Posted on June 8, 2024 by - News, Newsletter

Dear friends,

As the November elections approach, immigration is again becoming fodder for fascist fear-mongering and cynical political jockeying. Five days ago, President Biden announced extraordinary measures to restrict and criminalize asylum seekers at the southern border. Breaking his 2020 campaign promises—as well as international and domestic law—Biden has introduced policies that will effectively shut down asylum refuge and border-crossings for tens of thousands of people. We will bring you more news on this.

In our neighborhood, a beautiful exhibit in Travers Park communicates some of the actual, intimate realities of migration and border transit. Our first article describes the making of “Brought from Home,” a set of documentary photographs of beloved objects and mementos that Latin American immigrants bring with them to the US from their homeplace. The exhibit is on display in the park for just one more week!

Our second article offers an update on the proposed casino project in Flushing, as a billionaire’s dream of profit threatens immigrant neighborhoods and local economies here in Central Queens.  

Newsletter highlights:
  1. Immigrant art exhibit at Travers Park 
  2. Mega-casino project hits major hurdle  

 

1. “Brought from Home” Exhibit at Travers Park

“As an immigrant myself, and daughter of a man who had a deep connection with his native Peru until his last breath in 2020, I developed Brought from Home as it is a topic that is personal to me and my family….[It] gives viewers an intimate look on immigration and the meaning of home from the perspective of migrants who communicate and demonstrate resilience, as well as hope for the rebirth of a new and better life, while holding on to pieces of what once was.” –Angelica Briones

Readers have until June 16th to see documentary photographer Angela Briones’ moving outdoor exhibition in Travers Park. Briones photographs cherished keepsakes that Latin American migrants carry with them—things that “root them to home.” A short text explains the significance of each item for its owner.

Briones began photographing in NYC, exploring what Latin American immigrants in our city treasure as mementos of home—including photos, stuffed animals, coins, and ornaments. Then, with the help of a grant from the Queens Council for the Arts, she traveled to Tijuana, Mexico, to interview migrants at two shelters near the border, and to photograph the keepsakes they carried with them.

Professionally printed on a very large canvas banner, “Brought from Home” is sponsored by Photoville, a prestigious photo festival centered in Brooklyn Bridge Park. Every summer, a “village” of shipping containers is repurposed into a series of art galleries on the waterfront. Photoville also organizes pop-up outdoor photo exhibitions in neighborhoods all over the city. Although there are 85 such satellite shows this year, “Brought from Home” is the only one in Queens.

Briones’ project allows us a privileged window into the personal experiences of migrants. As she puts it, “Although immigrants leave their native countries behind, this rarely means that ‘home’ doesn’t come with them.”

WHAT CAN WE DO?
  • Visit “Brought from Home” free exhibit until June 16 in Travers Park, open from 6am – 9pm every day.
  • Learn about and visit Photoville.

2. Ramos Red Lights the Casino Project

As we reported in April, multiple local working-class and immigrant groups oppose billionaire Steve Cohen’s major Metropolitan Park casino development in Flushing. Five of the six powerful politicians on the committee required to approve the project strongly support it. (There is no Asian American representative on the committee even though the land next to Citi Field is bordered by working-class Asian and other immigrant communities.) State Senator Jessica Ramos is the sixth member and would have to introduce legislation to waive the site’s legal status as a park (i.e. ‘alienate’ the parkland) to make the project possible. On Tuesday May 28, Ramos refused to do so. Since this legislative session ended on June 6, she has effectively stopped the $8 billion project for now.

“We want investment and opportunity, we are desperate for green space, and recreation for the whole family. We disagree on the premise that we have to accept a casino in our backyard as the trade-off. I resent the conditions and the generations of neglect that have made many of us so desperate that we would be willing to settle.” —Jessica Ramos

 Even though Phoenix Meadows is an alternative proposal already circulating in the community, on Tuesday Senator Ramos offered her own proposal, without a casino but including a hotel and convention center, athletic fields, a parking facility, a revamped 7 train station, flood protection and other upgrades at the site.

Several local organizations continue to oppose this development project. For example, Queens Neighborhoods United (QNU) is angry that Ramos is suggesting any privatization of the parkland because once the site is no longer designated a public park (alienated), it’s gone forever. QNU strongly prefers the site’s use only as a park or for affordable housing.

In a Facebook post, MinKwon Center for Community Action voiced support for Ramos’ decision and condemned Cohen’s tactics. “Senator Ramos is doing the right thing in opposing the casino, because she is backing the constituents of her district who are, unsurprisingly, 75% opposed to having a casino in their backyard near their kids’ schools.” MinKwon also points out that Cohen’s attempts to get community support have been misleading. Residents signed petitions thinking they were supporting parks, when page 2 showed they were actually signing for Metropolitan Park, casino and all. The Center further commented, “A casino’s profit margin is determined by how much more wealth it extracts than it spends/invests. It is not an engine that generates community wealth, it is a wealth extraction engine.”

Flushing Anti-Displacement Alliance (FADA) continues to oppose Steve Cohen’s project because “it will take $2 billion a year out of our neighborhood economies, leading to the closure of small businesses. It is being planned in conjunction with a wave of adjacent luxury development that will raise rents and property taxes, causing more displacement.” In addition, FADA called for a boycott of the Queens Pride parade on June 2 because of Cohen’s sponsorship of LGBT Network (the parade’s recent sponsor) and his hedge fund’s investments in manufacturing drones that the IDF uses in Israel’s war on Gaza.

Borough President Donovan Richards is perhaps the strongest proponent of Metropolitan Park and its accompanying casino, saying:

“…the families of this community so badly deserve the 25,000 good-paying union jobs, the $163 million community investment fund, the Taste of Queens food hall designed for borough-based vendors, critical support for community-based organizations, rising property values and more that the Metropolitan Park proposal puts forth.”

Lost in the discussion are the three other proposed sites for a casino in the NY area. One of them is Bally’s Bronx, which would be located on what used to be Trump’s golf course in Throggs Neck. It would feature a half-million-square foot gaming hall as well as food and beverage service, a hotel with a spa and meeting space, retail shops, a 2,000-seat event center and a parking garage for up to 4,660 vehicles. Again, parkland would have to be alienated. Neither State Assemblyman Michael Benedetto nor State Senator Nathalia Fernandez have presented legislation to alienate the Throggs Neck parcel.

Clearly, NY boroughs don’t want a casino, but Steve Cohen and Bally’s will continue to fight for their projects. Applications for each proposed casino are not due until 2025.

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 05/11/2024

Posted on May 11, 2024 by - News, Newsletter

Dear friends,

It is a pleasure to bring you news of the local and the uplifting. We offer you two stories—both closely tied to Jackson Heights—from the beating heart of immigrant justice and immigrant culture. First, we highlight the work of a local grassroots advocate working to smooth the arrival of new migrants to NYC. Next, we look at two decades of dance and music training offered by the Pachamama folklore program here in our neighborhood.

Newsletter highlights:
  1. Supporting local immigrants one case at a time–Nuala O’Doherty-Naranjo
  2. Immigrant arts @JH: Peruvian folk music, and dance

1. Immigrant Support on the Street and in the Basement

“You are not going to win. You can apply, these are the benefits of applying. Statistically, you are not going to win.”—Nuala O’Doherty-Naranjo (In conversation on 34th Avenue with JHISN)

Last year Nuala O’Doherty-Naranjo assisted over 2,000 families apply for asylum and start a new life. From her perspective, immigration paperwork is straightforward but managing expectations is not. Many new immigrants think having a lawyer guarantees success. Nuala points out that people with lawyers are more likely to win because lawyers only select winnable cases. Her kids call her the Dream Crusher because she warns everyone they are unlikely to win their asylum cases. Nonetheless, she presents asylum paperwork preparation sessions in her home basement for new immigrants who don’t qualify for such support elsewhere.

Nuala’s social media posts focus on community involvement, from gardening events in Jackson Heights to lively gatherings on the 34th Ave Open Streets. Amid these posts, she highlights immigrant support initiatives: the NYC Green Clean cooperative she started ensures home cleaners receive 100% of service payments; the many English language classes taking place throughout Jackson Heights; and instructions for the asylum paperwork sessions she provides.

Three mornings every week, new immigrants gather around tables on the 34th Ave Open Street, across the road from P.S. 149. Volunteers, who recently went through the process with Nuala, distribute information flyers in Spanish and handle a basic intake process. From about 50 attendees each morning, they identify around 20 who then move to Nuala’s home basement where they work until midnight. 

In the basement, she outlines a plan for their future:

  1. Complete the Application for Asylum—she shares a draft copy of the document, translated to Spanish and annotated to guide people to complete it accurately.
  2. Attend English classes for five months—she has a map of where to go.
  3. File the request for a social security number and work authorization—they become eligible when the court does not rule on their asylum application within 150 days (which it never does due to the case backlog).
  4. Prepare a resume—apply for stable work with a union, hospital, or school system instead of taking occasional construction work, or working as a service provider for individuals/families.

While discussing her process, as we sit outside PS 149, Nuala greets passersby in Spanish but confesses that her Spanish is terrible. If anyone wants to volunteer assistance, she says, they must be able to speak the language, especially if editing personal stories.  But, what she really needs from volunteers are financial donations, like the Facebook fundraiser by Cordelia Peterson, so that all the asylum applications can be printed. She bought cheap printers and bleeds toner onto a case of paper every week. Community members who want to volunteer their time can also be helpful if they bring food, and can keep any children occupied with play. 

Nuala critiqued the city’s failure to prioritize filing asylum paperwork when the recent influx of immigrants began and instead focused solely on finding shelter. Her prodding for action resulted in guidance from the Mayor’s office telling new immigrants to call 311 for asylum paperwork assistance. When that quickly overwhelmed the 311 system the city shifted responsibility to the Red Cross. By Nuala’s own estimate, the Red Cross, with millions of dollars to support their work, has submitted just three times the number of applications she has ushered through—while she spends about $800 a week from her own dwindling funds.

Nuala does not restrict her work to one Jackson Heights basement. In Brooklyn, she works with a group of immigration lawyers, whom she plans to urge to write group briefs instead of individual applications. Group briefs can be used by multiple people in similar situations thus reducing the time required for each individual’s application. In Manhattan, she started the Asylum Seekers Assistance Program with Father Julian at the Church of St. Francis of Assisi, whose Manhattan volunteers spend an entire day working on a single person’s application. She is also starting to work as a counselor at Voces Latinas, allowing her to support people facing homophobia in addition to challenges due to immigration status. 

As we wrap the conversation we discuss her motivation to do this work. “It’s gotta be done. It just needs to be done. Someone needs to do it…I can do it,” Nuala says. “I thought I’d do it until the city started doing it, but the city only does people who are in shelters—and then they kicked everyone out of the shelters.” It still needs to be done.

WHAT CAN WE DO?

  • Provide support through a donation or gift to the Jackson Heights Immigrant Center shopping list.
  • Follow and elevate the work of Voces Latinas.
  • If you have an entry-level open position that can be filled by Nuala’s volunteers, contact the Immigrant Center.

2. Pachamama: Twenty Years in the Neighborhood

Every spring and fall, children in our neighborhood get free Peruvian folk music and dance classes. Pachamama’s folklore program attracts multigenerational families, who bring their children and grandchildren to learn about their heritage. By sponsoring these classes, Pachamama Peruvian Arts has played an important role in uniting the dispersed immigrant Peruvian community in New York. 

Pachamama started as an initiative of the Center for Traditional Music and Dance (CTMD). It was ”the Center’s first long-term project to focus on a South American community.” The Peruvian Folklore Project centered around two accomplished artists and folklorists. Luz Pereira, a graduate of the first School of Peruvian Folk Music and Dance, was also part of the cast of “Perú Canta y Baila,” which won several international folklore awards. And Guillermo Guerrero, an expert in playing traditional Andean music, who expressly traveled to different cities in the Andes region to obtain his authentic instruments. Guerrero and Pereira would be the principal teachers of the Project.

The CTMD introduced the Project to the public in Flushing Meadows Park during the Peruvian National Holiday festival on June 28, 2003, at an event organized by Club Perú. CTMD set up two demonstrations, one featuring Marinera Limeña dance, and another where Andean music was played. A survey asked 100 participants if they would like their children to receive free folklore classes. The unanimous answer was yes. The place chosen was Jackson Heights; a neighborhood where several Peruvian families reside.

Pachamama taught Marinera Limeña and Andean music for the first time in January 2004, at PS 212, to children between 7 and 17 years old. Since then, Pachamama has rotated through other schools in the neighborhood, such as IS 145, PS 69, and has been teaching folklore at the Garden School for three years. Over the years, classes about the folklore of the three regions of Peru have been added, and more teachers have joined to teach cajon, singing and choir. 

Marinera (“sailor” in Spanish) is descended from Zamacueca, a dance of Spanish origin. But in the 1860s, a Peruvian version mixed with Afro-Peruvian rhythms emerged, danced mainly in Lima’s port by Afro-indigenous-Peruvian descendants. At first, it was not allowed in the living rooms of aristocratic families, who considered it too sensual and flirtatious. That story changed after the term “Marinera” was adopted to give support to the Peruvian Navy who were fighting the Pacific war in 1879. Actually, there are many styles of Marinera named by region. Today, Marinera Norteña is considered a national dance of Peru, and annual competitions are held to choose champions by age group. 

After several years of being funded by the CTMD, Pachamama Peruvian Arts was established as a separate non-profit, non-governmental organization. Luz Pereira continues as the Executive Director. There have now been twenty years of uninterrupted Pachamama activity. The program persevered even during the height of the pandemic, when classes and graduations took place via Zoom. Pachamama students have performed at different schools and institutions, such as Queens Public Library, Corona Plaza, the Queens Museum, and Queens Theater.

More than 2,000 children, mostly from Peruvian and partly-Peruvian immigrant families, have studied with Pachamama. Many of them continue to practice dance, music, singing, and theater. The program has awakened a sense of belonging and identity in many second-generation Peruvian immigrants. It has even encouraged tourism to Peru, as Pachamama students ask their families to learn more about their culture. Thanks to Pachamama Peruvian Arts, Peruvian cultural heritage is being valued and preserved in New York.

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.