Tag: Mass Deportation

JHISN Newsletter 07/26/2025

Posted on July 26, 2025 by - News, Newsletter

Dear friends,

Like many of you, we find ourselves at risk of being overwhelmed every week, sometimes daily, by immigration news. Much of it bad and some of it almost unbelievable. We continue to publish our monthly newsletter with a local focus whenever we can—looking at both the forces aligning against immigrant lives, and those allied with solidarity, resistance, and community-based care. None of it makes any sense without you, our readers, taking this news and acting when and where you can, for immigrant justice and power. Thank you for continuing to read the newsletter—and for using it as a tool in our common struggle.

Today’s issue takes on systematic wage theft—disproportionately experienced by immigrant workers—while highlighting how common it is in our own neighborhood. The newsletter also returns to the urgent issue of the Trump regime’s attempts to cancel Temporary Protective Status (TPS) for hundreds of thousands of legal immigrant US residents, including many in the Nepali community here in Queens.  

Newsletter highlights:
  1. Wage theft is all around us
  2. Temporary Protective Status (TPS) under assault: an update

1. Wage Theft is All Around Us

Wage theft is rampant in industries that employ large numbers of immigrant workers. These include agriculture, building maintenance, garment assembly, hotel, restaurant and food service, construction, nursing homes, nail salons, warehouses and car washes. Inequality.org states the obvious: “Undocumented workers are particularly vulnerable to wage theft as they are often the least likely to report violations due to fear of retaliation, job loss, or exposure of their immigration status.” This has become an even more pressing consideration as the terror of the Trump regime’s mass deportation accelerates.

The Center for Popular Democracy reports that “An estimated 2.1 million New Yorkers are victims of wage theft annually, cheated out of a cumulative $3.2 billion in wages and benefits.” Wage theft among New York City’s 300,000 low-wage workers is reported to be roughly $18.4 million per week. The widespread nature of wage theft in the state and city can be visualized by clicking on Documented’s Wage Theft Monitor. The Monitor is based on state and federal data acquired through Freedom of Information requests. It records thousands of final wage theft settlements—large and small, in every neighborhood—including hundreds of findings against businesses in our area. 

Examples of wage theft in Queens alone seem endless:

  • In 2020, Desis Rising Up and Moving (DRUM) organized a large protest outside Sona Chaandi, one of the largest jewelry stores on 74th Street. Demonstrators accused the owners of sexual harassment, as well as wage theft. Nargis, an immigrant DRUM member and former employee, told the rally that she was harassed, paid $50 to $75 for 10 hour days, and forced to take care of the owner’s elderly parent without pay. The Documented Wage Theft Monitor shows that Sona Chaandi was eventually ordered to pay $65,000 to two unnamed workers.
  • Some local eating and drinking establishments with immigrant work forces have faced large wage theft settlements. El Picosito Bar on Roosevelt was ordered to pay $237,621 to 10 workers a few years back. La Boina Roja Steakhouse was recently ordered by the state to pay $221,130 to 11 workers, according to the Wage Theft Monitor. National chain restaurants are also implicated. For instance, Chipotle on Northern Boulevard was ordered to reimburse 85 workers in a wage theft case filed in 2023.
  • In 2022, Attorney General Letitia James announced a settlement of more than $90,000 in favor of several Astoria laundry workers. The Laundry Workers Center, which primarily represents immigrant women of color, did the initial investigation on the case and pushed it to the AG’s office.
  • That same year, James also won a $130,000 settlement for two building superintendents in Flushing who were paid no wages at all—the owners had decided that a rent-free apartment would serve as their only compensation.
  • Last year, Make the Road New York was instrumental in publicizing and filing a disturbing wage theft complaint by Ecuadorian migrants at a tobacco packaging factory in Queens. Workers assert that they were paid about $4 an hour, working in sweatshop conditions 10-13 hours a day, seven days a week.
  • This summer, Assemblymember Shekar Krishnan took the lead in trying to terminate lucrative city contracts handed out to Griffin’s Landscaping, a firm accused of repeated wage theft and other illegal behavior.

Unfortunately, many ripped-off immigrant workers never get a legal settlement, or any kind of justice. Even those bold enough to file complaints with state or federal authorities face an uphill struggle. They may win their cases, which often take years, and yet the employer stalls, refuses to pay the judgement, hides, or declares bankruptcy.

“Hildalyn Colón Hernández, deputy director of New Immigrant Community Empowerment, a New York-based worker advocacy organization, said, ‘Employers are operating with no consequences’….Colón Hernández added that her organization now trains its employees on how to investigate wage theft because it would take too long if they had to rely on federal or state investigators to recover back wages.”  —ProPublica, 8/22/23

WHAT CAN WE DO?

2. The Impact of TPS Changes for NY

“The law is very clear that once the TPS extension has been granted, it cannot be taken away en masse. This is the first time in the 35-year history of the TPS statute that anyone’s ever tried to do that.” –Ahilan Arulanantham, co-director, Center for Immigration Law and Policy, UCLA School of Law

The Brookings Institute warned that Trump’s campaign promises targeting immigrants “would have disproportionate impacts on U.S. cities and urban areas, given that most foreign-born individuals live and work in these places.” Among US counties with undocumented populations, Queens is ranked the sixth-largest and has over three TPS holders per 1,000 people. (With a population of about 2,250,000, that amounts to over 6,750 TPS holders.) The Trump regime, led by Stephen Miller’s hard-line propaganda, aims to abruptly end TPS status for hundreds of thousands of US residents, which disproportionately threatens people living here in Queens and NYC.  

About 40% of the migrants who arrived in NY in 2022-23 came from Venezuela under TPS protections. New York City has the second-largest TPS-eligible Haitian population in the nation, which comprises about 3% of the city’s population. Among other TPS recipients, New York City also has the largest Honduran population and, residing in both Woodside and Jackson Heights is the second-largest Nepali migrant population in the country. Around Flushing and Kew Gardens, there is a large population of Afghan immigrants in Queens. 

These groups combined comprise 87,000 TPS holders in New York state who are specifically under threat from the questionable legal actions spearheaded by the Trump administration to strip their legal authorization to remain and work in the US, making them all detainable and deportable. The inappropriately named One Big Beautiful Bill, which barely received enough votes to become law, supplements these attacks by requiring higher fees for individuals to submit forms necessary to file in court to fight against potential deportation. The Showcase of Nepalis in New York (NepYork) published the full details of these cost increases. NepYork also reported on a recent NJ event organized to discuss increased deportation threats and the imminent termination of TPS for Nepalese immigrants. 

“TPS is ending on August 5 [for Nepal], and thousands of lives are hanging by a thread. We organized this not just because the law is changing, but because our families are suffering silently. Many don’t know their rights. Many are scared. We have organized this event to help them find a way and let them know they are not alone.” Dr. Bishnu Maya Pariyar, Program Director at Hudson S.P.E.A.K.S.

Pushback against TPS terminations includes Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen’s SECURE Act, introduced last month along with 30 other senators. The bill would secure a pathway to permanent residency and is supported by numerous unions, CASA, the National TPS Alliance, and the National Network for Arab American Communities. Additionally, in February, the Dream and Promise Act was resubmitted—a bipartisan bill supported by nearly 200 representatives that would protect DACA recipients as well as TPS holders.  

On Monday, July 28, Queens Borough President Donovan Richards will hold a rally at 6:00 PM at Queens Borough Hall to support community members who are deeply affected by the terminations of Temporary Protected Status. Haitian-American City Councilmember Farah Louis has also spoken out against the efforts to end TPS. She notes that people fled their dangerous home countries, came here for a better life, they work for local businesses, and invest in the economy here—and now all that is about to be snatched away. Brad Lander, the NYC Comptroller, has published Protecting Our Neighbors, describing the humanitarian costs of cancelling TPS. His report also highlights the defunding by the Trump and Adams administrations of vital legal services used to protect over 1,800 children whose lives will be disrupted by this change.

Hundreds of thousands of TPS recipients, along with family members and supporters, await the outcome of the numerous challenges made in court by the National TPS Alliance, CASA, Haitian Americans United Inc., and the Haitian Evangelical Clergy Association as the clock ticks down towards deadlines that threaten to end their legal status. 

Country Designation Date Most Recent Action Expiration Date # Individuals
Afghanistan* May 20, 2022 Termination (5/13/25) July 14, 2025 11,700
Cameroon* June 7, 2022 Termination (6/4/25) August 4, 2025 5,200
Haiti* Jan. 21, 2010 Termination (7/1/25) Sept. 2, 2025 348,187
Honduras* Jan. 5, 1999 Termination (7/8/25) Sept. 8, 2025 72,000
Nicaragua* Jan. 5, 1999 Termination (7/8/25) Sept. 8, 2025 4,000
Nepal* June 24, 2015 Termination (6/6/25) August 5, 2025 12,700
Venezuela* Oct. 3, 2023 (re-designation) Termination (2/5/25) Not applicable 348,202

Table compiled by bhfs 7/22/2025
* Asterisks denote ongoing litigation 

WHAT CAN WE DO?
  • Local group DRUM has been organizing for 25 years and supports the Nepali population under threat from TPS terminations. Join their 25×25 campaign and have 25 of your own contacts donate $25 to support their work.
  • The National TPS alliance includes, among others, the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON), Adhikaar and the Haitian Bridge Alliance. If you are able, consider donating to any or all of these organizations.
  • Attend the rally this Monday, July 28, at 6pm at Queens Borough Hall to demand continued TPS protections for immigrant neighbors. 

 

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 08/17/2024

Posted on August 17, 2024 by - News, Newsletter

Dear friends, 

We greet you at an unexpected moment of hope, as Donald Trump’s grip on US politics shows signs of slipping. Today’s newsletter looks at two issues concerning migration that are central to Trump’s appeal, and also to the fate of progressive activism. Our first article confronts the national demand for mass deportation and its connection to fascism. Turning to local events, our second article explores the Adams administration’s callous treatment of asylum seekers and longtime residents at two large migrant shelters in Clinton Hill. Both stories highlight the need for unapologetic pro-immigrant politics that goes beyond the half-hearted, defensive posture of mainstream Democrats.

Newsletter highlights:
  1. Mainstreaming a fascist demand for mass deportation
  2. Mayor Adams fails migrants at Clinton Hill shelters

1. Poison in the Blood

“Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.” —Voltaire

In what may well be the most repulsive moment of an already ugly campaign season, thousands of Republican National Convention delegates in Milwaukee stamped their feet, waved pre-printed signs, and rhythmically chanted their desire for “Mass Deportation.” Disturbingly, according to an Axios/Harris poll, roughly half of the US population, including many Democrats, shares this sentiment. It’s hard to get past the shocking cruelty of this wave of hate. But we need to think about its causes and confront its implications in order to prepare for what may be coming.

Making mass deportation a topic of mainstream debate represents a victory for US fascists, who have for years promoted a  “Great Replacement” theory: the belief that corporate elites, supposedly led by Jews, are intent on replacing whites with non-white immigrants in order to destroy “the white nation.” But mass deportation is also the spearhead of a broader attack on all oppressed groups and all social justice struggles. What would life be like for those already subjected to state violence, hate crimes, and social discrimination, if the military, police and ICE squads roam the streets to carry out this atrocity? 

It’s evident that many of the people who demand mass deportation today don’t think of themselves as fascists. And many aren’t yet prepared to endorse mass deportation’s expense or practical implementation: troops in the streets, document checks, concentration camps, families torn apart. These things are still broadly unpopular. So at this point the mainstream demand for mass deportation has a certain rhetorical quality. As one pollster said, angry citizens are “sending a message.” Those Republican delegates in Milwaukee enjoyed chanting a transgressive fascist slogan, treating it as a threatening bluff against immigrants and condescending elites.

But it’s no bluff for the fascists, inside and outside the Republican Party. They are intent on seizing power and they have made specific plans for tracking down, arresting, and deporting up to 20 million immigrants. Now, they have managed to persuade half the population to give at least rhetorical support for what should be unthinkable. If the fascists take control, these compromised millions will be forced to confront the violent reality of their own hateful “Mass Deportation” slogan.

In a chilling echo of Adolf Hitler, Donald Trump says that immigrants are “poisoning the blood” of the US. But he is projecting. It is the white supremacy that he manipulates and embodies that poisons the blood of this country, enabling wave after wave of racial and religious hatred, genocide, and imperialism. This poison has now produced yet another spasm of mean-spirited nativism and a new rising fascist movement. We must challenge them both, directly and openly, before it’s too late.

2. Lack of City Services at Clinton Hill Migrant Shelters

“My team and I have been working on this for the better part of a year, we’ve poured all the resources and energy that we have that we can pour into it. But he’s [Mayor Adams] got more resources, and more staff, and also more answers than I do, frankly.”—Council Member Crystal Hudson (Brooklyn District 35)  

When busloads of asylum seekers and other migrants began arriving in New York City in 2022, Mayor Adams, under the requirements of NYC’s right to shelter, desperately sought places for them to stay. One chosen site was 47 Hall Street in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn. It opened in July 2023 without any public announcement or communication with local leaders. This multi-building complex, administered by NYC Health+Hospitals, came to house 3000 single adults and families within 8 months.

The shelter was a shock to local residents. Nevertheless, the neighborhood responded to the “massive unmet need” for basic personal items and winter coats, and donations soon arrived at PS/IS 157 to help newly arrived students and their parents. In contrast to this compassionate aid there were rising complaints about trash, noise, and loitering, especially near the playgrounds and basketball courts. Residents were not satisfied with the city’s response to their complaints.

Then, this April, the city opened another emergency migrant shelter one block away at 29 Ryerson Street with capacity for 700 people—again with no announcement. “We heard rumblings about it, but nobody was giving us information directly or at the community board meetings,” said a 20-year resident of Clinton Hill. Other neighbors complained about not being able to use the basketball courts or find space in the local laundromats. “When the city doesn’t provide the migrants with resources they need, like washing machines and open space, and it starts to affect resident resources, then I say there’s a problem,” said another local resident, Vernon Jones.

On June 17, NYC Council Member Crystal Hudson held a community meeting about the shelters. Some attendees accused her of ignoring the community’s complaints. In response, Hudson explained to the angry crowd that she had written an open letter to Mayor Adams on May 6 detailing the problems, her office’s response, and cited assistance from community groups such as BKLYN Combine, Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI), the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC), and One Love Community, as well as local businesses and residents.

The mayor argues, correctly, that the migrants need work permits. But they also need information about available services, especially mental health services and language support. Many of the recent arrivals are from West Africa, and speak languages like Wolof, Fula, and Bambara. Hudson said her office had contacted One Love Community Fridge, whose many African volunteers were able to provide translation and services to migrants in Clinton Hill, Fort Greene, Prospect Heights, and Crown Heights. 

The Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI) has been supporting migrants by providing clothing, personal care items, and a variety of training programs to residents of the Hall Street Shelter and the Stockton Street Respite Center in Bed-Stuy. Nekessa Opoti, communications director at BAJI, said many shelters like Hall Street are unequipped to support Black asylum seekers, especially those who have fled war, conflict, or political violence.

“Community organizations like BAJI have stepped in where both the city and state government have failed. Police, private security, and surveillance in these shelters cannot and do not provide culturally competent, trauma-informed care, such as health and mental health services, case management and community navigation for which direct-service organizations and mutual aid groups have stepped up to take on… ” 

On July 23, shortly after two shootings near the shelters, there was a large demonstration protesting the continued quality of life issues for permanent Clinton Hill residents, with signs saying “400 not 4000”. According to one 13-year resident on Hall Street, “A 200- to 400-person shelter is reasonable. We’re happy to have a shelter at the end of our block, it’s just the scale of it that doesn’t work.” The mayor responded at his press conference, “When they say move the shelter, my question to them is where? Which community should I move it in? Those who are already oversaturated? Or should we all share the burden of this.”

Although Adams refused to reduce the capacity of the shelters (currently at 3100 and 850), he increased the police presence at the shelters and added metal detectors at the Ryerson shelter.

New York Immigration Coalition president Murad Awawdeh commented:

“We have also been calling on the Mayor to stop warehousing vulnerable people in emergency shelters and begin moving people into permanent housing by expanding eligibility to CityFHEPS vouchers to New Yorkers regardless of immigration status, so they can truly put down roots and create self-sustaining lives here. The Mayor needs to stop investing in shortsighted costly non-solutions and start prioritizing community safety by investing in the resources people need to thrive.”

It is clear that along with physical shelter, recent migrants need city-supplied information about available resources such as free English classes, IDNYC cards, and subway information. This information is available in the Roosevelt Hotel, why not in Clinton Hill?

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.