Tag: New York City

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 06/27/2026

Posted on June 27, 2026 by - News, Newsletter

Dear friends, 

When good immigration news is hard to find, we look harder. The notorious Alligator Alcatraz detention camp in Florida is fully shut down as of this week, less than a year after it opened with sadistic fanfare from Trump’s minions. We hope, with many of you, that the expansion of Mayor Mamdani’s political power with this week’s primary victories will strengthen a pro-immigrant, anti-authoritarian agenda. And a Trump lawsuit targeting four NJ cities for allegedly “unconstitutional” sanctuary policies was just tossed out by a federal judge.

But the bad news is really terrible. Thursday’s Supreme Court ruling that allows the federal government to continue stripping Temporary Protective Status (TPS) from hundreds of thousands of US residents is a nightmare. Most immediately, 350,000 Haitians and 6,000 Syrians are now facing the reality of losing their TPS legal status by July 1—a loss that will affect everyone who is their neighbor, co-worker, healthcare patient, or friend.   

Our newsletter covers some of the mixed good/ bad immigration news out of this year’s NYS legislative session, which ended in early June. We then update you on the ongoing legal campaigns—and harassment—of two high-profile international students from Columbia University targeted for deportation.

Newsletter highlights:
  1. NY State Legislature gestures toward immigrant protections
  2. Deportation threats to Mohsen Mahdawi and Mahmoud Khalil

1. Latest NY State Legislation Falls Short On Immigrant Protection

On May 21, NYS Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie noted that the 2026-27 state fiscal budget includes legislative provisions, signed by the governor, that protect our neighbors throughout New York from aggressive federal immigration enforcement. He suggested that local governments will be prohibited from collaborating with federal immigration enforcement officers and private detention facilities. He highlighted provisions that “will protect children in their schools and establish sensitive locations within our communities.” The official press release received endorsements from various elected officials, including Queens Assembly Member Catalina Cruz.

The perspective of immigrant justice supporters of the New York For All Act—proposed legislation which was never brought to a vote in the state legislature—was markedly different. The multi-organization coalition advocating for New York For All said, “The lack of political courage and moral leadership in Albany – and the failure to take a bold stand in the face of rising xenophobia – means that New York’s immigrant communities will continue to live with the threat that any encounter with government agencies can result in separation from their families.” 

The New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) outlined some of the Enacted Budget’s key elements, explaining which protections were included or fell short:

  • State and local employees may not gather information about immigration status, and cannot share personal data of NY residents with ICE…but the police are excluded from this restriction.
  • “Sensitive locations,” including hospitals, churches, and private homes, can deny entry to ICE agents. 
  • The right to free public education for children, regardless of the family’s immigration status, was established.
  • State and local agencies may not rent space to ICE for immigration detention nor financially support immigration detention facilities.
  • New Yorkers can sue local, state, and federal officials in state court when their constitutional rights are violated using the newly established Office of Immigrant Trust.

Republicans claim that these new protections mean that “New York is now a sanctuary state on steroids.” But there are, in fact, at least three significant elements missing from the new budget that progressive forces had fought for. First, although the formal 287(g) agreements that allow local governments to work with ICE (previously signed by twelve New York law enforcement agencies) were banned in New York, informal collusion between local police and immigration enforcement was not prohibited—that was called for in the New York For All Act. Murad Awawdeh, Executive Director of the New York Immigration Coalition, noted, “The legislative package falls short of offering comprehensive protections by continuing to permit informal law enforcement collusion with ICE and Border Patrol.”

Second, state-funded counsel for immigrants facing deportation, part of the Access to Representation and the BUILD Act, was not included in the budget package. Although some money was secured for immigrant legal services, it was less than half of the $175 million called for by immigrant advocates.

Finally, the new measures banning face coverings for state, local, and federal officers in New York still allow for “tactical equipment” that covers faces.  Even with this legal loophole permitting ICE to deploy with tactical face masks, the federal government initiated a lawsuit against New York four days before the face mask ban was scheduled to go into effect. The Department of Justice has also initiated legal action against New Jersey, California, and Virginia, which sought similar mask restrictions. 

The New York Bar has explained why many of the items demanded and signed into law do not violate federal laws about police power and preemption. None of those explanations will stop the threats from Homeland Security to conduct an ICE surge in NYC. Passing the entire New York For All Act would help strengthen legal action against the overreach and violations of basic rights by ICE and border patrol federal agents.

WHAT CAN WE DO?

2. Deportation Threat Ongoing for Palestinian Student-Activists at Columbia University

 “[T]he administration is abusing immigration law to silence me for speaking the truth about Palestinian suffering and genocide. When a government weaponizes immigration to punish speech, millions of immigrants and citizens feel that blow.” —Mohsen Mahdawi (June 10, 2026)

In Spring of 2025, Mohsen Mahdawi and Mahmoud Khalil, both Columbia University students, became two of the most prominent faces of international student-activists targeted for their Palestine solidarity work. The newly-installed Trump regime quickly weaponized immigration law and accusations of antisemitism to incarcerate both young men in its broader campaign to silence and punish university-based mobilizations against the US-backed Israeli genocide in Gaza.

Both men are Palestinian. Khalil was born in a refugee camp in Syria; Mahdawi in a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank. Khalil is a graduate of Columbia’s prestigious School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA); Mahdawi is currently enrolled in the MA program at SIPA. Both are green card holders and legal US residents. Both were accused of nothing beyond the “memos” from Secretary of State Marco Rubio stating that their presence in the country might undermine US foreign policy goals. Both were eventually released from detention after public outcry and legal challenges. 

And … both are still threatened with deportation through legal proceedings pursued by the federal government, even as their names have faded from most headlines.

Their ongoing legal battles differ. An immigration judge in February 2026 ruled that the deportation case against Mohsen Mahdawi be dismissed. Trump’s DOJ fired that immigration judge (unlike other judges, immigration judges serve at the will of the federal government) and appealed the decision. The US Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) ruled that the deportation case could go forward, and Mohsen’s case went to a second immigration judge who this month issued an order of removal that would send Mohsen to Jordan. Nevertheless Mohsen remains in the US while his legal team challenges the deportation order in the First Circuit Court on constitutional grounds. Mohsen declared:

“… I’m going to cut to the core of this issue, which is an issue that is related to the First Amendment. Do I have, as a green card holder, as a lawful permanent resident for 12 years, never committed a crime — do I have the rights that actually the citizenship questionnaire that I get tested on states that I do … do I have the right to free speech, freedom of assembly and freedom of expression?” —on Democracy Now! (June 12, 2026)                                                              

Mahmoud Khalil’s case is on a different track, though he also is protected for now from a deportation removal order that has been set in motion. His legal team made a second appeal in May 2026 to the US Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) to dismiss the deportation case against him, after new revelations of government misconduct. The Trump regime is accused of “secretly engineering” the outcome of his case. The allegations of misconduct are corroborated by statements from former immigration judges, former BIA workers, and accumulating evidence that top government officials pressured judges to “decide” cases with predetermined outcomes in spotlight cases like Khalil’s, and to expedite deportation orders. One legal decision against Khalil was handed down by the BIA in a mysteriously speedy nine days. 

Meanwhile, a legal challenge in the Third Circuit Court of Appeals was decided in late May against Khalil, and a new challenge was immediately filed by his team in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which also separately requested a Supreme Court review of the Third Circuit decision. “We hope the Supreme Court will recognize how dangerous the Third Circuit’s decision was, not just for Mahmoud but for other non-citizens the administration has its vengeful sights upon,” said Baher Azmy, legal director at the Center for Constitutional Rights.

Regardless of the outcome of their cases, Mohsen and Mahmoud remain targets of merciless legal harassment through a federal government campaign to deport them—and to silence, repress, and frighten others who would speak out.  

Columbia University has to date made no public statements in support of Mohsen, a current student, or Mahmoud, a recent graduate. The University has been operating since July 2025 under an unprecedented “settlement”’ with the Trump regime, in which the University paid the government $221 million, and agreed to a set of institutional changes demanded by the federal government. One of those demands was that the University start asking all international applicants “questions designed to elicit their reasons for wishing to study in the United States.” Or, in the words of Marco Rubio, “we are not going to be importing activists into the United States.” 

WHAT CAN WE DO? 
  • Join the weekly vigil every Monday at 12pm near Columbia’s campus to protest DHS and ICE targeting of students, organized by CUIMC Stands Up.

 

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 02/28/2026

Posted on February 28, 2026 by - News, Newsletter

Dear friends, 

It has been a wild winter in New York City since our last newsletter, and we hope this finds you warm and well. Our previous newsletter also landed in your inbox the day, January 24, that Alex Pretti was murdered in the street by Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) in Minneapolis. Alex Pretti and Renée Nicole Good, both US citizens, join six immigrants who died in ICE custody in January—Luis Gustavo Núñez Cáceres, Geraldo Lunas Campos, Víctor Manuel Díaz, Parady La, Luis Beltrán Yáñez-Cruz, and Heber Sánchez Domínguez—to make January 2026 a dreadful, deadly start to this new year of mass deportations.  

Today’s newsletter looks at the ongoing campaign to pass NYS legislation, the NY4All Act, that would strengthen protections for immigrants in the face of federal government attacks. Our second article reflects on how local sanctuary policies can help defend against the many border transgressions the Trump regime carries out in its selective “border war” against immigration.

Newsletter highlights:
  1. New York for All legislation: Can the New York State Assembly stand up?
  2. Protecting the borders we need: Local sanctuary against ICE incursions.

1. Pass NY4All Act Now, Or NY Will Have Normalized the Trump/Miller Agenda

“Silence is complicity. Inaction is complicity. We have the tools to protect our immigrant communities and we must use them. Federal immigration enforcement is cruel, chaotic, and unconstitutional. New York will not be complicit.” —Kristen Gonzalez, NY State Senator.

A February campaign by the NYCLU stated: “Pass the New York for All Act. Fight back against Trump’s mass deportation agenda and protect immigrant communities in New York.” That was back in 2020. The NY4All Act, if passed, would have prohibited the use of New York’s local and state resources to support federal immigration enforcement. That could have helped us stand in the courts with more challenges to the escalating inhumanity of the US deportation operations. The campaigns documented the social and economic benefits we would gain if New York’s communities did not cooperate with ICE. But no legislative action was taken.

Throughout the last six years, the cruelty of the detention and deportation machine has increased. Advocates like the New York Immigration Coalition, Make The Road New York, The Bronx Defenders, the Immigrant Defense Project, labor unions, the Association of Legal Advocates and Attorneys, and many other groups have continued to lobby Albany. They all demand the passage of the New York for All Act. In February 2025, NY legislators even reintroduced the Act because the guidance from NYC’s then-mayor Eric Adams was legally confusing. But no legislative action was taken.

On January 12, 2026, after the murder of Renee Good by ICE agents in Minneapolis, a NY For All: March For The Disappeared rally took place in Albany. Advocates returned once again to the state capitol on January 26–just days after the ICE murder of Alex Pretti–to demand passage of NY4All. Then, at the end of last month, Governor Kathy Hochul suddenly proposed her own Local Cops, Local Crimes Act. The purpose of Hochul’s act is to end the ‘weaponization’ of local police against their own communities by banning the 287(g) agreements that require them to cooperate with ICE. Even though many organizations, like the Asian American Federation, support this as a first step, the overwhelming preference of all groups is to pass the more substantial NY4All Act. 

There is concern that Hochul’s proposal might, in fact, preempt the NY4All Act and its more robust protections. As Assemblymember Dr. Anna Kelles pointed out, the 287(g) agreements that Hochul focused on are just one of the many proposals in the NY for All Act. Missing from Hochul’s proposal are additional safeguards, “designed to prevent immigration enforcement from happening through routine questioning, record keeping, database practices, probation operations, and behind-the-scenes information sharing.”

In addition to the NY4All Act, there are even more legislative proposals that Albany can pass to protect NY residents:

These many proposals are ready for the legislature to pass: let us demand our elected officials do more than just create media bites opposing ICE and, instead, take legislative action to protect our communities. A new proposal was even added this month, by Westchester’s State Senator Shelley Mayer, to prohibit ICE from gaining access to schools without a judicial order. The NYCLU, with the New York for All Coalition, published a press release urging Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart‑Cousins to work with the NY4All bill’s sponsors. One of the sponsors of the original 2020 New York for All Act said she had no explanation for why state Democrats have not pushed to vote on the bill:

“There is no reason to delay its passage any longer. As lawmakers, we have an obligation to not just speak out, but to actually pass legislation that will protect our immigrant communities.” —Julie Salazar, State Senator.

WHAT CAN WE DO?

2. Sanctuary Keeps Us Safe: The Borders in Our Backyards

On a recent Saturday afternoon, you may have seen them on 37th Avenue or Northern Boulevard: neighbors out in front of local TD Banks, flyering. You may have taken a flyer in English, or Urdu, or Spanish, or Hindi or Chinese or Bangla. You may have gone into the TD Bank, as the flyer suggests, to complain to a manager about TD Bank allowing ICE to use their parking lot on Northern as a staging area for harassing and arresting neighbors in Jackson Heights, Corona, and Elmhurst.

The Trump regime’s mass deportation campaign—hyperfunded by citizens’ and immigrants’ tax dollars—is violating a whole lot of borders as they escalate their border wars against migration. The border between local private property and federal un/lawful operations is transgressed when ICE or CBP (Customs and Border Patrol) uses TD Bank or Home Depot property to launch the targeting and arrests of community members. The border between municipal policing and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agents’ activities is violated when the federal government tries to coerce local police to participate in federal enforcement. (Governor Hochul, as reported above, has recently proposed legislation that would bar NYS police from cooperating with ICE).

Most profoundly, the border between targeting crime—of so-called “illegal” aliens—and systematically committing crimes is blown up when Trump’s ICE/ CBP minions engage in breaking and entering, jailing people who are never charged with a crime, murdering US citizens, and illegally holding thousands of US residents in detention deemed unlawful by US courts.

What is at stake in this reckless violation of borders between private and public, local policing and federal persecution, or fighting crime and carrying out crimes? The politics of state terror and generalized fear require that none of us feel there is refuge or a reliable haven from arbitrary, even fatal, federal government violence. A key reason that sanctuary laws are under attack by this federal government is precisely because they promise refuge from government harassment, surveillance, and targeting.

Sanctuary laws, including in New York City, try to affirm and regulate the border between community safety and federal immigration enforcement. Drawing on the power and sovereignty granted by the Tenth Amendment of the US Constitution, local jurisdictions argue that sanctuary laws protect immigrant witnesses and victims of crime, and encourage all of us to participate in police and judicial processes without fear. While there is a wide range of sanctuary policies across different cities, counties, and states, almost all are aimed at promoting economic vibrancy and public safety within local communities, preventing local or state agencies from sharing protected data about citizenship status with the federal government, and allowing local or state governments to determine their own priorities and resource allocations. None of the policies actively prevent federal immigration authorities from carrying out their lawful operations.

Now the Trump regime is challenging sanctuary cities and states in the courts. Why? To stomp across the borders that we have drawn around community safety and immigrant solidarity. The DOJ dragged New York City into court in July 2025, and just last week New Jersey was sued by the DOJ for its sanctuary policies. 

This week, NY’s Attorney General filed an amicus brief defending New York City’s laws, stating, “Our city was built by immigrants, and this administration’s attempts to overturn local laws that protect them are unjust and unconstitutional.” On February 6, Mayor Mamdani signed an executive order strengthening the city’s sanctuary policies, requiring city agencies to comply with all relevant laws, and prohibiting ICE from entering city properties (schools, hospitals, shelters) without a judicial warrant.

“We keep us safe.” Let’s protect the borders between public assault and private space, between local jurisdiction and federal overkill. Between community safety and authoritarian threat.

WHAT CAN WE DO?

  • Support Jackson Heights Indivisible’s (JHI) email campaign asking TD Bank to not allow ICE staging operations in its parking lot. Email TD Bank at CustomerAdvocacyandInsights@td.com or Thomas.Rigg@td.com
  • Check JHI’s public calendar for local immigrant solidarity actions.
  • Attend NYIC’s Neighborhood Defense / KYR training at LaGuardia Community College on March 17 from 12 – 1:30 pm

 

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.