Tag: Jackson Heights

JHISN Newsletter 11/22/2025

Posted on November 22, 2025 by - News, Newsletter

Dear friends, 

It is now a fact. Zohran Mamdani won the NYC mayoral election—by an enthusiastic margin. He will be sworn in on January 1, 2026, as the immigrant mayor of this city built on immigrant labor, dreams, and community. Our own Jackson Heights-based DRUM (Desis Rising Up & Moving) sibling organization, DRUM Beats, mobilized its South Asian and Indo-Caribbean membership to play a major role in Mamdani’s successful campaign. 

Given the threats this week from Thomas Homan, Trump’s so-called ’border czar,’ the most important part of today’s newsletter may be our WHAT CAN WE DO? section at the very end. We report first on ICE’s recent escalation of attacks here in Queens, and next, on your responses to our reader survey on how to prepare for ICE invasions in our own neighborhood. We conclude with actions you can take, and trainings and groups you can join, to collectively defend our communities. Please join us in learning what solidarity will look like in our immigrant-led New York City. 

Newsletter highlights:
  1. Our neighborhood faces escalating ICE raids
  2. Reportback on JHISN reader survey: Actions and suggestions to confront ICE

1. ICE Is Here–How Do We Respond?

It seemed inevitable. After a months-long brutal mass deportation campaign at the Federal Plaza courthouses in Manhattan, ICE has now started ramping up street raids in Queens, knowing that almost half of us (over one million residents) were born outside the US. 

In the first week of November, 97th Street and 41st Avenue in Corona became the main focus of a major ICE dragnet, resulting in the confirmed abductions of 12 neighbors. Other parts of Corona were also hit. As reported by Queens Neighborhoods United (QNU), these were not targeted arrests of individuals using judicial warrants. Instead, Latinos walking down the street, sitting in their cars, or riding bikes were racially profiled and arrested by swarms of agents. ICE used deception tactics—for instance, rotating out agents who might be recognized, or pretending to be done for the day, then suddenly returning to trap more residents. 

We note that ICE has been active in our community for some time. According to one well-informed activist, an average of two people a day were already being detained in the Jackson Heights, Corona, and Elmhurst area prior to the 97th St. raids. ICE has recently been sighted, banging on doors on 79th Street near Roosevelt Avenue at 5:00 AM, presumably trying to serve a warrant. However, QNU says, “ICE is escalating. They are using more elaborate ruses and traps. We must respond.”

Parts of the Corona assault were recorded on video, and some local residents tried to warn pedestrians using whistles. These efforts need to grow into a mass response by our whole community. We need well-organized ICE Watch and rapid response teams to monitor federal agents and keep our neighborhoods informed. We need a widespread whistle campaign so that every resident can take part in sounding an alert when ICE appears. We need enough people in the street to make it hard to trap anybody. 

This counter-escalation has started to emerge. We encourage our readers to be active according to your capabilities. Please see our What Can We Do? section at the end of our next article.

2. JHISN Reader Survey: Take Local Action Against ICE’s Illegal Activity

“[T]hey were here and they were everywhere. Smash and grab jobs happening across the city nearly simultaneously. But the things being stolen aren’t jewels, they’re lives. Off streets, from yards. One roofer plucked off a ladder. A landscaper thrown to the ground, tackled by a half-dozen men in camo with weapons …. What I need you to understand is that nobody is letting them go quietly. The Feds’ every movement is announced by a chorus of whistles, by a parade of cars honking in their wake, neighbors rushing outside to yell to film to witness these kidnappings that are unfolding in front of us. Neighbors running towards trouble.” – Dan Sinker, “What I Need You to Understand, Notes from Chicago in Late October”

In our last two newsletters, JHISN invited feedback from our readers through our NYC Prepares for ICE Invasion survey—we thank all of you who participated for your thoughtful responses. While most of you said you had already participated in actions to show opposition to the outrageous abductions by ICE agents, more than a third of you indicated that you are ready to take action for the first time. We applaud you and will continue to use the newsletter, as best we can, to encourage more people to take even more steps. We suggest that readers review the reports on grassroots resistance coming out of Chicago by Dan Sinker and Kyle Kingsbury, a.k.a “Aphyr”—they show what NYC could become when we face ICE attacks like those in Chicago. 

Our survey also asked about the challenges facing our readers and suggestions for what can be done next. Overwhelmingly, our respondents shared that their biggest challenge is not being aware of actions they can take, even as several readers reported on actions they have already done: 

  • Distribute Know Your Rights (KYR) information to businesses and people
  • Make phone calls and complete petitions to politicians 
  • Accompany immigrants to court appointments or participate in court watching
  • Donate to immigrant support organizations

The main challenges our readers reported were a fear of physical risks and that work hours and mobility issues associated with age prevent participation in actions. One person responded simply: “Fear”.

But for every challenge identified, survey respondents also offered two suggestions for future actions. Unawareness can be fixed through greater information sharing. One person suggested that we learn from other groups, such as DIRE (Deportation and Immigration Response Equipo) in New Jersey. Another suggested “Distribute whistles and publicize when/how to use them for rapid response. Like in Los Angeles and in Chicago, there has been a grassroots effort to distribute orange whistles that people can blow if they see ICE.” Another said, “Have a chat group | Patrol the neighborhood | Make noise to alert our neighbors.” 

JHISN has now posted instructions about whistle use as Community Resistance Tools on our blog, borrowing flyer information from South Brooklyn Mutual Aid. If you have been at the Jackson Heights Greenmarket on 34th Ave., between 79th & 80th, you may have seen activists distributing whistles and instructions to our community. Whistles played a role in the recent day-long ICE raid in Corona, and Hands Off NYC has now distributed well over 10,000 whistles throughout the city. Last weekend, JH Indivisible joined with 10 people from the neighborhood (including JHISN members) to distribute ICE Packs to business owners, including a whistle, instructions in English and Spanish for how to use the whistle, and red cards with KYR information. 

Some of our active readers have connected with local ICE Watch groups. Most of these local groups create their own direct messaging communication methods to the immigrant population they serve; only trusted sources, who have been able to verify that ICE action is underway, post to the ICE Watch lists. So, although the federal government demanded Apple and Google remove the ICEBlock app from their app stores, which they did, most local ICE Watch groups were not significant users of that app. 

One of our respondents made a straightforward comment: “I think we all have to help each other out in whatever ways we can.” Some of us can march in weekend events. Some of us can donate money to support immigrant-led groups or the many GoFundMe pages of families seeking support to fight their deportation case (please support the pages of those you know to be local to Jackson Heights).  Some of us can wear a polka dot dress and block an ICE Humvee to slow its progress. Some of us can take successful legal action against discriminatory practices that intimidate immigrants with the threat of deportation. Some of us can tell NYC assembly members to get ICE OUT! Some of us can get ICE barred from operating in Rikers. 

One of us cannot do everything, but many of us, doing what we can in different ways, can make the difference between quiet surrender or effective solidarity.

WHAT CAN WE DO? 
  • Get trained by Hands Off NYC, a coalition of over 50 action-taking groups, to learn Know Your Rights, ICE Watch, and organizing and mobilization strategies. Sign up for their Queens training on Saturday. Dec. 13, 12 – 4 pm.
  • Attend one of the New York Immigration Coalition’s many Neighborhood Defense Training webinars.
  • Attend the monthly Zoom meeting of Jackson Heights Indivisible and get involved with their local actions. 
  • Join the Visibility Brigade (also known as the Rush Hour Resistance) every Wednesday evening from 6 – 7 pm in Jackson Heights.
  • Notify activists if you see ICE: 
  • NYC ICE Watch – DM via Instagram @nycicewatch – use the SALUTE page to quickly format your post
  • Call the Immigrant Defense Project’s NY/NJ ​Rapid Response Network Emergency ICE Raid hotline at 1-800-308-0878, or in New York City,​ call 1-212-725-6422.
  • Prepare yourself, your neighbors, and others by being familiar with Make The Road New York’s Deportation Defense Manual—especially read Part Two: Rapid Response to Raids; appendix D; and appendix F. (Note this is from July 2022, and many things have changed since then).

In solidarity and with collective care,

Jackson Heights Immigrant Solidarity Network (JHISN)

 

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

 

 

JHISN Newsletter 10/25/2025

Posted on October 25, 2025 by - News, Newsletter

Dear friends,

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

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

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

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

1. Mamdani’s Campaign Success: Grassroots Immigrant Organizing

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

In solidarity and with collective care,

Jackson Heights Immigrant Solidarity Network (JHISN)

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

 

 

JHISN Newsletter 09/21/2025

Posted on September 21, 2025 by - News, Newsletter

Dear friends,

In just the past few days, news that can knock you over has reached our door. JHISN learned that ICE snatched a well-known and beloved waiter in Jackson Heights on September 3. According to the GoFundMe campaign for Dino, he was “chained hand-to-feet, and taken by bus and plane to several prisons and detention centers, always chained up, going for days without any food, from New York to New Jersey to Texas, until he was finally left with the Mexican immigration officials at the border.” His situation is similar to tens of thousands of US immigrants attacked by the Trump regime, but recognizing his face and benefiting directly from his labor makes his inhumane incarceration and deportation a shock and a wake-up call. It can happen here. It is happening here. 

Dino, outside the Queensboro restaurant where he worked in Jackson Heights.

Our newsletter, in keeping with these grim times, reports on the federal government’s unprecedented attack on immigrant children, including the arrest of students and young neighbors here in Queens. And we offer a wide-ranging political analysis of the current deportation machine, accompanied by a locally-focused survey for our readers about what you hope to do as ICE violence against immigrants closes in. 

Newsletter highlights:
  1. Immigrant children detained and caged
  2. Resisting ICE is crucial – how will Jackson Heights resist?

1. ICE Wages War on Immigrant Children

This is a really tough year for young immigrants in the US.

“We now regularly hear reports from members whose friends and classmates have disappeared after routine court appearances, and our members are afraid to go to court, school, and even leave their homes out of fear they will be detained by ICE. No child should have to choose between their safety and their right to due process.”–Beth Baltimore, deputy director of The Door’s Legal Services Center 

The dramatic spectacle of the Trump regime attempting to deport, in the dead of night over Labor Day weekend, 76 Guatemalan children who had come to the US alone and were living in shelters or with foster care families, only intensified fears for immigrant children across the US. Lawsuits were immediately filed and the removals were temporarily stopped. Missing from many news reports was the fact that in July Guatemalan government representatives toured US detention facilities.To avoid the possibility that any detained Guatemalan children who turned 18 would be sent to adult detention centers, the Guatemalan government said they would accept “all unaccompanied minors, who wanted to return to Guatemala voluntarily.” On September 10 in federal court the Department of Justice abandoned its claim that either Guatemalan parents or children had requested to be reunited and stated it actually had no evidence for that allegation. On September 18, a federal judge blocked the children’s removal for the foreseeable future. But the incident shines light on the plight of immigrant children now in the crosshairs of a deportation machine running wild.

Although Trump’s deportation plan claims to focus on “the worst of the worst,” it seems more like an assembly line plan of “last in, first out.” Those who entered the US without papers in the last 2 years are most likely to face expedited removal. Not only are they detained, they are also shunted around to as many as four different detention facilities before either being deported or released to face further immigration hearings.

Back in May 2023, the Biden  Administration expanded the digital CBP One app to allow immigrants to make appointments for asylum hearings before entering the country. People could stay for 2 years and work legally. However, Trump cancelled the program in January 2025 and invalidated 30,000 appointments. All entries using CBP One became grounds for removal. Now when people who used the app show up in court for legally arranged required hearings, ICE agents waiting outside courtrooms snatch them immediately, even if they have received new court dates.

Several minors in New York city and state have been caught in this process: 50 children younger than 18 have been detained by ICE at their legally required check-ins and 38 have been deported. Also, some New York high school students have been detained. Here are details of some cases.

In May, Dylan Lopez Contreras, a 20-year-old student at ELLIS Prep, was the first public school student detained by ICE at his scheduled hearing. He arrived from Venezuela in 2024 and had permission to live and work here through Biden’s CBP One program while he went through the asylum application process. On June 16, a federal judge reinstated Dylan’s pending asylum case and pursuit of protections under the Special Juvenile Immigration Status (SIJS). Dylan spent two months in ICE detention. He’s represented by New York Legal Assistance Group. 

On June 4, Derlis Snaider Chusin Toaquiza, a 19-year-old 11th grader at Grover Cleveland High School, was the second known New York City public school student apprehended by ICE. He and his family arrived from Ecuador in March 2024 and applied for asylum. Derlis was detained for a month in Texas and finally released on July 18 so he can return to school and continue his asylum case.

In June, Joselyn Chipantiza-Sisalema, a 20-year-old high school student, was arrested. She arrived from Ecuador in May 2024. According to her attorneys, at her June asylum hearing, the immigration judge had set a court date for March 2026. But she was arrested by ICE officers outside the courtroom anyway and sent to Louisiana. She was released in July after Make the Road New York sued on her behalf.

Also in June, Oliver Mata Velazquez, a 19-year-old asylum seeker from Venezuela living in Buffalo was unlawfully arrested by ICE agents while attending a mandated court hearing and then fast-tracked for deportation. Oliver had legal entry in September 2024 via CBP One, has no criminal history, and complied with all government orders when applying for US citizenship. He was released in August and able to reunite with his family and community as his asylum case proceeded after US District Judge Lawrence Vilardo ordered ICE to release him, saying,

“Mata Velasquez followed all the rules. On the other hand, the government changed the rules by fiat, applied them retroactively, and pulled the rug out from under Mata Velasquez and many like him who tried to do things the right way.”

New York Civil Liberties Union, African Communities Together, and The Door are hoping Judge Vilardo’s decision will help others kidnapped by ICE. “These policies are unlawful,” the lawsuit argues. “Such arrests chill access to the courts and impede the fair administration of justice.” An initial hearing is scheduled for October 10.

In August, Martha, a Jackson Heights mother with four children (two daughters 6 and 16, two sons 19 and 21), took her 6-year-old and 19-year-old to their required immigration hearing and all three were detained. Martha and two children arrived from Ecuador in December 2022. Their application for  asylum was denied, and an attempt to appeal failed because paperwork was filed too late. Martha and the 6-year-old were deported to Ecuador; 19-year-old Manuel is in detention in New Jersey.

On August 9, Roger Iza, a 15-year-old Manhattan high school student, and his father, Edison Iza, who arrived in 2023 from Ecuador, had their asylum application denied. They had filed without an attorney. Roger was enrolled in school, but they were arrested by ICE at a required check-in in New York. After being transported to a series of out-of-state hotels, where they had no access to phones or the internet, they were deported to Ecuador on August 14. 

On August 4, Mamadou Mouctar Diallo, a 20-year-old Brooklyn student from Guinea, was detained at his hearing at 26 Federal Plaza.  He’s the third NY city high school student to be detained at a required hearing. He arrived in January 2024. Before he was arrested, he had been released by the Biden administration, enrolled in high school, completed a training program to become a security guard, joined the Audubon Society and enrolled in a culinary internship. His teachers and NY City Schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos have expressed support for him.

No arrests have yet been made inside NY City schools, and principals and teachers are trying to reassure parents and students that it’s safe to attend classes. But many students are afraid to go to school. In addition, immigrants who are victims of crimes or abuse are afraid to contact police and/or appear in court as witnesses and many others are afraid to get necessary medical care.

WHAT CAN WE DO?

2. Resisting the Deportation Tsunami–Invitation to Our Reader Survey

Multiple legal cases have tried to slow down the Trump regime’s trampling of long-standing asylum laws and the supposedly sacred Constitution. Court decisions have gone back and forth, but the trend is clear: they can’t be counted on for relief. In May, a Massachusetts District Court ruled that immigrants must be offered asylum hearings, and must have 15 days to contest a threat of deportation to a third country. But in June, a Supreme Court order put that ruling on hold, allowing third country deportations to continue. In July, a federal judge ruled that ICE must stop racially profiling Latinos for indiscriminate arrests. In September, an “emergency intervention” from Supreme Court “justices” overturned that injunction. This month, a California federal judge ordered that Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelans and Haitians must be restored immediately—but the administration stalled and refused to comply, causing widespread panic. Now the Ninth Circuit Court has recently ruled that the regime can and in fact already has terminated TPS for our Nepalis, along with Hondurans and Nicaraguans. Lawsuits by the National TPS Coalition and the ACLU attempting to restore TPS are ongoing.

Despite the lack of a united, strategic Left and progressive movement nationwide, angry people in many localities are resisting. In particular, there is a spreading neighborhood-based movement against ICE and mass deportation. In Rochester, more than 200 local residents showed up to disrupt an immigration raid causing ICE agents to flee the neighborhood with four slashed tires. Worcester residents surrounded ICE agents and delayed their arrest of an immigrant mother. In Nashville, an ICE arrest was prevented by angry neighbors. There are many other examples of community intervention: in San Diego, Minneapolis. San Francisco, Huntington Park, Waltham, Los Angeles and many other places.

JHISN has been talking among ourselves about the likely arrival of large-scale ICE attacks in our neighborhoods in the near future, and how to respond. We don’t think we can rely on the midterm elections, or wait and hope that Trumpian fascism will fall apart on its own. Legal and legislative attempts at the national, state and city levels to try to rein in ICE are important, but not sufficient. JHISN believes there has to be a local response by local residents, showing our opposition and outrage at attacks on immigrants, and countering ICE’s secret police outrages. We must do our best to make ICE a pariah.

 We consider our 550 newsletter subscribers to be an informal local network of people in solidarity with immigrants. What role can we play in resisting ICE? Would you like to be informed when ICE shows up on our streets? Would you be interested in reporting ICE’s presence to the whole neighborhood? Would you be part of a rapid response network to protest and defend immigrant neighbors threatened with deportation? We’d very much like to hear your thoughts…to share information with us, please complete our short survey.

WHAT CAN WE DO?
  • Complete the JHISN survey and add your thoughts to our community’s insight on resisting ICE actions in our neighborhood.

 

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 08/23/2025

Posted on August 23, 2025 by - News, Newsletter

Dear friends,

When this week a six-year-old child attending P.S. 89 in Queens is deported to Ecuador; when this week a US Court of Appeals upholds the cancellation of Temporary Protective Status (TPS) for many of our Nepali neighbors; when this week a reported 40% of the arrests so far in the Trump regime’s hostile takeover of Washington, DC, are undocumented immigrants—it can feel like immigrant justice is an impossible dream. 

But. This week, we bring you stories of the organized resistance of everyday people in Los Angeles to ICE raids and federal government terrorizing of immigrants, with an eye towards the near future of resistance we might organize here in Queens. We also take a deeper dive into Documented, an ambitious, vibrant NYC digital media organization bringing community journalism (in multiple languages) to immigrant issues and audiences. 

Newsletter highlights:
  1. Resisting ICE violence from LA to JH
  2. Documented: New York’s immigrant-focused digital news hub

1. Los Angeles, Manhattan…and Queens?

The Trump regime is following through on its promise to unleash ICE thugs on sanctuary cities and “the core of the Democrat Power Center.” But mass deportation is taking different forms in NYC and LA—and so is the resistance by immigrants and their supporters.

In NYC, ICE has concentrated its efforts on kidnapping immigrants—more than 2,600 people so far—when they show up for scheduled immigration hearings at the courthouses in Federal Plaza in Manhattan. Recent reports indicate that ICE no longer even bothers to check asylum-seekers’ legal status: people are being detained, separated from their families and held under horrifying conditions even when a judge has continued their case and assigned it a future hearing.

Immigrant justice activists in our city are pushing back on several fronts. Lawyers are filing for remote appearances (by video) instead of in person. Citizen residents are going to Federal Plaza to bear witness and to accompany immigrants. A recent legal victory by the ACLU, Make the Road NY, and other groups has succeeded in slowing down the arrests, at least temporarily. There are daily demonstrations in Federal Plaza, some of which include civil disobedience. Yet many immigrants are deciding not to show up for their scheduled hearings, even though that means they will definitely be subject to a deportation order.

3,000 miles away in Southern California, ICE has focused its attacks on immigrants at workplaces, and especially at day labor pickup sites. They’ve unleashed swarms of militarized agents without warrants who don’t even pretend to search for specific individuals. Instead they chase down and detain whole groups of workers who “look Latino”—racial profiling in its boldest form. These ugly raid spectacles have more public visibility than the indoor arrests at NYC’s Federal Plaza. Partly for that reason, they have caused widespread mass revulsion and political backlash in Southern California. Most state and local politicians have spoken out strongly against the raids; LA Mayor Karen Bass has called for ICE to end its “reign of terror” in the city. A lawsuit to stop warrantless arrests of Latinos in Los Angeles has had early success.

At street level, key leadership of the resistance in Southern California has come from the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON), a 24-year-old worker center with extensive community and national presence. (New Immigrant Community Empowerment in Jackson Heights is a member of their national network.) In the LA area, NDLON often draws on Mexican cultural and political traditions to rally its members and supporters. It sponsors a band, Los Jornaleros del Norte, who play highly danceable protest songs denouncing ICE and promoting the dignity of Latino immigrant labor. In the wake of an ICE raid, NDLON’s large flatbed truck, with Los Jornaleros del Norte performing on board, may drive slowly down the street. Dozens or hundreds of residents come out of their houses and follow—marching, dancing, waving protest signs and Mexican flags—to demand an end to ICE brutality towards workers and the community.

Along with other groups such as Unión del Barrio, NDLON tracks ICE activities and shows up to try to disrupt ICE attacks. The group also participates in anti-ICE lawsuits, and raises money from the wider community to assist families of arrested immigrants as well as street vendors unable to work because of the threat of deportation. NDLON sponsors lively demonstrations, block parties and street festivals with anti-ICE themes, and organizes supporters to “adopt a day labor corner.” They regularly take to Instagram and other social media to uphold day laborers as pillars of the community and to denounce ICE’s racism, violence, and disrespect for all residents. NDLON seems to be growing in influence in Southern California, as they provide focus for the anger and resistance of ever wider parts of the population.

NDLON is central to a national campaign and series of boycotts against Home Depot, the giant chain of construction supply stores where many day laborers assemble to find work, and where many large-scale raids have taken place. Anti-Home Depot actions have been endorsed by some 50 progressive organizations, and are happening in multiple locations including New Jersey and Westchester. Demonstrators demand that the corporation keep ICE out of their parking lots unless they can show a judicial warrant, and they call on Home Depot to give financial restitution to workers who are detained in mass raids. 

The example of NDLON and other energetic resistance forces in Southern California provokes the question of how mass community street support can be mobilized here in Queens, which includes so many immigrants and their family members, friends and supporters. Circumstances are clearly different here. ICE’s current NYC arrests have a lower public profile, and have mostly been carried out in Manhattan, even when targeting Queens residents. There are many different immigrant nationalities in our neighborhood, each with specific urgent issues to address, speaking a variety of languages. We have no local umbrella organization of immigrants and supporters, nor, obviously, is there a single musical group that can help galvanize street protest.

But we’re pretty sure that it’s only a matter of time until ICE expands its attacks on our local streets. And we believe that there are thousands of local residents, including many of our readers, who oppose their fascist agenda. Is there a way for the diverse grassroots immigrant-led organizations here to unite, to support each other for mutual benefit, and to begin to rally the whole community behind them on the streets? Will we come out of our homes together to protest and confront ICE? Answers to those questions will prove crucial over the next months and years.

WHAT CAN WE DO?
  • Follow National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON) on social media to learn about the tactics, activities, media and arguments they employ in Southern California and nationally.
  • Donate to or volunteer with NICE, our local affiliate of the NDLON.

2. Documented’s Digital Media: NYC Community Journalism With, And For, Immigrants  

“I have long dreamed that New York immigrants should have such media. Finally, you young media people with talent, conscience, and sense of responsibility have done it.”  —message posted to Documented’s WeChat community (translated from Chinese)

We are excited to encourage readers to explore Documented, an award-winning, independent NYC-based digital media non-profit that generates immigration news daily. With a long-term vision of producing more and better coverage of immigrant issues, they have transformed how that news is produced. This summer, Documented joined with four other immigrant news organizations nationwide to found the Immigrant News Coalition, dedicated to news that reflects immigrants’ experiences and responds to their needs. Since 2020, over 150 ethnic media newsrooms have closed down, so the Coalition’s commitment to sustainable, skilled, well-funded “immigrant-centric” news media is especially critical. 

Community journalism is at the heart of Documented’s commitment to respond to, as well as report on, immigrant concerns. Documented’s community correspondents are part of their communities of coverage. They conduct audience/reader research and design new digital media products that engage with community members (online and in-person), using that engagement to generate investigative stories and news insights. In 2022-23, community correspondents at Documented conducted audience research with NYC’s Chinese and Caribbean immigrant communities, then innovated two new digital platforms to serve those communities in their own languages. With a $2 million grant from the Knight Foundation, Documented is building curricula and training for other news media to develop “community-driven reporting” and expand audiences nationwide.

This week in Jackson Heights, Documented and New Immigrant Community Empowerment (NICE) co-organized an Education Resource Fair on 35th Ave. School supply giveaways, medical screenings, and activities for kids targeted both parents and students, aiming to support a successful start to the new school year. Live events like the Fair are an integral part of Documented’s community engagement; in 2024, they hosted in-person events involving 600 New Yorkers across three boroughs, building “trust with the people behind the news.”

Launched in 2018, Documented has altered the landscape and ecosystem of immigration news in New York City, offering a robust range of news stories and resources over multiple digital platforms, and in multiple languages (Spanish, English, French, Chinese, and Haitian Creole):

  • WhatsApp Documented Semanal—Their Spanish-language WhatsApp channel, started in 2019, serves weekly news to thousands of NYC immigrants, many undocumented. The channel is a two-way bridge as immigrant audiences can inform Documented’s journalism by asking questions, posting insights, and sharing information. Documented Semanal also hosts Q&A sessions where subscribers can text questions to ‘experts’ including immigration lawyers, diplomats, and professors.
  • WeChat community—Their Chinese-language WeChat community (named ‘New York Immigrant Chronicle’), started in 2023, serves NYC’s Chinese immigrants, most of whom receive their news via the WeChat platform.
  • Nextdoor newspage—Research indicated that over 30% of Caribbean residents actively use Nextdoor as their communication platform. So Documented created a Nextdoor presence to bring community-driven news to them. “[W]e are bringing onto this platform—where people usually talk about their lost cat…—serious news content sparking a new kind of conversation,” writes Documented’s Caribbean communities correspondent.
  • Documented.Info—Created in partnership with the International Rescue Committee (IRC), this web-based project offers trusted and regularly updated information about a rich range of “actionable resources” re: immigrant housing, education, legal support, deportation and ICE, jobs, health, and more. An extensive Service Map marks locations and gives descriptions of hundreds of NYC sites/resources.  

These innovative digital media projects are in addition to the in-depth reporting that regularly flows from Documented’s ambitious newsroom. In this month alone, they published stories on how Chinese-American voters in South Brooklyn view Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral campaign; Mayor Adams’ veto of a City Council bill that would decriminalize street vending and protect vendors from deportation based on a “criminal” record for selling without a permit; a federal judge’s Temporary Restraining Order in response to the ACLU’s class action lawsuit against inhumane conditions at 26 Federal Plaza where ICE is detaining immigrants; and rallies and resistance in Queens to the cancellation of Temporary Protective Status (TPS) for hundreds of thousands of US residents. Such a vital, vibrant news organization has earned our support, and the best support you can offer is to read and share Documented’s ongoing experiments in community journalism. 

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 06/28/2025

Posted on June 28, 2025 by - News, Newsletter

Dear friends,

The recent primary election of Zohran Mamdani as the Democratic party candidate for New York City Mayor was a defeat for the tired ideas, negativity, and Trump-lite style of divisiveness of Andrew Cuomo’s campaign. During his victory speech, Mamdani spoke of how the power of the Mayor can be used to “reject Donald Trump’s fascism, to stop masked ICE agents from deporting our neighbors and to govern our city as a model for the Democratic Party.” 

Our first article examines a possible national turning point as New Yorkers pit themselves against inhumane immigration enforcement being wielded against families and neighbors. We follow with an article about the decision to suddenly strip thousands of Nepali immigrants in Queens and beyond of their legal status in the US, and how the local group Adhikaar continues to be a strong voice against the drastic changes being made to the TPS program.

Newsletter highlights:
  1. Immigration Court Deportations Provoke Outrage 
  2. Local Nepali TPS Holders Suddenly Stripped of Legal Status   

 

 Copyright Stephanie Keith

1. Is NYC’s Federal Plaza struggle a turning point?

The Trump regime’s mass deportation campaign has arrived in New York City, and its spearhead is the deception and abduction of peaceful residents at the immigration courts in Federal Plaza. The Department of Homeland Security is blindsiding immigrants attending supposedly routine appointments by suddenly dismissing their cases. This unusual legal maneuver is meant to short-circuit the due process protections that immigrants normally retain as they petition for asylum or other legal status. In many cases, court dismissal exposes immigrants to “expedited removal”. The immigrants most at risk of immediate deportation are those who have been in the US for less than two years. This includes more than 900,000 people who entered the US with explicit government permission using Biden’s mobile app and appointment program, CBP One. (Trump’s DHS has twisted it into a self-deportation app called CBP Home.) 

What’s happening in the immigration courthouses in Federal Plaza is essentially an ambush. DHS picks out vulnerable immigrants, and the courts instruct them to come in for what seem like normal check-in appointments. Immigration “judges” (who are employees of the federal Department of Justice) are instructed to dismiss cases as soon as the government lawyer makes the request, without allowing the usual two-week time period for a legal response. Swarms of masked ICE agents, prepped with lists and photographs of their targets, lurk in the hallways to handcuff immigrants (including an 11th grader from Queens) and take them away to detention.

Abducted immigrants are jammed into crowded bedless holding cells, bathrooms, and offices inside the Federal Plaza buildings. They are reportedly forced to sleep on the floor or while sitting upright, denied showers, changes of clothes, medical care, communication with their families, legal representation or proper food for days before being transferred to immigration jails. Although members of congress have the legal right to inspect immigration detention facilities, ICE has denied US representatives access to the Federal Plaza holding areas, claiming they are “sensitive transit zones.”

Immigrants who are quick to overcome shock, fear, and language barriers, who are prepared in advance, or who are fortunate enough to have legal counsel with them, can sometimes avoid or delay expedited removal. They are advised by advocates to object immediately to the unexpected dismissal of their case, making it clear that they reserve the right to appeal the decision. They are counseled to say that they are afraid of returning to their country, to request asylum, and to request a fear interview. But as a fact sheet from the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project makes clear, it can be difficult to prevent expedited removal, depending on the judge, the timing, and other circumstances, including the availability of community support.

The brutal ICE arrests of law-abiding immigrants in NYC, along with parallel workplace and street raids in Los Angeles, have set off a wave of public revulsion and militant protest. They have further exposed the dishonest premises and cruelty of mass deportation, and in particular demonstrated how broadly it affects all residents.

Most New York families include at least one immigrant. About 40% of NYC residents were born outside the US. One million New Yorkers live in a household that includes an undocumented person. To Trump and Stephen Miller, that makes the city look like a target-rich environment for mass deportation. But for millions of immigrant residents, and millions more who care about them, the spectacle of masked Homeland Security thugs tricking, arresting and brutalizing law-abiding immigrants attending scheduled check-ins is galvanizing. The current demonstrations outside immigration courthouses include many highly motivated family members, intent on protecting their loved ones. Concern over ICE arrests has radiated outward in concentric circles, drawing in friends, neighbors, teachers, activists and ultimately, even mainstream politicians like Kathy Hochul and Jerome Nadler. Ordinary NYC residents and city officials like Comptroller Brad Lander are showing up at immigration courts to accompany endangered people out of the building and pass out legal advice leaflets.

The press, including the New York Times, The City, and other outlets, has played a key role in raising awareness of ICE’s deception and abduction of immigrants at Federal Plaza. Special mention must go to Documented, a non-profit newsroom reporting “with and for immigrant communities,” which appears in English, Spanish, Chinese, and Haitian Creole. Their intensive coverage took an inside track when their reporters argued and pressured their way into the Ted Weiss Federal Building, where surprise immigration court arrests were happening. The result was vivid firsthand testimony, including a series of stunning photographs by photojournalist Stephanie Keith, often showing the actual moment of ICE arrests. One striking feature of the photographs is the manifest dignity of the abducted immigrants, some of whom stare directly at their captors with resolute anger as they realize what’s been done to them.

There is some evidence that national sentiment is shifting towards immigrants. As recently as January, a disturbing Times/Ipsos poll had found that 55% of Americans supported Trump’s call for mass deportation of every undocumented person in the US.  But two recent polls, The Economist/YouGov poll, taken June 13-16, and a June 11 Quinnipiac Poll, show that a majority of residents now oppose Trump’s handling of immigration. This is a modest but significant turnaround on what has been considered the president’s strongest issue.

In the meantime, Mahmoud Khalil and other immigrants kidnapped by ICE as retribution for their political views have been released by judges. Kilmar Abrego Garcia, still under indictment, has at least been returned to the US after he was “disappeared” into a Salvadoran gulag. Employers are pleading with the Trump regime to stop rounding up their most valuable workers, as whole towns become ghost zones. A recent series of national demonstrations, totaling roughly 4-6 million people, rebuked mass deportation and authoritarianism. And there are other signs of growing opposition to Trump’s attacks on immigrants in the interior of the country.

But it’s too soon to say what will happen. Is the political battle at Federal Plaza part of a turn towards immigrant justice? Or is it a launch pad for further authoritarian escalation?

WHAT CAN WE DO?

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2. TPS Abruptly Cancelled for Nepali Immigrants

April 2015—A catastrophic earthquake hits Nepal, killing over 8,000 Nepalis and damaging infrastructure throughout the country.   June 2015—The US government grants Temporary Protective Status (TPS) to 15,000 Nepali immigrants. TPS is a humanitarian program allowing people from designated nations to live and work legally in the US when returning to their home country is too dangerous due to war, natural disaster, or other extraordinary circumstances.  2018—The Trump administration attempts to terminate TPS for Nepalis but is challenged in federal court, and the Department of Homeland Security rescinds its termination efforts.  2020-2024—TPS is extended at regular intervals for Nepalis.  June 5, 2025—The Trump administration announces the cancellation of TPS for Nepalis.

Of the estimated 12,700 Nepalis whose legal status is now threatened by the Trump regime’s abrupt revocation of their TPS protections this month, several thousand are neighbors, workers, and community members here in Woodside and Central Queens. Adhikaar, our local women-led immigrant justice organization serving the Nepali-speaking community, played a significant role in keeping TPS in place for Nepalis in 2019 and again in 2023. Now, in June of 2025, they once again commit to that same cause: “The Trump administration has turned its back on Nepali TPS holders. But we will not back down. Adhikaar condemns this cruel decision and stands with our community—fighting for dignity, justice, and the right to stay.” Despite DHS claims to the contrary, Nepal continues to suffer aftereffects of the 2015 disaster. The country remains weakened by catastrophic flooding, fragile infrastructure, and the ongoing socio-economic costs of climate damage.

While DHS historically grants a six-month window between the announcement of a TPS revocation and the end of legal protections, the DHS announcement on June 5, 2025, gives only 60 days: by midnight on August 5, 2025, all Nepali TPS holders are required to ‘self-deport,’ in the words of DHS.  

Together with recent TPS revocations for Cameroon, Afghanistan, Haiti, and Venezuela, the termination of TPS for Nepal follows a pattern of federal actions targeting immigrants of color, especially working-class immigrants from the Global South. The Trump regime’s cancellation of this humanitarian program—established by Congress in 1990 with bipartisan support—affecting hundreds of thousands of TPS holders, joins up with mass deportations, the proposed hyperfunding of ICE, and new restrictions on and dismissal of asylum claims as an emerging architecture of fascist anti-immigrant policies in the US. 

The termination of TPS designations for Cameroon and Afghanistan is being challenged in court, and a ruling is expected soon on a separate legal challenge to the termination of TPS for Haiti. But there is yet no known legal action against the cancellation of TPS for Nepal.

The removal of TPS protections for Nepalis coincides with the Trump State Department’s suspension of interview appointments for new student visas. For 8,000 Nepali students approved for study in the US this year, this demands a drastic reorientation of their education plans; many are instead now seeking to travel to Canada, Japan, Australia or the UK for their university education.  

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 05/03/2025

Posted on May 3, 2025 by - News, Newsletter

Dear friends,

The sidewalks are bursting with people, 37th Avenue in Jackson Heights is filled with immigrant workers, mothers, babies in strollers, fathers with sons and daughters in tow, grandmas, teenagers … It is May Day 2006, organized under the banner ‘A Day Without An Immigrant.’ Millions of immigrants and their allies take to the streets in massive demonstrations across the US with a show of strength and solidarity, standing up against legislation threatening undocumented communities and calling for comprehensive immigration reform. 

Almost two decades later, it can feel hard to remember that moment of power and promise.

But May Day 2025 in New York saw immigrant justice movements in the streets again, this time arm in arm with movements for Palestine liberation, union labor, democratic process, and an end to billionaire oligarchy. As our first article highlights, both locally and nationally we see immigrant struggles actively making links with other mobilizations for freedom and justice. Collaborative politics in response to authoritarian threats is one strategic way forward.

Our second article turns to the small carceral island floating between Queens and the Bronx. We look at Rikers Island and efforts to overturn the hard-won victory of getting ICE out of Rikers. Mayor Adams and his new buddies at DHS are trying to re-open ICE deportation operations at Rikers. People are fighting back.  

Newsletter highlights:
  1. Joining hands across issues: immigrant justice makes allies
  2. ICE returns to Rikers Isle? Not so fast

1. Allies at the Intersections

“The regime’s actions are designed to spread fear, break apart communities, and discourage public dissent. However, we have a clear message for the Trump regime: We refuse to be silent as our communities are criminalized and our freedoms are eroded.” —Solidarity Pledge (2025)

In recent months JHISN members have attended meetings hosted at DRUM (Desis Rising Up & Moving) headquarters near Diversity Plaza. The monthly event is the newest program that the South Asian and Indo-Caribbean immigrant rights group has created to bring allies in to join their work. Each meeting is built on the important work DRUM has forged over 25 years—upcoming discussions will have participants talking about what kinds of meaningful collaborative work can be done locally by a group of allies. 

On April 18, the Elmhurst-based group Centro Corona hosted an event, open to the entire community, and shared the zine project they worked on in partnership with Red Canary Song (RCS):

“Despite organizing distinct communities, RCS and Centro Corona quickly learned we have common enemies, as well as a shared rage and grief about the injustice we experience in the world, and thus we are in deeply interlinked struggle.” —Bodies Not Borders zine (April 2025)

Over recent weeks, this collaborative approach has been seen at a larger scale through the massive national protests against the authoritarianism of the second Trump administration. JHISN walked next to DRUM and New York Communities for Change during Manhattan’s April 19 Earth Day March, where organizations fighting cuts in environmental protections marched with organizations confronting Trump’s anti-immigrant policies. The shared demands that day included:

  • ICE Out of New York. Stop collaborating with ICE and protect our immigrant communities. New York must remain a sanctuary for all.
  • New York Out of Fossil Fuels. Commit to a rapid, just transition to 100% renewable energy. No new fossil fuel infrastructure, and divest from fossil fuels now.
  • Release Mahmoud Khalil, Rümeysa Öztürk, Mohsen Mahdawi and cease targeting student protesters.
  • Release Kilmar Abrego Garcia and cease the targeting of all immigrant communities regardless of status.

Prior to Earth Day, on April 5, the national march named HandsOff 50501 (50 protests, 50 states, 1 movement) gathered together tens of thousands of people protesting multiple issues including demands to Resist Fascism, Free Mahmoud Khalil, Takedown Tesla, Protest for Democracy, March for the Arts, and Dance for Democracy. The organizers provided printable signs for people to demand the Republicans take their hands off our bodies, civil rights, union contracts, veteran services, scientific research, immigrants, free speech, LGBTQ+ rights, and more, and more, and more. We saw this again at the 50501-supported May Day Strong rallies across the nation demanding “a world where every family has housing, healthcare, fair wages, union protection, and safety—regardless of race, zip code, or immigration status.” Our local immigration advocacy group Make The Road NY was a critical participant in the NYC May Day Strong rally in Foley Square, and DRUM also had a vibrant contingent in the march from Foley to Battery Park.

This intersection of groups with different concerns and interests joining together is crucial for building power and will be key to changing the social narrative about immigration and immigrants. The importance of coming together was highlighted just three days before Trump’s return to office when a cohort of immigrant rights groups launched the solidarity pledge. Those who already signed the pledge are currently working on another action for Friday, May 23, and building support with other groups to create the event. 

There are also plans for later this year, in November, when RaceForward will convene in St. Louis, Missouri. Their Just Narratives event will be the anchor to a Cultural Week of Action on Race and Democracy which includes elevating the voices of immigrants along with other groups. If they can do it in Missouri, and they can do it in Wisconsin, then in Jackson Heights we can definitely come together with local groups DRUM, Make the Road NY, Adhikaar, Centro Corona, NICE, Damayan, Asian Americans for Equality, Queens Neighborhood United, Voces Latinas, and Chhaya CDC to create our own intersectional action that combats the right-wing’s intersectionality of hate. You too can join groups together and Build the Resistance with us. 

WHAT CAN WE DO?

2. At Rikers, a Battle for the Soul of the City

Rikers Island, our down-the-street neighbor, is a place where all the evils of New York City are concentrated. As City Council Member Tiffany Cabán declares, it is “a hellhole, a torture dungeon, a death chamber, a modern-day slave plantation, a site of relentless suffering and terror in every direction.” Perhaps it is fitting that Rikers is now the focus of a major struggle pitting New York as a sanctuary city against the Trump regime’s program of mass deportation.

It was Mayor Bloomberg who first approved the establishment of an ICE office at Rikers, in 2003. Although he often bragged about New York as a city of immigrants, Bloomberg was a supporter of the Criminal Alien Program (CAP), set up to deport immigrant arrestees. CAP claims to focus on immigrants with serious criminal backgrounds. But once embedded in jails and prisons, the program simply deports as many incarcerated immigrants as it can. The American Immigration Council notes: “DHS statistics show that a large percentage of immigrants apprehended under CAP are not criminals at all. An October 2009 DHS report found that 57 percent of immigrants identified through CAP in fiscal 2009 had no criminal convictions, up from 53 percent in fiscal 2008.”

At Rikers, The NY Post reports that “up to 15 agents worked closely with Department of Corrections staff, and could monitor inmates and issue detainer orders for [undocumented] immigrants on their radar.” As described by the ACLU, the results of CAP back then were devastating:

“Between 2004 and 2009, more than 13,000 inmates at Rikers Island were placed into deportation proceedings as a result of the Criminal Alien Program. According to numerous reports, inmates often don’t know that they are speaking with federal agents, understand that they could be placed into deportation proceedings as a result of the information they share, or realize that they may refuse to consent to an interview.”

A fierce 5-year campaign by the ICE Out of Rikers coalition, led by Make the Road New York, succeeded in convincing the City Council and Mayor de Blasio to limit ICE’s access to inmates, and ultimately to adopt legislation removing ICE from the island. Now, exactly ten years later, the Adams administration is trying to get ICE back in, using a legally questionable executive order. The carefully written order promises that ICE will not “engage in civil immigration enforcement” at Rikers—something explicitly forbidden by NYC sanctuary law—but will merely “assist” the Department of Correction in various “criminal investigations.”

The City Council quickly filed suit against the mayor’s executive order, charging that it is a transparent attempt to undermine the law by giving ICE access to information about immigrants’ status and location. They also allege that it is part of a “corrupt bargain” that Adams made with the Trump administration to get federal indictments against him dismissed. The Council notes that the mayor announced his plan to invite ICE to Rikers the same day he met with Trump’s border chief, Thomas Homan. Council Speaker Adrienne Adams remarked that “we are filing this lawsuit to halt his illegal order that he shamelessly previewed on the Fox News couch with Tom Homan.” Daniel Kornstein, attorney for the Council, promised to subpoena Homan to make him testify about the deal with Adams.

The Council”s lawsuit has kept ICE out of Rikers so far. At a hearing on April 25, Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Mary Rosado issued a restraining order preventing any changes until a formal hearing can be scheduled to resolve the issue.

Homan and Mayor Adams surely know that the vast majority of those held in city jails are not there because they were convicted of a serious offense. For instance, as of Friday, April 27, out of 7,345 people incarcerated by NYC  (mostly at Rikers), fewer than 800 have been found guilty and are actually serving sentences. 5,362 inmates are in pretrial detention. It is a deep injustice that many of these people find themselves imprisoned for years under terrifying conditions simply because their families can’t afford bail.

Under current law, right or wrong, the city already cooperates with ICE to facilitate the deportation of undocumented immigrants convicted of “violent or serious felonies”—177 offenses in all. But hundreds of people are being held at Rikers on suspicion of illegal drug possession and other nonviolent offenses. Crucially, many current inmates will be found innocent. Yet for Eric Adams, “innocent until proven guilty” doesn’t apply to non-citizens. He thinks that simply being suspected of an offense makes a person automatically a criminal—especially if they are a working class immigrant.

“City law prohibits ICE from operating on Rikers for good reason. When ICE had access to the jail, they used it to surveil, intimidate, and conduct uncounseled interviews in an inherently coercive setting; allowing them to extract admissions about nationality and immigration status, and then using those statements to justify detention and deportation …. That is why New York City passed sanctuary laws—not to grant special privileges, but to impose basic legal protections of due process in a system that otherwise offers none.” —Bronx Defenders

WHAT CAN WE DO?
  • Consider donating to a bail fund to help people await trial with their families, in dignity.
  • Help the Bronx Defenders represent low-income people in the justice system. 

 

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.