Tag: Jackson Heights

JHISN Newsletter 10/24/2026

Posted on October 24, 2026 by - News, Newsletter

Dear friends,

As we fight for immigrant justice and empowerment during a brutal mass deportation campaign, there is something new we may need to fight against: the ‘normalization’ of all that’s happening. Outrage can turn to weary avoidance of the news. Collective action can start to weaken. Motivation can diminish. With profound respect for the continued struggle on many fronts, we also want to name the threat of normalization that can creep into our lives, especially for US citizens not directly endangered by anti-immigrant state violence.

This newsletter highlights the relentless commitment of Win Rozario’s family and community advocates in the face of the NYPD quietly retiring and immunizing one of the cops charged with excessive force in Win’s murder. We stand with the thousands in the streets on October 9, the day after ICE shot Oscar Belgal in the Bronx, calling for Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch to be fired. And we offer a review of the just-published memoir of Mahmoud Khalil, who spent over 100 days in an ICE cage in Louisiana and now continues to fight for justice as the Trump regime still threatens to deport him.

Newsletter highlights:
  1. Justice for Win Rozario? The Injustice Continues
  2. Mahmoud Khalil’s memoir of ICE detention

 

Notan Eva Costa, Win Rozario’s mother (Diversity Plaza, 4/1/26)

1. Years Later, Win Rozario Shooting Still Roils NYC

“We are 10 months into a new administration that purported to be different from the administration that came before…I want to hear answers of why this person was allowed to retire and no one knew, and when the hell the trial will begin for the officer who’s still here.” —Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, (October 8, 2026)

Almost three years after 19-year-old Bangladeshi immigrant Win Rozario was gunned down by cops in his Queens kitchen, his death continues to reverberate within city politics. As we previously reported, NYC’s Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB) ruled in September 2025 that NYPD Officers Matthew Cianfrocco and Salvatore Alongi used excessive force and abused their authority during the deadly shooting. Despite extended delays, the Rozario family and their supporters, including local immigrant justice group Desis Rising Up and Moving (DRUM), have continued to demand accountability from the two cops and city officials.

Now it’s been revealed that the NYPD—violating its own policies—allowed Alongi to take a disability retirement this May, receiving a lucrative pension and evading the disciplinary trial previously ordered by Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch. The Department also delayed notifying state agencies that Alongi was retiring under a threat of disciplinary action, notification required by law. This left the door open for the disgraced cop to potentially seek employment with a different police department.

At a City Hall press conference on October 8, the Rozario family, supporters and community activists responded with fury to the news. They accused Tisch and Mayor Mamdani of “betrayal.” Win’s mother, Notan Eva Costa asked:

“How is it possible that an officer charged with killing a teenager could file for retirement and actually leave the NYPD with his pension without even being flagged? How is that even legal? Is Jessica Tisch not a mother too? Does she not understand what it means to lose a child?” —Queens Daily Eagle, October 8, 2026

Win’s father, Francis Rozario, charged that the mistake “is not negligence. I feel it’s a deliberate cover-up and corruption at the highest levels of the NYPD.” Utsho Rozario, Win’s brother, added: “Our family’s tax dollars are paying for a pension for a man who killed my brother. Do you understand what that feels like?”

About an hour after the October 8 press conference, Tisch publicly apologized for the violation of NYPD policy. Ignoring the department’s long history and documented pattern of disciplinary impunity, she characterized it as “human error.”

Mayor Mamdani’s election campaign prominently featured pledges to end the practice of police responding to mental health crises, a change which has not yet occurred. Instead, four days after the Rozarios’ press conference, City Hall announced a series of measures intended to increase police accountability. Among these is a comprehensive review of police use-of-force practices, an additional $2.6 million to fund the NYPD’s Office of the Inspector General, and a pledge of greater transparency when cops kill or seriously injure a resident. The accompanying statement from the mayor’s office declared, “When the government uses force against a New Yorker, the standard for accountability must be at its highest. Every New Yorker deserves to know that force will be used lawfully, carefully and only when necessary.” 

The administration’s announcement occurred at a time of widespread anger at the NYPD for its violence against protesters following the recent ICE shooting of Oscar Belgal in Marble Hill. But reports by CBS and other news outlets make it clear that the new policies had already been in the works, and were drafted mainly in response to the Win Rozario scandal. 

City Hall’s reform measures have provoked a range of reactions. Patrick Hendry, president of the police officers’ union, claimed that “The mayor’s radical base wants a wholesale dismantling of the NYPD, and it’s clear this announcement is an attempt to appease them.” On the other hand, the Justice Committee, while endorsing the mayor’s new policies, argued that he didn’t go far enough. “Previously, administrations tried to require the NYPD to review and adjust its own policies, and it has never worked.”

WHAT CAN WE DO?

2. The Cruelty Is Not Incidental: Mahmoud Khalil’s Story 

Mahmoud Khalil’s recently published memoir No Land to Stand On: Notes from Detention, is a disturbingly professional recounting of the 104 days he spent in ICE detention in the spring of 2025. As a permanent resident, married to a US citizen, a recent graduate of Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, he never expected the US government would treat him just like the Assad regime had when he grew up Palestinian in Syria, with forced disappearance and arbitrary detention. When he was a teenager, the Mukhabarat (secret police) disappeared his aunt for three months. When he was an expectant father living in New York, standing next to his pregnant wife, ICE took him. His transgression: being a Palestinian spokesperson for the student mobilization calling for Columbia’s divestment from the US-Israeli war machine. 

By reading Khalil’s narrative, people can start to understand the inhumanity of existing inside a private ICE detention camp. His writing helps you imagine yourself in his situation. You are taken into custody and, because you have not done anything illegal and you have so much faith in the legal system, you believe this will not last long. When they ask you to remove your shoelaces, you decide to remove your shoes entirely, thinking you will put them back on when you go home soon. But soon you are walking in cheap blue canvas shoes from New York to New Jersey, and while shackled on a flight to Louisiana. You wear them in a late-night drive to a parking lot from which you are transferred and taken to a remote detention center outside a town you do not know. Far away from anyone who knows you, cares for you, or can help you.

You learn the shoes are blue because they color-code the uniforms of detainees. You feel fortunate to hear that blue uniforms represent low risk. You learn that you are allowed to mix with the orange low-medium risk uniforms. You will not interact with the high-medium yellow or high-risk red uniforms. They are separated from you by a fence in the yard. Someone in blue gives you a handbook that explains the rules and the rights of detainees. He warns you that none of the rules are implemented. “The handbook described a facility that did not exist. It was a document written for auditors and lawyers, not for the men who were actually held there. These were rights on paper, absent in practice” (p. 59).

You slowly get to know the social norms in a massive dorm where the lights are never turned off. Those who have been there the longest have claimed the corner beds, which allow them to hang two sheets across the bunk to create some privacy. The guards can remove the sheets whenever they choose. You meet Ricardo, who worked in construction and became a foreman after 24 years. He raised two daughters; one works for the federal government. He has a nephew in the US Air Force. He owns a farm with horses. A month later, you learn Ricardo was deported: a judge ruled that he had “No connection to the community” (p. 147).

In addition to constant light, you feel the constant cold of air conditioning stronger than the thin blankets and color-coded clothes. The food lacks color. People roll bread into balls, color them with toothpaste and create prayer beads. The currency for goods exchange is packets of dried noodles. You cannot eat. Friends are made when they can eat your, at best bland, rations. The constant rerunning of ads for fast food chains on the always-on TV screens becomes torturous.

Although you are famous outside, and occasionally seen on the news screens inside, you learn you are just a line on a ledger to make money for the GEO Group detention corporation. Your tiny bed space, rigid clothes, awful food, phones and tablets that are past their prime make communication almost impossible. These are cheap by design to save costs in the ledger. The people are being moved through the system and so will not be around to register complaints that the rules in the handbook are not being followed.

While you have 25 lawyers, and are thankful for hundreds of strangers writing to you in support of your unintended bravery, the one benefit that brings is a congressional visit to see you. For this visit, you can meet people for the first time without a glass visitation wall separator. No need for them to shout into plastic telephones, their mouths constantly touching the plastic that so many other mouths have touched. For this visit, the yards were painted, and the moldy sagging ceiling repaired. Pavements were pressure washed. Grimy windows replaced. Rusty gym equipment was given a coat of paint. Despite your fame and team of lawyers, your request to see your newborn son for the first time as a contact visit is denied: you see him through the glass visitation wall. You cannot hold him.

You find out that Kishor, who is married to a US citizen, is possibly going to make bond. You ask him if he will contact the media outlets and speak out against the conditions inside. Out of fear of retaliation and the possibility of being sent back inside, he says he would not. “Fear was contagious. Everyone was afraid, inside and outside” (p. 115).

“The cruelty was not incidental. It was structural. Every obstacle, every distance, every risk was designed to wear you down, to make you feel so alone that eventually you would sign the papers and leave” (p. 162). When asked by Lopez if he should ask for his undocumented mother to visit him—what would you say? And, if things are this bad for the blue and orange uniforms, what is it like for those people in yellow and red? 

Khalil notes that his life in detention was not as bad as it was for Victor Frankl, or Solomon Northup. Even the guards he thinks of as being simply indifferent. They are doing their time inside the one place in town that offers them a low-paid job (they are, after all, just part of the GEO Group’s ledger too). After Matsuye Endo successfully challenged the incarceration of Japanese Americans during WWII, what we were left with is not a legal triumph but the constant reminder that over 120,000 people, two-thirds of them citizens, had been locked away until finally the government was forced to release them (p. 130).

There is, of course, more yet to unfold of Khalil’s personal story: just this week, on October 19, his legal team made a formal request to the Supreme Court to overturn a ruling that could return him to ICE custody, facing the threat of deportation again. There are so many hundreds of thousands of stories that will never be known of the blue, and yellow, and orange, and red uniformed people taken by ICE to benefit the earnings of private prison corporations.

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 08/29/2026

Posted on August 29, 2026 by - News, Newsletter

Dear friends,

As promised, ICE has ramped up its activities in New York, and significantly in Queens. Organizations like the Deportation Project are keeping us all informed through Freedom of Information Act lawsuits, which force the federal government to share its enforcement data. Locally, ICE watch groups are also on the lookout, and rapid responders (still mostly women) are hitting the streets when ICE sightings are reported. In July, a new high of 804 arrests were made in NYC. 80% of nationwide detentions were of people with no criminal history. Jackson Heights, East Elmhurst, and Corona are all in the top 5 of NY neighborhoods with the highest arrest reports.

Our newsletter delves into the overreach of Homeland Security as ICE grabs at yet more data in its attempt to locate people to deport: this time it is the details stored in commercial drivers license databases maintained by states. But the states are fighting back with lawsuits to prevent them. Following a “Know Your Rights Week” in Queens we also look at the reticence by Democrats, locally and nationally, to call for the full abolition of ICE, even though no one is happy with their hateful and hurtful and harmful tactics.  

Newsletter highlights:

  1. NY in the fight to keep commercial drivers license data private
  2. The call to abolish ICE has been losing steam

1. Feds Demand Access to State Commercial Drivers’ License Databases

The Trump administration wants states to allow access to their drivers’ license databases. This would permit the federal government to see the personal information of 17 million commercial drivers nationwide. The databases include names, birth dates, and Social Security numbers of holders of commercial driver’s licenses. A multistate coalition of 21 state attorneys general (including New York and New Jersey) has filed a lawsuit to prevent access. If states do not comply, the federal government threatens to withhold funding for the databases. The legal issue is privacy and control over huge amounts of personal information.

The federal government has not stated what it plans to do with the information. Still, the lawyers believe the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, part of the Department of Transportation, plans to share the information with DHS for use in immigration enforcement, whether or not the information is accurate.

How the CDLIS data grab fits into the data sets Homeland Security has already grabbed.

 

In a statement, DHS said the administration is targeting dangerous “illegal aliens” whom it says don’t know traffic laws or English and criticized politicians who allow dangerous drivers on the road. The order demanding information was issued in February 2026 by Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. It cites seventeen crashes involving non-domiciled drivers (less than 0.5% of all fatal crashes). This followed Duffy’s September 2025 order removing nearly 3000 commercial driver training centers from approved provider lists.

In fact, requirements for commercial drivers’ licenses are very detailed and include criminal background checks, drug use tests, written tests, and behind-the-wheel (BTW) tests. There are different requirements for passenger vehicles, taxis, school buses, trucks of different types, construction equipment, and hazardous materials driving. All tests are in English.

In addition, New York used to have a “non-domiciled” program, which allowed drivers who do not reside in the state, including immigrants legally in the United States, to obtain commercial licenses. However, after pressure from the government, the program was halted. Now this statement appears on the DMV website: “DMV offices are temporarily unable to accept an application for a Commercial Learner Permit (CLP) or CDL document if you are not a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident (i.e., temporary visitors).” 

How will the government’s access to the database affect New Yorkers? New York officials and labor leaders say thousands of immigrant drivers, including MTA bus drivers and school bus drivers could lose their jobs. Some foreign drivers have already been unable to renew their commercial licenses.

Paul Quinn Mori, president of the New York School Bus Contractors Association, said about 5% of the state’s yellow bus drivers are licensed through the “non-domiciled” program. There is already a shortage of school bus drivers.

The lawsuit states, “The chilling effect of the transfer of data is particularly acute for some individuals who are concerned in general about disclosing their personal information to the federal government, such as noncitizens who are legally present in the United States and lawfully qualified to obtain a CDL, or individuals who are part of mixed-status immigration families.”

Attorney General Letitia James has said, “The Trump administration is attempting to seize confidential state records without any lawful justification. New Yorkers provide their personal information to the state with the expectation that it will be protected, not handed over to anyone who demands it.”

On August 20, U.S. District Judge Anthony J. Trenga granted the states’ request for a temporary restraining order. That prevents the federal government from obtaining the states’ records from the Commercial Driver’s License Information System, or CDLIS, while the court considers whether to issue a preliminary injunction.

What Can We Do?

2. Democrats Divided over Demand to Abolish ICE

“In the final week of July, we saw an amazing effort on their [ICE] part to rip away community members from this community, specifically here in Corona, where over half of reported detentions and kidnappings happened in this neighborhood.”—New York Immigration Coalition President and CEO Murad Awawdeh

Shanel Thomas-Henry, born and raised in Corona and East Elmhurst, represents City Council 21, which includes Corona, East Elmhurst, Lefrak, and Jackson Heights. Since her district is the heart of ICE actions in NYC, she might seem to be a natural voice of opposition to ICE’s very existence. Yet she faces the same challenge that Democrats are struggling with nationally: a lack of consensus about what the future of ICE should be.

This month, she joined a rally at Corona Plaza organized by Larinda Hooks, whose Assembly District 35 covers much of the same areas of Queens as Thomas-Henry. The August 10 rally was a protest against the notable increase of ICE removing people from their streets. Last June there were just two people taken. In the two weeks prior to the rally there were 14. One every day. It was stressed that none of the people ICE took had criminal records. Jessica González-Rojas spoke at the rally and said, “Every single day, we get text messages from ICE watchers saying that ICE is in our communities. It doesn’t matter if you’re a small business owner. Doesn’t matter if you’re a five-year-old child. They are coming after all of us.”

Recent neighborhood sightings reported by ICE watching groups:

  • 8/21@9:25am: Two ICE SUVs circling 85th Street and 31st Ave.
  • 8/22@6:05pm: 4 ICE agents in a Jeep stop car on 77th St. and 30th Ave
  • 8/24@: spotted ICE pickup used in a July 30 kidnapping.
  • 8/25@9:25am: ICE vehicle at 99th st. btw. 34th and Northern. Community responder peppersprayed by ICE at 9:50am. 7 vehicles circling North Corona up to noon.
  • 8/26@8:03am: 3 confirmed ICE vehicles at 100 St between 34th and 35th Aves. Also 101 St. btw. 37th and 34th Aves. All cars left the block after community members showed up and began whistling & making noise!
  • 8/26@9.50am: ICE circling around 85-06 Roosevelt Ave
  • 8/26@1:37pm: Active Kidnapping on Northern Blvd. btw. 96th and 97th Sts.
  • 8/28@11:00am: 6 ICE agents in 4 cars seen in Corona
  • 8/28@4:29pm: 5 ICE agents tackled someone to the ground. Northern Blvd. at 108th St.

Neither Hooks, nor Thomas-Henry had signed a July letter calling on Democratic leadership to abolish ICE in order to restore public safety. They continue to believe the issue is not the Department of Homeland Security itself but the tactics of enforcement. Hooks’ Not-In-My-Backyard thinking suggests that introducing laws to restrict local police collaborating with ICE agents means ICE will look for people elsewhere. Her approach will not address the issue of a massively funded agency acting with impunity for pepper spraying a 72 year-old filming their activities or targeting out-of-state cars for search as a pretence to find immigrants to deport—vehicle stops are happening more frequently in College Point and also have made national news when the legally present father of an active-duty sailor on the USS Lincoln was taken into custody by ICE after a traffic stop in Florida.

Thomas-Henry claims that ICE existed for a reason before Trump and, before the rally, said it was important to “look at changing the laws that allow them to deport individuals on minor traffic offenses.” She ran as a progressive to win her seat against Francisco Moya, but she describes her approach to ICE as looking at the many layers. Her stance is similar to that of the Senate and House Minority Leaders Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries. They talk of adding guardrails instead of a total overhaul to a department that was born out of fear and suspicion of identity within US borders.

Some Democrats are pointing out how the expansion of ICE actions is spilling into the policing of more aspects of social life, including the increasing likelihood of ICE deploying to polling places during midterm elections or leveraging private Medicaid data. Only the Democratic Socialist movement and progressive candidates are taking the strong abolition stance against ICE, including NY Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: Centrist democrats worry that such candidates will hurt the Democratic Party. Last month, a bill was submitted by three progressives, all immigrants themselves, who described ICE as “too corrupt to reform“. Yet the Democrat leaders continue to express their skepticism about abolishing ICE.

Polls showed that back in February 2026 support for abolishing ICE had grown, for the first time, to 50%—with only 39% opposing abolition. Even 23% of Republicans supported its abolition.

In July, an additional YouGov poll showed that Democrat support for abolition had actually dropped 4 points to 73%. For Independents, it grew 4 points to 52%, and, even for Republicans, support for abolition grew 1 point to 24%. Overall, due only to the Democrat responses, support for abolition support had dropped to 48%. 

DNC Chairman Ken Martin noted that “Clearly, the one thing that unites Democrats, regardless of their position on reform versus abolish or whatever other ways to change what’s happening, is people believe that what ICE is doing right now — and CBP and the federal government — should stop.” This year State Futures published a report showing 242 bills were introduced to prevent federal encroachment by regulating federal immigration: about a fifth of them passed. While the report indicates that all the bills submitted in New York were passed, it also notes that they were only part of the NY For All and the MELT bills: so they are not reflective of all the legislation NY can implement. 

What Can We Do?
  • Join an ICE Watch group and learn to use the SALUTE reporting tool to craft a text to share ICE on the street actions with the ICE Hotline: (229) 304-8720
  • Follow @nycicewwatch on instagram and share SALUTE messages with them too.

 

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 07/25/2026

Posted on July 25, 2026 by - News, Newsletter

Dear friends,

We often struggle to decide what stories to write for the newsletter: how to choose from the cascade of immigration news; what will promote solidarity without softening the brutal reality of what is happening in the US. For this newsletter, it was easy to decide that we had to report on a recent violent ICE arrest here in Jackson Heights. And then focus on the ugly consequences for New York’s health care system because of the cancellation of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians.  

For a deeper and wider dive into news about, for, and by immigrants, please keep the NYC-based online news outlet Documented on your ‘must read’ list. They do an extraordinary job keeping us informed and promoting an immigrant-centered and social justice lens.

Finally, to supplement our story about Haitians losing TPS status, see this report on how one senior living center in California is already being affected by the forced exodus of Haitian health care workers.

Newsletter highlights:
  1. ICE unleashed in Jackson Heights
  2. Threats to Haitians and the NY health care system

 

1. How ICE Is Coming To Our Streets—Again.  

“We are horrified by federal immigration enforcement operations that deliberately infringe upon First Amendment rights to assemble and dissent. The use of intimidation, surveillance, and deadly force against lawful protestors is not public safety—it is repression.” —Statement from the League of Women Voters on Federal Immigration Enforcement and the Erosion of Constitutional Rights, January 2026

Five blocks away from the Jackson Heights Shopping Center on 31st Avenue, a woman walked. Protected from the rain by an umbrella. She noticed two ICE agents grabbing the arms of a man on the street about 20 feet in front of her. She crossed the road to avoid walking directly past them. The agents had tactical vests with POLICE ICE patches velcroed on the front and back. They carried holstered guns. Handcuffs dangled from their belts. One was illegally masked with a neck gaiter covering his mouth and secured over his ears by his own black baseball cap: its brim was angled low, allowing only the strip of his face with his eyes to be seen. The other agent was unmasked. The man was not struggling. The masked agent forcefully grabbed the man’s wrists; the man’s body twisted in reaction, and he struggled to maintain balance. There was no threat in his struggle. The agents’ lives were not in peril. Yet the unmasked agent chose to raise his left arm nonchalantly, without any urgency or need to defend himself, and aimed a taser inches from the man’s chest: violating recommended considerations for taser deployment by law enforcement. His verbal direction while pointing the taser was minimal and vague: “Cut the shit.” The two agents walked the man to a Black Hyundai Palisade SUV, LZW 7506. Nothing more is seen of them. This was July 9th in Jackson Heights.

Using the SALUTE reporting method, this 90-second encounter would be reported as:

S: 2
A: Arrested a man
L: 81st Street and 31st Avenue
U: ICE
T: 5:14 pm
E: Tan ICE vests, masked, taser

The only reason we even have this information is because a Rapid Response (RR) group member was walking the streets, paying attention to and legally documenting the actions of ICE agents. After the man was taken away, an RR team located a family connection for the man. Because of that volunteer work, the family would now know what happened to him. (The same RR team is currently searching to locate a family contact for someone else recently taken from 108th Street at 45th Avenue.) Since the federal government is not informing people when they move ICE detainees, how else would this information be discovered? 

The critical work for any RR action is to establish communication with the person being targeted. Let them know you’re there to help them, ask them for a phone number of a family member or contact that you can call to tell what has happened to them, or any information to help know more about them. The faster an ID can be made, the faster legal support can be gathered. 

The June 2026 budget reconciliation bill that ended the US government shutdown and funded Homeland Security for three more years “did not include basic guardrails like required oversight for detention, transparency measures requiring ICE to provide basic detention data to the public, and some basic civil rights protections in immigration enforcement.” It also gave $350 million for ICE to carry out enforcement actions in cities or states DHS decides are “non-cooperating” with Trump’s mass deportation agenda. It allows people to be taken by ICE if they were arrested for minor offenses, and ICE can also take someone if they were ever charged with the federal offense of unauthorized entry, even if charges were later dropped.

When Markwayne Mullin replaced Kristy Noem as DHS secretary, he said his key goal was to not be the lead story every single day. Yet, his team continues to murder people publicly and blame the victims with impunity. Mullin’s public response when asked how his agents would be held accountable was to say DHS will “turn up the heat on the streets”. The FBI has recently announced it will no longer take the lead on “assault on a federal officer” cases involving ICE and other Department of Homeland Security agents. Instead, Homeland Security Investigations will be responsible. Since the start of the second Trump presidency, no officers have been charged in any of the 9 killings by agents, and the federal government has suggested state prosecutors don’t have jurisdiction to investigate federal officers.

In summary: we can expect more on-the-street ICE activities and will see no change in tactics regarding overtly harsh enforcement techniques of non-criminal immigrants. We can anticipate more murders of anyone in proximity to ICE activities, and no independent agency will hold accountable the agents who kill. We will continue to see an increase in protesters being charged falsely with the once-obscure 18 U.S.C. 111 statute, which makes it a federal crime to assault or forcibly impede a government officer. We therefore need more people mobilized in Rapid Response groups to stand up for the disappeared as well as for our constitutional rights.

WHAT CAN WE DO?
  • Participate in neighborhood walks for a Rapid Response group in these key areas:
    • 1-2 block radius of any 7 train stop in the area (Jackson Heights, Elmhurst, Corona)
    • Most of Corona south of Northern Blvd. to just south of Corona Ave.
    • All along 111th, 108th streets
    • 1-2 block radius of the Ideal Supermarket by Corona Ave at 102nd street
    • Along 45th Ave., the LIRR underpass
    • Eastern side of Jackson Heights closer to Corona 
    • North of Northern Blvd. along 31st/32nd Aves.
    • Staging sites: FMCP parking lots, QCM parking lots, parking lots along Northern Blvd./Queens Blvd. 
  • Do what you can to help the Legal Defense Fund achieve their “6 Steps to End ICE and Other Federal Law Enforcement Abuses in Our Streets” 
  • Support efforts to enforce gambling laws against prediction markets which profit from their speculations on ICE arrests.

2. Loss of TPS for Haitians Endangers New York’s Healthcare System

“During COVID, we knew we were exposed. We knew we could be the next one, but guess what? We showed up every day. Some of us lived in the hospital for months. And this is how we are being repaid.” —Dr. Marie Paul, founder of Haitian Nurses Network

In November 2025, then Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem declared that Temporary Protective Status (TPS) for Haitians would end on February 3, 2026, but on February 2, a US District Court for the District of Columbia put a stay on that decision. On June 25, the Supreme Court removed the stay, permitting the administration to remove TPS for Haitians and Syrians. The decision put 350,000 Haitians and 6,100 Syrians in danger of deportation. The decision disregarded the continuing chaos in Haiti. It also invites turbulence in New York State’s health care system where thousands of Haitians currently work. 

The court decision was not effective immediately. A 32-day delay is required before actions can take place, so on July 10, US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that the current work permit expiration date for Haitians with TPS is July 24, 2026. The state has about 56,000 Haitian residents; the city has around 5,400. The most obvious consequences of the court’s decision are the total disruption of Haitian families’ lives and well-being as well as their inability to send money to relatives in their country of origin. Another serious consequence is economic damage. Nationwide, Haitian TPS holders contribute $5.9 billion to the US economy, including $1.1 billion to New York state and $281 million in federal, state and local taxes.

Additionally, the health care industry will be severely disrupted. Thousands of Haitians provide essential care as nurses and nursing assistants across New York’s hospitals, as home health aides to the elderly, and as caregivers in long-term care facilities. All their patients and clients will be severely affected if Haitians are unable to continue working.

According to an amicus brief filed in April by Letitia James and 18 other state attorneys general, there are tens of thousands of Haitian TPS holders nationwide who work in critical services including health care. The American Immigration Council states that 112,000 Haitians work nationwide in health care, including 58,000 home health aides.

The policy group FWD.us estimates there are 25,000 Haitian TPS holders working in New York state, including 5,000 caregivers and 2,000 nursing assistants who, along with other workers, contribute $141 million annually in state and local taxes.

It is well-known that there is a nursing shortage in New York City, and the loss of these TPS holders will only increase the problem.

“Even with the current numbers that they have, including TPS workers, there is still a nursing shortage. Removing even a small percentage of these people will further impact our ability to provide quality care. There is no replacement pipeline. That’s why I’m losing sleep. My concern is, what happens to patients?” —Dr. Cherlie Magny-Normilus, a family nurse practitioner and assistant professor of nursing at New York University

There are efforts in Congress to alter these consequences. In April, the House passed a bill with bipartisan support to extend TPS protection for Haitians for three years. After the Supreme Court ruling, Senators Sheldon Whitehouse and Jack Reed presented Senate bill S.4814 to extend TPS for Haitians, and on July 6 Representative Mike Lawler (NY-17), a strong advocate for Haitians in his district, urged the Senate to take up the bill.

In the meantime, some families threatened with deportation may stop going to work, avoid school or public spaces, or withdraw from daily life because of ICE fears. For TPS holders, the main option now is to check for any other form of immigration relief and to start concrete planning in case TPS ends.

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 05/24/2026

Posted on May 24, 2026 by - News, Newsletter

Dear friends,

Like the volatile Spring weather, the battle for NYC immigrants’ future runs hot and cold. We were glad last Monday when a federal judge ruled that ICE arrests at Manhattan immigration courts must be significantly curtailed. But that feeling of relief was soon tempered by learning that ICE detained a man at immigration court the very next day—and by awareness that ICE might respond to the ruling by increasing its presence on our streets. 

Today’s newsletter begins on a positive note by describing how NICE (New Immigrant Community Empowerment) has expanded its programs and physical presence in the neighborhood. Our second article dives into the little-known story of Omni Airlines, a billionaire-funded company noted for its particularly cruel ICE deportations. We share a revealing map that quickly shows the story of ICE activity in Corona, and conclude with information about an upcoming volunteer event—one where we hope you will join us.

Newsletter highlights:
  1. Going “beyond one-time assistance” for immigrants at NICE
  2. The airline you’ve never heard of that transports ICE deportees
  3. Mapping ICE activity in NYC

1. NICE: “From Surviving to Thriving”

Migration and displacement are overwhelming experiences. Community members must navigate complex U.S. systems—healthcare, employment, housing, and financial services—that are often unfamiliar and difficult to access. —NICE Fact Sheet

Since 1999, New Immigrant Community Empowerment (NICE) has been a crucial first point of contact in our neighborhood for thousands of recent Spanish-speaking immigrants seeking access to social services, legal advice, community, and basic survival assistance. NICE has long been known for its support for day laborers, its OSHA and ESL classes, and for political action in support of immigrant rights.

In recent years, NICE has expanded both its role and its facilities. Their current strategy gives priority to “holistic, culturally competent support that goes beyond one-time assistance.” A key feature of this strategy is the Pre-Apprenticeship Program for Life and Work (Pre-APLW). This apprenticeship program offers English-language, legal, and job-related training. But it also helps immigrants build other practical skills useful in navigating life in the US, including:

  • accessing health and mental health services
  • learning more about transportation systems
  • strengthening financial literacy
  • dealing with New York’s rental and real estate markets

Pre-APLW is organized around intensive workshops. These typically include 25 to 30 participants, who devote 30 to 40 hours a week for four weeks. NICE has contacts and partnerships with potential employers, allowing Pre-APLW Apprentices to obtain hands-on experience and job opportunities. Like all NICE programs, Pre-APLW aims to promote social and political leadership and build community among immigrants.

NICE has recently acquired and renovated additional spaces around Roosevelt and 72nd Street, becoming a small campus. This includes a community center, event and meeting areas, classrooms, and offices. The organization hopes to keep expanding to further meet the needs of their members and all recent immigrants. 

Funding for NICE’s work comes from a combination of government grants, philanthropic or corporate donors, and private contributions. Volunteers are encouraged to assist at the organization’s community events, such as their winter toy giveaway and their Thanksgiving distribution. NICE is currently campaigning to build community support by sponsoring runners in this year’s New York Marathon.

WHAT CAN WE DO?

2. Omni: ICE’s “Special” Airline

“To leave human beings warehoused on a tarmac for hours reveals a system that does not see them as people. This is not simply a logistical error; it is a feature of ICE’s inhumane mission.”—Jo Jordon of No ICE NH

Michael Dorrell, an immigrant from Australia, made billions as a financial investor in logistics companies like the Air Transport Services Group, ATSG, which owns Omni Airlines, a passenger airline that, through the broker Classic Air Charter, contracts with ICE to provide airline deportations. Omni is reportedly the sole provider of “special high-risk charter” (SHRC) deportation flights. Since other airlines refuse to provide that service, Omni charges ICE twice the standard rate for similar flight services, over $33,000 per hour. Comparing the ICE deportation machine to Amazon for people is more than a metaphor: between 2016 and 2024, Amazon acquired over 13 million shares in ATSG, and ATSG expanded the number of cargo planes leased to Amazon in an operating agreement that is good to 2029.

The Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition demanded, in 2022, that Omni suspend cooperation with ICE due to the many human rights violations created by their deportation work. Omni did not stop. In fact, that year, the US government gave Omni $67 million in COVID bailout funds and awarded them a $78 million contract. The airline’s treatment of immigrants actually got worse: flights have become longer and crueler. In 2024, Omni had just six trips that took more than 24 hours to complete, using multi-destination hops. By the end of 2025, 31 flights took between 24 and 50 hours—some have taken 70 to 80 hours. Deportees are held in shackles for the entire duration–an ICE requirement–and deportees have sometimes gone 10 hours without food or water. 

ICE talked publicly last year about possibly purchasing its own fleet, but for now, it works with between 8 and 14 aircraft from about 10 contractors to oversee about 15,000 deportations every month. To reach Trump’s goal of 1 million annual deportations would require 83,300 removals every month, which would require more than 50 planes.

Thomas Cartwright offers a stark contrast with Dorrell.  He is a retired financial investor who, when working with Witness at the Border in 2019, learned about the dehumanizing deportation flights leaving small border airports. He used his skills to track deportation planes using flight-tracking apps. It was his work that revealed the details about the notorious CECOT flights last year. He trained others in his process and has transferred the bulk of the work to Human Rights First, which now publishes monthly reports. April’s report holds 32 pages of revealing details, including:

  • The number of flights for both internal transfers and removals.
  • The use of coast guard flights in the deportation machine.
  • The number of planes provided by each airline carrier.
  • The path of a 51-hour flight carrying deportees to 6 countries.
  • How many times each airport is used: Alexandria, in Louisiana, had the most usage at 2,439 flights.

The contrast of the work these two people have done reveals the difference in mindset between a person who is seeking to make money regardless of how people’s lives are horrifically impacted, and a person who is looking to help his community do well by other people instead of blaming and abusing them.

WHAT CAN WE DO?

3. Locally Mapping ICE 

There are data analysts, such as Danielle Harlow, who examine ICE records nationally to produce public data visualizations showing deportation flights and the locations from which people were taken.  NYC activists are also gathering data to tell the stories of local people kidnapped by ICE enforcers. Corona-based Queens Neighborhoods United (QNU) has been tracking neighborhood ICE raids and verifying the locations where they have kidnapped people. 

 

NYC Icebreaker has been tracking ICE actions throughout the city: their work has revealed that raids are most likely to take place between 7-8 am and 3-5 pm. Monday seems to be the most popular day of the week for ICE to stage their raids in Corona, Tuesday in Bushwick, and Thursday in Sunset Park.

Maps like these are helpful, but incomplete. At last weekend’s anti-casino town hall meeting, it was noted that hundreds of people per month are taken from NYC streets to endure the excruciating flights and inhumane detention centers. Neither maps nor figures can show the full extent or cruelty of the process. 

Like so much immigrant justice work, tracking and mapping ICE is the work of small, local, volunteer-led groups who need support from neighbors and progressive journalists to continue raising awareness and speaking out against the injustices of the deportation machinery.

WHAT CAN WE DO?
  • Join JHISN, Brave of Us, and others at the Community Volunteer Morning organized by Documented, the multilingual, immigrant-driven news outlet we have covered in this newsletter (and often use as a source):

    “Saturday, June 6, from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM: Distribute newspapers and guides to community spaces (houses of worship, small businesses, community centers, and busy public areas). Engage with residents about their information needs and build community in real time, together— and over food and drink.” INFORMATION AND RSVP

 

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 04/25/2026

Posted on April 25, 2026 by - News, Newsletter

Dear friends,

Remain vigilant? Breathe a temporary sigh of relief? The mass targeting of immigrants for deportation in central Queens has not yet materialized. We share recent wisdom from Queens Neighborhoods United: “[W]e can’t always live in fear that ICE is around, and we can’t pretend that ICE is never around. Finding a balance and arming ourselves with information to inform our day-to-day lives is important.” Find a balance; stay informed; build and hold our collective strength.

Yet, every day, police violence against immigrants continues, and our first article highlights the pursuit of justice for two Queens families shattered by NYPD shootings in their homes.

Our second article dives into the mess of government propaganda, misinformation, missing data, and realistic “best estimates” of the number of immigrants in the US who have been recently detained and/or deported. Who really counts in US society? All those whose lives have been upended by a revved-up mass detention and deportation machine deserve to be counted.

Newsletter highlights:
  1. Where is justice for two Queens families shattered by NYPD violence?
  2. Checking the numbers on US detentions and deportations

1. Justice for Win Rozario and Jabez Chakraborty!

On March 27, 2024, struggling with a mental health crisis in his Ozone Park home, 19-year-old Bangladeshi immigrant Win Rozario called 911 for help. What showed up was two aggressive cops, who provoked, tased, and gunned him down without mercy in front of his family.

“After shooting Win, the NYPD forced Win’s mom and brother to go to the precinct immediately, refusing to let them accompany Win to the hospital. Win’s mother and brother were separated and interrogated without lawyers and before being notified that Win had died. The NYPD then refused to let the Rozario family back into their apartment for over 48 hours, refusing to let them retrieve critical medications or even feed their cat. It took the advocacy of the Public Advocate to get the Rozario family back into their home – which the police had neglected to clean up after murdering Win.” —The Justice Committee

In September 2025, NYC’s Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB) found that Officers Matthew Cianfrocco and Salvatore Alongi used excessive force and abused their authority. But so far, they have not faced any consequences. State Attorney General Letitia James refused to prosecute the cops, a decision the family called “cowardly.” Potential disciplinary action is now at the discretion of New York Police Commissioner Tisch, who is considered likely to order the loss of some vacation days—or no punishment at all. Only Mayor Mamdani can overrule whatever she decides.

This April 1, the Rozario family and local immigrant justice group Desis Rising Up and Moving (DRUM) led a demonstration at Diversity Plaza, solemnly marking the second anniversary of Win’s murder and calling on the city to fire Cianfrocco and Alongi:

“Win’s mother shared her experiences and demands: ‘I can’t believe two years have passed and still the police have not been punished… I want to say that police should not be sent to respond to situations involving illness or mental health crises. Otherwise, more families like mine will be forced to live with this emptiness and grief.’” —@DRUMNYC

The Diversity Plaza protest also mobilized support for another Queens immigrant family brutalized in a similar way by the NYPD. Jabez Chakraborty, 22, who lives with schizophrenia, was shot by cops in a January 2026 confrontation that his family insists was completely unnecessary.

“We are shocked and outraged by the NYPD’s treatment of our son and brother, Jabez Chakraborty, and our family. We called for help. We called 911 for an ambulance to provide medical attention for our son, who was in emotional distress. We did not call the police. Instead of medical responders, the NYPD arrived and shot our son multiple times right in front of us.” —Chakraborty family, 1/30/26

Although he was severely wounded, Jabez Chakraborty survived. But District Attorney Melinda Katz rushed to arraign him on assault and weapons charges as he lay chained to his hospital bed—ignoring objections from Mayor Mamdani.

“What purpose does it serve to punish someone who needed medical and mental health care, and got bullets instead? This shooting was not an isolated incident: it’s a devastating example of how our systems repeatedly fail the most vulnerable New Yorkers.” —Fahd Ahmed, Executive Director of DRUM

WHAT CAN WE DO?

2. The Reality Behind Detention & Deportation Propaganda Numbers

“We know of no reliable count of the total number of deportations during the first year of the Trump administration.” — Deportation Data Project (January 2026)

Those managing the anti-immigrant agenda of Trump and his hatemongering Homeland Security advisor, Stephen Miller, regularly obfuscate their arrest, detention, or deportation numbers. Such transparency problems are not new. Before Trump took office in 2024, the American Immigration Council (AIC) published Transparency Recommendations identifying numerous legally mandated reporting requirements that ICE failed to fulfill. The AIC reported that ICE, under Biden, was “severely undercounting the number of people it has in immigration detention.” In July of last year, Robert Garcia, a representative on the House Committee on Homeland Security, stated, “I actually just don’t trust numbers the administration is putting out, and I don’t think the American public should.” Thankfully, the diligent work of non-profits and university researchers does serve as a lighthouse in the fog.   

The number of people processed through the deportation machine is obscured by the administration’s hyperbolic statements. Only through the independent work of organizations, reporters, and pro bono lawyers, who process Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuits to delve into Homeland Security data, can we get a sense of how many people are actually being processed through the deportation machine.

In March of last year, TRAC Reports won a major FOIA case against ICE and CPB when a court rejected all the government’s arguments for withholding records. In November 2025, TRAC released a report about detention and removals after the massive deployments of military and civil immigration enforcers: “The data show surprisingly little has been accomplished given the huge expenditure of resources devoted to this effort.” The increase in ICE removals under Trump in 2025 was reportedly only 7% higher than the 2024-25 numbers under Biden.

Before Trump’s second inauguration, data on border arrests, deportations, and other immigration metrics were published twice a month (as mandated by the DHS funding bill). An April 2026 visit to the DHS website finds that the immigration websites have not been updated since 2024. ICE Detention and Repatriation data has also not been updated since 2024. The 2025 numbers reported by Homeland Security on its detention management site are severely limited. Even a high school student’s online ICE Tracker project is making a better attempt than Homeland Security to share this data publicly.

While TRAC Reports highlighted the many data errors in ICE data releases, the Vera Institute of Justice reported that the “failure [of ICE] to regularly release accurate, complete, and accessible data is part of what enables it to operate this multi-billion-dollar network with little oversight or accountability.” With the support of the Deportation Data Project, the Vera Institute published its December 2025 report on ICE Detention Trends in 1,464 facilities. If the ICE reports from August of last year are accurate, then the 61,226 people detained by ICE is the highest ever level of detention. 

“First, ICE arrests quadrupled, including both street arrests and transfers from criminal custody to ICE immigration custody. ICE street arrests (i.e. arrests not at jails) went up by over a factor of eleven. Street arrests at this order of magnitude are a new phenomenon. For both types of arrests, ICE was much less likely to target people with criminal convictions. These changes led to over a sevenfold increase in arrests of people without criminal convictions.”—Deportation Data Project


Transfers from Jails and Prisons Doubled and Street Arrests Increased by 11x—Deportation Data Project

The self-deportation component of the Miller-Trump strategy, despite a significant increase in numbers, failed spectacularly to deliver its promise as a cost-effective way to remove immigrants rapidly. Last September, DHS posted self-aggrandizing statements, and Kristi Noem talked about self-deportation numbers, which came from an estimate by the anti-immigrant think tank CIS that did not even use DHS data. 

Homeland Security spent $200M on ads (created by agencies with direct ties to DHS staff) to urge self-deportation through the incongruously named Project Homecoming. The “voluntary” project claims to offer applicants a free plane ticket and a stipend of $1,000, recently increased to $2,600. Data review confirmed around 25,000 people registered for self-deportation on the CBP mobile app. Only half of those actually returned home with DHS support. The others face delays in paperwork processing, have not received payments, and still await their flights home. Immigration attorneys indicate their lack of trust in the program. In reality, only a minority of immigrants are eligible for those incentives to leave: those who do not meet the requirements are simply handing over their information and risking detention. 


Voluntary Departures Increased by 28x—Deportation Data Project

Although the government’s Project Homecoming data is questionable, reliable data shows that the number of court cases ending in “voluntary departure” increased to 35,000—over three times those during the previous year. Looking at New York specifically, under Biden, less than 1% of people arrested by ICE opted for voluntary departure—today it is 22%. People are also deciding to self-deport without government intervention—but even at the point where they are boarding flights to return home, they are still being detained and handed over to ICE agents.

The end goal of this administration is really not just about deportation. It is about enabling white nationalism and authoritarianism through racial profiling, eroding constitutional rights, scapegoating and subjugating immigrants, and weaponizing a massive private, for-profit prison system. 

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 01/24/2026

Posted on January 24, 2026 by - News, Newsletter

Dear friends,

Yesterday, New York City joined protests around the country, standing with striking Minnesotans who have risen in the cold as a powerful anti-ICE voice. They represent a people’s resistance against the always escalating, harmful, militarized tactics of Homeland Security. The entire nation watched a federal agent shoot and kill Renee Good—a poet, mother, and citizen who refused to ignore the inhumane federal deportation operations in her Minneapolis neighborhood.  The president, and others in the administration and blamestream media, peddled the lie that Good was a domestic terrorist who was the cause of her own death. The person who clearly killed Renee Good was not a newly hired agent who lacked training: Jonathan Ross served more than 10 years in ICE’s elite Special Response Team.

While many agree that ICE (established less than 25 years ago) should be abolished, most Democrat leaders appear to be following the guidance of a “Don’t Say Abolish ICE” memo. Written by a former Customs and Border Protection official who is now a corporate consultant for the defense and surveillance sector, the memo advises reforming and retraining ICE. Fortunately, our new Mayor, Zohran Mamdani, remains strong in his stance. He stated on ABC’s, The View, “I am in support of abolishing ICE…We’re seeing a government agency that is supposed to be enforcing some kind of immigration law, but instead what it’s doing is terrorizing people”. 

Today’s newsletter reports on NYC’s now ex-mayor’s veto, just as he left office, of City Council legislation promoting immigrant and economic justice. We then offer an update on battles over Temporary Protective Status (TPS), including the good news of a recent court decision that reverses the Trump regime’s cancellation of protections for Nepali TPS holders. 

Newsletter highlights:
  1. Eric Adams vetoes immigrant justice in cruel exit act
  2. Temporary Protective Status (TPS) under attack: Update

1. Eric Adams’ Last Betrayal

“It is unsurprising that this mayor is ending his term by demonstrating, once again, that protecting and supporting working-class New Yorkers is not his priority. His vetoes put special interests above greater affordability and opportunity for hardworking New Yorkers, and public safety.” — Outgoing City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams

On his last day in office, Eric Adams—a mayor we have long criticized for scapegoating immigrants—vetoed three key pro-immigrant legislative packages that had been passed by large majorities in the City Council. The bills were among a total of 19 measures Adams vetoed, as a final New Year’s Eve “drop dead” to the lawmakers and the people of New York.

One of the vetoed packages aims to regulate and reform street vending. Among its provisions is the long-delayed raising of the cap on the number of vending licenses. Local Councilmember Shekar Krishnan had praised passage of the package as “a historic day for workers.” The legislation became urgent after Mayor Adams, who had promised to raise the cap and dial down punitive enforcement against vendors, made a quick 180-degree turn, joining with right-wing forces in a campaign to uproot and intimidate vendors in Corona Plaza, Roosevelt Avenue, and other parts of the city.

Another veto casualty was Tiffany Cabán’s Safer Sanctuary Act. This would outlaw the establishment of ICE offices on Rikers Island, something that has been contentious throughout Adams’ tenure. That act would also close a loophole in the city’s sanctuary laws, making it clear that the restrictions they place on cooperation with federal authorities would apply to all immigration enforcement agencies, not just ICE.

Adams’ third anti-immigrant veto gave a thumbs down to badly-needed legislation defending deliveristas from a wave of arbitrary “deactivations”—firings—initiated by delivery app companies. The Council measure requires that delivery workers be given a reason for deactivation, the right to appeal, and a 120-day notice before permanent deactivation.

According to city law, once the vetoes were formally registered, which happened on January 7, the Council has 30 days to override them, a process which requires a 2/3rds majority vote. The clock is ticking, with many other priorities competing for legislators’ attention in the new year.

New Council Speaker Julie Menin can strongly influence the fate of the vetoed bills, since she largely controls legislative scheduling and agendas. In practice, she seems unlikely to run out the clock on these three measures, which were all passed with “veto-proof “ majorities. For instance, the measure lifting the vendor license cap was passed by a margin of 39-9, as was the Safer Sanctuary Act. The bill defending deliveristas passed 40-8. Menin is a supporter of sanctuary laws, and was actually a co-sponsor of the street vendor bill.

However, Menin has refused to commit to overriding all of Mayor Adams’ vetoes, saying only that “the Council will consider next steps on these bills.”

NYC lawmakers have been given further impetus to act by ICE’s arrest of one of their own staffers, Venezuelan immigrant Andres Rubio Bohorquez, at a routine asylum interview. Menin and many other Council members have expressed concern and anger at ICE over the data analyst’s detention. This attack on one of their own employees is likely to concentrate the Council’s attention, bringing home how much is at stake for immigrants in their deliberations.

WHAT CAN WE DO?

2. The Ongoing Weaponization Of TPS

“The harm already caused by the administration’s cruel, lawless actions cannot be undone, but we are hopeful that, with this ruling, the new year will bring a measure of justice and peace to the TPS holder community.” —Jessica Bansal, attorney at the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON)

The new year started positively for Adhikaar, the Queens-based group that serves and supports the Nepali-speaking community in NYC. They shared welcome news that a Northern California District Court judge ruled that the Trump administration had illegally ended TPS for Honduras, Nepal, and Nicaragua. Adhikaar applauded the work of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON) and other members of the National TPS Alliance who argued the legal case, which affects around 60,000 people nationwide, including thousands of Queens residents.

Ama Frimpong, the Legal Director of CASA, stated that the ruling clearly showed TPS cannot be terminated based on racialized political narratives. Frimpong continued, “This decision is not only a victory for TPS holders from Honduras, Nicaragua, and Nepal, but an encouraging signal for TPS holders from Venezuela, Cameroon, Afghanistan, and beyond who are fighting to protect their families and their futures.” 

Two days later, after US forces captured and removed the president of Venezuela, Homeland Security Secretary Kristy Noem announced that Venezuelans in the US under TPS had the opportunity to apply for refugee status. There was no hint as to how more than 600,000 people could do that when the US government has limited the total number of refugees per year to just 7,500. A few hours after her announcement, the Homeland Security eX-twitter account denied that Noem had ever said that, and instead reaffirmed that she had ended TPS for more than 500,000 people. The post suggested that, “now they can go home to a country that they love.” Even those Venezuelans who are happy about Maduro’s removal say returning is an extreme risk.

Minnesota has the largest Somali population in the US. Just days after a weekend of national protest in the wake of the ICE murder of Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis, and Homeland Security’s brutal tactics in the Twin Cities, Trump announced the termination of TPS for Somalis. Ignoring the economic destabilization it will bring, he declared legal protections for Somali nationals enrolled in the TPS program will be ended in two months, on March 17. He claimed that country conditions had improved, an opinion easily contradicted by the work of Freedom House, which has monitored the state of global freedom for 85 years: currently, they give Somalia a Global Freedom Score of 8 out of 100; the US score is 84. 

The day after Trump’s Somalia announcement, the US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments for the second of the National TPS Alliance lawsuits, defending Haitians and Venezuelans. A Federal Judge has indicated she will not rule on the Haitian TPS case until February 6, which is just one day before that protection is set to expire. Just as the year began, and our article started with hope from NDLON, so these recent fraught weeks have ended with Ahilan Arulanantham, the Co-Director of UCLA’s Center for Immigration Law & Policy (CILP) stating, “We hope the court will insist the administration comply with the law as Congress intended it to by engaging in an objective assessment of the country conditions in Venezuela.” 

We wonder, is “hope” really enough?

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.