Tag: New York Immigration Coalition

JHISN Newsletter 09/28/2024

Posted on September 28, 2024 by - News, Newsletter

Dear friends,

As racist targeting of immigrants of color intensifies across the US, immigrant justice leaders are pushing back. In Ohio, the Haitian Bridge Alliance has filed criminal charges against Trump and JD Vance for their incendiary lies about Haitian immigrants living and working in Springfield. And NDLON (National Day Laborer Organizing Network) has just released an Instagram video debunking false narratives about recent migrant arrivals that promote hatred, and fracture solidarity between immigrant communities.

We join the call for pro-immigrant popular education with an article that helps us more accurately perceive the ‘statistics’ on the number of undocumented immigrants in the US. Then we look at the Republican-fueled nightmare in Springfield, with an eye for how the threat of expanding fascism—targeting immigrants and other historically marginalized people—has arrived.  

Newsletter highlights:
  1. Confronting the Fear of Big Numbers: Counting Undocumented Immigrants
  2. Fascism in Uniform Marches on Springfield

 

1. A simpler approach to undocumented population counts

Recent attention has focused on Ohio and the ridiculous social media lies amplified by Trump during the presidential debate. Republicans became hyper-obsessed about Haitians living in Ohio, who are legally present through the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program. In Ohio, almost 13,000 people have TPS approval, or just one-tenth of one percent of the state’s entire population. Yet to Ohio Senator J.D. Vance, this minuscule population represents a “terrible tragedy” for the people in his state.

This Ohio situation exemplifies the difficulty of accurately visualizing any large numbers describing immigrants. It is easy for politicians and the corporate media to utter worrisome-sounding numbers in the millions because such numbers have no practical meaning in the human mind.

Republicans have leveraged that impracticality to argue that the number of people here with, and without, ‘authorization’ is massively large and a threat. Although there are bipartisan differences around immigration issues, the Democrats have also embraced the perceived ‘threat’ of immigrants, as outlined in their recently proposed and failed border bill.

When discussing unauthorized immigrants, things get murkier due to difficult data. Since 1996 the federal government has published official estimates—these have been challenged as a dramatic undercount. There are statistics shared by organizations that conduct research about immigrants—these can conflict based on the organization’s bias. There are public data sets such as Syracuse University’s TRAC Data which allow anyone to delve into the data—these require an understanding of how to analyze numbers. All data sources take effort to find, read, and understand. The numbers spewed by Donald Trump, or Tucker Carlson, are easy, simplistic, and wrong. 

But, sometimes simplification can help us understand reality.

Instead of looking at large numbers, we can ask the following question: how many people are there in the US for each undocumented immigrant? State population data, Pew research on immigrants, and an infographic from a large data analyst company offers a simple answer: in the US there is just one undocumented immigrant for every 65 people. That may initially sound like lots of unauthorized people until we realize that 1 in 10 is just 10% of the population; 1 in 20 is only 5%; 1 in 30 is merely 3.3%. So 1 in 65 is a paltry 1.5% of the entire population. Republicans are telling 98.5% of the country to worry that this tiny group is a massive threat to the nation’s very being. As the regional and state populations differ, it is interesting to see how the answer to this question changes based on each location we look at.

  • We can compare Ohio, where there are 91 people for each unauthorized individual (1.2%), with New York State which has 30 people per unauthorized individual (3.3%).
  • Throughout the four states that border Mexico, we find there is one undocumented person for every 28 people. That is only 3.6% of the California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas populations combined.
  • In the 16 states that have a land or water border with Canada, the number changes to 1 in 89 people. That is slightly more than 1% of all those state populations combined.
  • Of the 14 states that border only with another US state, it averages to 1 in 77 people. Just 1.3%.
  • For the 16 remaining states, with an ocean border, the numbers change to just 1 in 44. That is only 2.4% of those populations.

The simplified number also tells a story about states traditionally voting for a Republican or Democrat presidential candidate and the 7 swing states in the coming 2024 election. In the 25 typically Republican states we see 1 unauthorized person in 81 (1.2%); that becomes 1 in 40 for the 18 typically Democrat states (2.5%); and the 7 swing states come in at 1 undocumented immigrant out of 48 (2.1%).

If people in critical swing states can see these more straightforward numbers, they may come to understand that the lies Trump, Vance, and many others obsessively make about Americans being replaced and endangered by ‘illegal’ immigrants are not substantiated by the data. With that knowledge, they can vote with understanding, not unfounded fear.

2. Then they came for the Haitians…

Our August 17 newsletter argued that Donald Trump’s demand for mass deportation was on the cutting edge of a rising fascist movement that is beginning to move into the mainstream of US politics. Now the ongoing racist political attack on documented Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, makes it clear that this poison is spreading fast. 

Most of the basic ugly facts of the Springfield situation are well reported: The baldfaced lies by Trump and Vance alleging that Haitians are eating other residents’ pets, bomb threats that paralyzed the city, requests by Catholic bishops and government officials, including the Republican governor, for Trump and Vance to stop the damaging falsehoods and threats. We have learned from mainstream media that Trump has doubled down on his plan to deport Haitians in Springfield on Day One if he gets elected (despite the fact they have federally-registered TPS protections), promising that this would kick off a mass deportation campaign that, he warns, will be “bloody.”

One thing that has been less widely reported is the story of the Weber family—a story that happened on the sidelines of the national news. What happened to the Webers is frightening and damaging. But it also exemplifies how anti-immigrant hate, and especially hate towards Black migrants, quickly mutates beyond the issue of immigration, opening the door to an increase in fascist activism that targets all marginalized groups, regardless of immigration status. 

Chelsea Shirk Weber told the Dayton Jewish Observer that she, her husband, and their 4-year-old daughter went to a Jazz and Blues Fest in downtown Springfield on August 10. As they were leaving, they saw a squad of the neo-Nazi group Blood Tribe marching in formation, complete with red uniforms, swastika flags and automatic weapons. Hearing people yelling and other loud noises, the family moved swiftly to their car. But as the Webers tried to drive away in traffic, they and other motorists were surrounded by four Blood Tribe members who pointed rifles at their cars. There were no police visible nearby. “Go back to f-ing Africa,” the fascists yelled. Chelsea’s husband accelerated, running a red light to get away.

Blood Tribe claims credit for creating and spreading the rumor about Haitian migrants eating pets, starting their online campaign months ago. They consider it a victory that the Trump campaign (and 53% of Trump supporters) have adopted their lies. 

Photo Credit: Chelsea Shirk Weber

Weber took a photograph of some of the fascists—the image above. When she posted it on the Facebook pages of Springfield and of Clark County, there was a massive pile-on by right-wing commenters who either supported Blood Tribe or alleged that the photo was fake. Soon Weber’s post was taken down. Five minutes later, the City of Springfield posted a bland statement expressing “concern” about an outside hate group that had been in town. The mayor, Rob Rue, was quoted as saying that “Nothing happened, except they expressed their First Amendment rights. Our Police Division was aware and in control the entire time.”

Weber does not agree:

“”It was just completely disappointing that the government said, ‘Oh, they’re just exercising their First Amendment right and they did no harm.’ Tell that to my 4-year-old, who is completely traumatized. I’m 37 and I was scared s—less. How do you explain it to a 4-year-old?’ The Observer provided Police Chief Elliott with a transcript of Weber’s interview. Despite repeated attempts to reach out to Elliott for a follow-up interview, she declined to comment.” —Dayton Jewish Observer, 8/22/24

The Springfield events demonstrate how Blood Tribe and other other fascists like the Proud Boys and the KKK are using racist attacks on immigrants and calls for mass deportation to raise their public profile, recruit, and normalize their full program of hate against people of color, women, LGBT people, Jews and leftists. And the concentration camps the fascists hope to build for millions of undocumented people are intended for many other perceived enemies as well.

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 08/31/2024

Posted on August 31, 2024 by - News, Newsletter

Dear friends,

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

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

1. For NYC Street Vendors, the Struggle Continues

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2. Political Action: Using All the Levers

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

In solidarity and with collective care,

Jackson Heights Immigrant Solidarity Network (JHISN)

 

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

 

 

JHISN Newsletter 08/17/2024

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. 

JHISN Newsletter 09/23/2023

Posted on September 23, 2023 by - News, Newsletter

Dear friends, 

As the seasons turn, we turn again to addressing one of the most pressing issues of immigrant justice here in New York City: the arrival of over 100,000 recent migrants looking for housing, employment, and a livable future. Like you, we have had to wade through corporate media stories and the cynical moves of the Mayor, to try to understand what is happening. The story we offer here refuses to see an “emergency” for New York, and focuses instead on the politics and history of immigration that call for a 21st-century reckoning. We end with an extended “WHAT CAN WE DO?” section to help readers navigate the current moment.

Crisis Theater

Adams Says Migrant Crisis “Will Destroy New York City”—New York Times, 9/7/23

Neo-Nazi Blog Daily Stormer Praises Adams’ “Insight”—Alternet, 9/8/23

Restaurant Owner Drove Car Into Men at Brooklyn Migrant Shelter—Gothamist, 9/12/23

Suing. Heckling. Cursing. N.Y.C. Protests Against Migrants Escalate—New York Times, 9/15/23

In this moment of panic and crisis—manufactured and real—we offer a few facts to help maintain a sense of proportion and historical context:

  • Between 1900 and 1914, an average of 1,900 immigrants a day came through Ellis Island. In 1907 alone, almost 1.3 million immigrants entered New York Harbor. No special papers or permissions were required for entry, just ID documents. Most people were processed in one day, often in just a couple of hours. They were eligible to work immediately.
  • About a quarter of Ellis Island immigrants settled for good in the New York metropolitan area—several hundred thousand new residents, year after year. (Back then, New York City’s population was roughly half the size it is today.) These immigrants are often credited with helping the city become an economic powerhouse.
  • Between 1996 and 2001, an average of 111,828 immigrants a year came to live in New York City.
  • Since early 2022, about 449,000 Ukrainian refugees fleeing Russia’s invasion have entered the US, causing minimal social disruption. Tens of thousands of them have settled in NYC.
  • Warsaw, Poland, a city of just 1.8 million, has processed 800,000 refugees since Russia invaded Ukraine. Those who decided to remain in Warsaw—about 170,000 people—are mostly sheltering in private homes with Polish families, who receive compensation from the government.

The arrival of 110,000 asylum seekers over the past 16 months is not actually a crisis for our city. NYC is one of the wealthiest places in the world and has certainly accommodated larger numbers of migrants. Modest adjustments to our regressive tax system—ending tax breaks for the wealthy—could guarantee decent housing and social services for all New Yorkers, including its newest residents. Instead, Mayor Adams has taken the opportunity to demand drastic cutbacks in city services, while blaming everybody else: the state, the federal government, the press, and immigrants themselves. He trapped asylum seekers on the pavement outside the Roosevelt Hotel in sweltering heat for no good reason other than ramping up panic.

What we are witnessing is crisis theater, manufactured by Eric Adams and other political representatives of disaster capitalism. They see the arrival of buses from Texas full of exhausted asylum seekers as a golden opportunity to undermine the right to shelter, slash the city’s budget, and set working-class people against each other to fight over whatever’s left. They would rather profit from chaos, division, and austerity than ask billionaires to pay reasonable taxes.

As Adams surely expected, his “asylum crisis” discourse has been seized on and amplified by the radical Right. Their propaganda machine celebrates Adams’ confirmation of the “danger” migrants pose to the city. They use his blame game as justification for their own favorite talking points: that asylum seeker men are a threat to “our” children, and that progressive Democrats are just scheming to gain new immigrant voters. 

And so Adams’ fake crisis theater has now contributed to a very real crisis: the growth of a fascist movement. The mayor has opened the door to their racism and xenophobia in order to gain more room to maneuver politically and to ingratiate himself with NYC’s billionaire elite. Texas governor and migrant kidnapper Greg Abbott must be laughing out loud at the spectacle; he couldn’t have hoped for a better result.

Unfortunately, putting a right-wing target on the backs of immigrants to boost political careers has a long history in New York. In Ellis Island days, there was organized backlash against Catholics and Jews, who were transforming what had been an overwhelmingly Protestant city. Anti-immigrant politicians demonized working-class “foreigners” who they considered “less than civilized and less than white.” (Ironically, Curtis Sliwa, today’s grotesque anti-immigrant provocateur, has Polish and Italian Catholic family roots.)

Across the US, the Right and the politicians of the corporate elite are using a human tragedy—people forced to flee their homes—as an expedient excuse for cutting social programs, dividing our communities, and militarizing our streets. It’s disgraceful that Adams, Hochul, and other New York politicians are joining in. This immoral and cynical demonization of migrants must stop. JHISN welcomes asylum seekers, and sees the struggle for their rights and dignity as a fight for the soul of our city. We reject the “asylum crisis” narrative spun by scapegoaters, budget slashers, and sensationalist media. And we call on New Yorkers to unite behind the grassroots immigrant justice organizations that are on the front lines of this struggle.

WHAT CAN WE DO? – SUPPORT FOR ASYLUM SEEKERS

As the images and news reports about the new migrant arrivals proliferate, caring New Yorkers are wondering how they can be of assistance. We offer this list of names and contact information of four organizations happy to accept your help and mutual aid.

1. South Bronx Mutual Aid   646-598-3526

Urgently needs volunteer translation services to help communication with migrants.

WHAT YOU CAN DONATE
  •  Hygiene products and toiletries like deodorant, toothpaste, and toothbrushes.
  •  New and used clean clothing for men, particularly in small and medium sizes.
  •  New socks and underwear for men.
  •  Baby diapers.
  •  Money. Use this website to donate directly.

Contact organizers to arrange donations of goods, which can be mailed to: PO Box 216, Bronx, NY 10464. Please contact South Bronx Mutual Aid before sending any items in the mail.

2. Team TLC infoteamtlcnyc@gmail.com

Team TLC runs the Little Shop of Kindness on 12 West 40th St. inside the Ukrainian Seventh-Day Adventist Center at Bryant Park. Donations can be delivered there on Mondays 1– 4 pm, and from Tuesday to Friday 9 am – 3 pm.

WHAT YOU CAN DONATE
  • Men’s clothing, specifically men’s pants in small and medium sizes. There is no need for women’s clothing at the moment.
  • Clothes for school-aged children. No infant or baby clothing.
  •  New or used shoes, like sneakers and walking shoes.
  •  Financial donations directly to Team TLC’s website.

3. African Communities Together (ACT)    347-746-2281

Call or email to arrange drop-offs of donations. ACT does not accept clothing donations.

WHAT YOU CAN DONATE
  •  Money, which can be donated directly through the group’s website.
  •  Items for “care packages” made up of nonperishable food, hygiene products, toothbrushes, deodorant, and lotion.

4. New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC)   212-627-2227   info@nyic.org

NYIC does not accept donations, but will direct you to other organizations that do.

However, if you have more time available, NYIC will soon host weekly “Key to the City” resource fairs on weekdays to help immigrants and low-income workers enroll in school, access city services, find health care, manage their immigration cases, and more.

Volunteers can fill out the online application to help the fairs by:

  • Signing people in.
  • Setting up tables and cleaning up at the end of the fairs.
  • Staffing tables.

To provide pro bono legal work, email the contact above.

 

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 08/12/2023

Posted on August 12, 2023 by - News, Newsletter

Dear friends,

We continue to highlight the extraordinary story unfolding before our eyes in summer 2023: the arrival of almost 100,000 new migrants to the city in the past 16 months. The economic, environmental, and humanitarian crises driving migration at this historical moment are hard to grasp, much less resolve. We offer a detailed update on the housing scarcity issue faced by recent migrants in NYC in particular.

And as summer again brings catastrophic fires and flooding to many sites around the globe, we focus on the struggles of Pakistani immigrants and students in the US. With Pakistan still badly damaged by last summer’s unprecedented floods, local activists are helping to lead the campaign to legally protect Pakistanis from being sent back to a disaster zone.

Note: the JHISN newsletter is also available in Spanish on our website. Share the link!

Newsletter highlights:
  1. Housing justice for new migrants in NYC
  2. DRUM fights to secure protections for Pakistanis in US

1. The Continuing NYC Housing Emergency for Asylum Seekers

“New Yorkers need more permanent housing, not more temporary shelters and HERRCs [Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Centers]” –Murad Awawdeh, Executive Director of the New York Immigration Coalition

Despite the dramatic media images of recent asylum seekers lying outside shelters on the sidewalks of NYC, it is unlikely the Biden administration will take immediate action to implement change. Top aides have said a Congressional solution is needed to deal with the situation—the influx of over 95,000 migrants to the city since last spring. A recent meeting of New York Senators, House Democrats, and the Department of Homeland Security’s Alexander Mayorkas resulted in a decision to simply appoint a liaison to the city rather than to solve the problem. It is also uncertain if NY State will choose to intervene given its failure to date in converting underutilized commercial spaces into residences for people in need—in the What Can We Do? section below you can join us to help influence Governor Hochul to take action. 

Although FEMA allocated over $100 million to help accommodate migrants sent to NYC from other states, Mayor Adams has said the city has not received the money. The city continues to leverage expensive hotel spaces as locations to house migrants and often faces opposition to alternative locations for new relief centers, especially when they involve expensive tent-based solutions rather than permanent housing. Our newsletter readers will recall that tent structures were, at great expense, created at both Orchard Beach and Randall’s Island in the early stages of this crisis and shut down after a few weeks. 

Back in 2022, the Citizen Housing Planning Council published a Housing Plan for a City of Immigrants. Highlighting that immigration has always been a driving force for the growth and success of NYC, the plan also stated that public policy has deprived immigrant communities of equal access to opportunity and quality of life. Not only have the Housing plan’s goals not been realized, but we see the continuing deprivation: an emergency court hearing had to be held at the end of July when Mayor Adams moved to suspend the law requiring NYC to provide shelter for all. Three weeks ago, after pushback on that suspension, Adams altered the regulation to require migrants without families to either move out of shelters or reapply after 60 days in the relief system. The Commissioner of NYC Emergency Management reported that of the 1,400 single asylum seekers who received notice to exit the system, 65% indicated their desire to leave the shelter system for a permanent housing solution. 

The cost of housing asylum seekers in hotel accommodations has prompted Mayor Adams to suggest other city services should be cut, including “library hours, meals for senior citizens, re-entry programming for Rikers Island prisoners, and free, full-day care for three-year-olds.” The expense has also highlighted issues such as the minimal use of union hotels, and the fact that hotels are being paid at a much higher room rate than tourists would be expected to pay. Controversy has also arisen over the fact that the amount of money spent daily to house immigrants is 33% to 100% greater than the amount spent on daily programs for the homeless. As City Comptroller Brad Lander has noted, “It is a feature of emergency procurement that you pay through the nose.”

Our borough of Queens is at the center of recent resistance to building temporary shelters for new migrants. Councilwoman Joann Ariola, in South Queens, announced her opposition to a tent structure plan at the Aqueduct Racetrack by stating the site was “off the table” during a rally outside the property on July 17. When news spread that another tent shelter might be built at the Creedmoor Psychiatric Center, elected officials of East Queens led a rally in opposition to the plan. Many electeds focused on why the location would not be good for asylum seekers and the inhumane situation caused by no air-conditioning, no heat, and no nearby transit options. But, on August 8th, a more angry rally to oppose the Creedmoor tent shelter showed that many protesters were not concerned with the plight of migrants. Waiving signs proclaiming “Americans over Migrants,” “Close the Border,” “Send them back,” and “Protect our Children,” their “Save Our Neighborhood” and “No Tent City” signs were clearly exhorting their opposition to any migrants being moved into our neighborhoods. Fortunately, there were pro-immigrant activists in the crowd standing against their vitriol. 

While there are many discussions about the problems, the issues, the challenges, and the costs of services to support new immigrants, there has yet to be a significant advance in what actually happens to better this situation. Anti-immigrant voices will use anything to speak against border crossings, the Mayor will try to find legal support to end the city’s legal guarantee of a right to shelter, and the action plans for what will happen to migrants after they have been in the shelter system for 60 days and must leave, or reapply, are nowhere to be found.

WHAT CAN WE DO?

2. DRUM’S Campaign for TPS and SSR for Pakistan

In 2022, catastrophic flooding in Pakistan followed after the worst monsoon season in 62 years. One-third of the country was underwater. Lives, homes, crops, and livestock were lost. International media provided information about the immediate effects of the floods, but in 2023 have paid little or no attention to the ongoing situation in Pakistan.

DRUM (Desis Rising UP and Moving), the Jackson Heights-based immigrant justice group, is paying attention. In December 2022 Fahd Ahmed, Executive Director of DRUM, met with Pakistan’s Foreign Minister asking him to make a formal request to the US government for TPS/SSR, explaining how that would benefit the 50,000 undocumented Pakistanis living in the US. 

And on July 27, DRUM organized a Zoom meeting and invited elected officials and journalists to learn about the current situation in Pakistan and support the campaign to get Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and Special Student Relief (SSR) for Pakistan. Currently, two million people in Pakistan have damaged homes, millions are affected because fields are still flooded so crops can’t be planted and food prices are soaring, and many roads are damaged making interior areas inaccessible. TPS and SSR are necessary supports in the wake of such a major disaster.  

Speakers on July 27 included Dr. Alia Haider, a renowned Pakistani activist and health practitioner; Fatima Razzaq, a well-known Pakistani activist and investigative journalist; Representative Sheila Jackson Lee, Chief Deputy Whip in US Congress and Chairwoman of the Pakistani Caucus; Rasa Gillani, a Pakistani student at NYU; and Shahana Hanif, NY City Councilwoman from the 39th district and the first Muslim woman on the Council; as well as Abdul Qayum, an undocumented Pakistani who has lived and worked in NYC for 33 years.

Mr. Gillani, the NYU student, pointed out that he has a stipend and permission to work, but he sends half of what he makes to his family in Pakistan. If SSR were authorized, he would be able to work more hours and provide more support  to his family.

 Councilwoman Hanif stated that New York City has the largest population of Pakistanis in the US. Many of them are undocumented and so face the possibility of deportation. The current situation in Pakistan makes it impossible for people to return and live safely in Pakistan.

Representative Jackson Lee has proposed House Resolution 23 to grant TPS and SSR for Pakistan so that people already here can be protected from deportation and have permission to work. And in November 2022 more than 140 groups wrote to President Biden, Secretary Majorkas, and Secretary Anthony Blinken to grant these protections. 

WHAT WE CAN 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 06/10/2023

Posted on June 10, 2023 by - News, Newsletter

Dear friends,

As the denizens of our city begin to breathe freely once more after the wind changed and the wildfire smoke dissipated, the climate problems highlight for us once more the challenge for immigrants in the service industry. Although everyone was advised to shelter at home for a few days, immigrant delivery workers kept working outside when the city’s air quality was the worst in the world on Wednesday. Despite the health advisories, delivery workers across all five boroughs could not afford to miss a day of work in the record-breaking harmful open air. Just as the Adams administration is struggling to create rulings that bring a fair wage to delivery workers, it is likewise struggling to aid the thousands of new immigrants being brought to the city by bus and plane, seeking asylum–our newsletter today highlights the problems facing the city in meeting our right-to-shelter requirements.

Our City Struggles to Aid Arriving Migrants

“Asylum seekers and the rest of the unhoused population of NYC need permanent housing – they do not belong in jails.”—Murad Awawdeh, Executive Director of New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC)

Ever since busses of immigrants arrived in NYC, coming from Southern States–as a political stunt designed to challenge Sanctuary Cities’ humanitarian approach to immigration–the city has been struggling to find the best way to house and support the new asylum seekers. No one doubted there would be costs and difficulties. No one denies that supporting those fleeing their countries is challenging work. Both city government and Immigrant aid organizations have been stretched thin supporting the people who have traveled for months to claim asylum in the USA. 

Showing the scope of the challenge, Queens-based New Immigrant Community Empowerment (NICE) has been assisting about 1,000 newcomers each month. Executive Director Nilbia Coyote noted NICE has run out of space and there are not enough staff to provide help. Artists Athletes Activists, led by Power Malu, supports migrants who arrive at New York airports. Malu noted the organization spends about $30,000 every month, from private donations, to transport these asylum seekers to shelters and intake centers. But the city will not provide vans, buses, or reimbursement to help. In the same way the Republican governors bussing migrants North have blamed the Democrats for encouraging people to flock to the border, Mayor Adams’ staff have blamed activist groups for luring migrants to fly in with false promises of support.

A major positive force for new immigrants is New York’s right-to-shelter law. Established in 1981 in the case of Callahan vs. Carey, it requires the city to provide housing to all. Last month Mayor Adams asked a judge to reconsider the law because the scope of support required is not what was ever imagined at the time of the lawsuit. One of the lawyers who worked on the case over 40 years ago, Robert Hayes, said the effort to change the policy was cowardly and shameful.

The NYIC posted a number of articles in May showing an escalation of issues related to the right-to-shelter law. They discuss the plans to use upstate hotels as well as the restraining orders intended to prevent Adams from bussing asylum seekers to Orange County. There are also proposals to house people at Medgar Evers and York Colleges, the YMCA at Park Slope’s Armory, and a rec center in Staten Island. Additionally, there are thoughts to use an airfield in Jamaica Bay, a Post Office overflow warehouse at JFK, The Lincoln Correctional Facility just north of Central Park, and to leverage Rikers Island jail as possible places to house the newcomers.

Mayor Adams announced the importance of being “upfront that New York City cannot single-handedly provide care to everyone crossing our border.” In addition to the various housing plans that he and Governor Kathy Hochul have been considering, is a demand for the federal government to expedite work permits so the 70,000 newly arrived immigrants can fill about 10,000 open positions in farm work and food services.

While Adams says he is willing to consider all options, including the use of prisons, others like Manhattan Council Member Carlina Rivera believe it is “alarming to talk about using jail facilities for people who have not committed a crime,” pointing out there would not be flexibility for people to leave the island for work or appointments. Power Malu says these temporary locations are not worth the effort when finding empty apartments would be more effective. The short-term locations that have been used, like a police academy gym in Manhattan, keep the lights on all night and offer showers that give no privacy. The Lincoln Correctional Facility, which had been closed since 2019, was in use for a few days and then the plumbing broke and a number of people were relocated to Buffalo.

Over the last months, the city has been in conversation with the New York Disaster Interfaith Services (NYDIS) about a 2-year housing support contract. In conjunction with Project Hospitality and Interfaith Center of New York, NYDIS circulated a form to the city’s religious organizations to determine if their facilities are eligible to serve as a shelter. Catholic activist Félix Cepeda believes churches are better placed to provide refuge and there could be potential to use their properties…for a price. The cost is cheaper than standard shelter costs, but the spaces will only operate for 12 hours a day, so the NYDIS is also being contracted to provide day services. $35,000 will be paid per month to house 1,000 single men at 50 houses of worship throughout the city. Some financial help will come from FEMA as Congress has indicated they will assign $105 million to the NYC efforts to support migrants.

The entire process reveals the full range of approaches people have about dealing with the situation. From those who issue executive orders to block local hotels from housing asylum seekers to those who believe their communities are richer thanks to immigrants. Yvonne Griffin of Citizen Action New York believes for example that “Syracuse might not be a wealthy city, but we know how to look out for each other, and I know we can do the same for people seeking asylum”.

“[W]e should be saying, what can we, as a community, do to help? How can we pool together our resources to ensure those seeking refuge don’t have to keep running for their lives? How can we leverage what we have here to bring more resources into the community to help these individuals? And in the end, what do we need to do to treat these individuals with the dignity they deserve?”–Sal Curran, Volunteer Lawyers Project of CNY, Inc. 

What Can We Do?

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.