Tag: NYC

JHISN Newsletter 10/26/2024

Posted on October 26, 2024 by - News, Newsletter

Dear friends,

As the US moves toward a national presidential election, with the straightjacket of a two-party system offering little hope for demilitarized immigration policies or the defunding of Israeli genocide of Palestinian refugees—we go local. Our newsletter looks at the corruption poisoning city contracts for migrant shelter and services, as a part of the deepening scandal that threatens the Mayor’s office and a functional city government. We then report on the deployment of police, troopers, and political theater with the launch of ‘Operation Restore Roosevelt,’ and the fight to create community-based solutions instead of carceral punishment.

Newsletter highlights:
  1. Using the ‘migrant crisis’ to line pockets of Mayor’s allies
  2. NYPD and state troopers descend on Roosevelt Avenue 

1. City Corruption Blights Migrant Shelter Contracting

It reads a bit like the opening chapter of a bad true crime novel: several senior aides to Mayor Eric Adams have their homes searched and devices seized in an expansive federal investigation; a stunning number of senior staff and City Hall officials then quickly resign. The Mayor himself faces federal bribery charges—but is so far left standing, and hoping we don’t read the rest of the book.

One character in the story who deserves our attention is Timothy Pearson, long-time friend and confidant of Eric Adams (who decades ago served as Adams’ supervisor in the NYPD). Pearson held a lucrative, if ambiguous, position in the Mayor’s administration, tasked, among other things, with overseeing contracts with the city’s migrant shelters, and ‘saving money’ as the costs of sheltering migrant arrivals rose.

By late 2023, both the City Council and City Comptroller Brad Lander had already spotlighted how the city was overpaying for migrant services, hiring staff at sometimes astronomical rates and outside any competitive bidding process. In December, Lander revoked the Mayor’s blanket authority to contract for emergency migrant services, a process blighted by scandal and lack of transparency. Contracts would now require independent prior approval from the Comptroller’s office. Nevertheless, Pearson still maintained leverage over parts of the contracting process. In particular, one organization—the Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC)—remained outside the new Comptroller oversight, because it is an independently-run public authority and not a city agency. 

HHC contracted with an outside company, Cherokee Nation Management & Consulting, to provide case management services to migrants in the shelter system starting January 1, 2024. These essential casework services help migrants get work authorization papers and exit the emergency shelters. Timothy Pearson delayed the HHC contract with Cherokee for three months in early 2024, as the population of migrants housed in NYC shelters rose from 24,000 to 25,000. Pearson has offered no explanation for his lengthy stall of the already-signed contract; we assume the ongoing federal probe will offer some answers. A court filing by a co-worker who accuses Pearson of sexual harassment and retaliation claims that he talked about his desire to personally benefit from his work overseeing shelter contracts. “I have to get mine. Where are my crumbs?” he allegedly said. 

Pearson’s interference with case management services for migrants was not the first time he meddled in multi-million dollar contracting protocols. In summer 2023, according to a Politico investigation, Pearson delayed the opening of a migrant facility at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn. His aim: to garner a security contract for his buddy Bo Dietl, former NYPD detective, colleague of Steve Bannon and Roger Ailes of Fox News, and loyal fundraiser for Erik Adams.

Pearson resigned his position in the mayor’s administration as of October 4, citing a need to focus on “self-care and new endeavors.”

While the drama of unfolding corruption may fascinate, the obscenity of a City Hall committed at the highest levels to self-dealing—and on the backs of migrant lives—should also outrage us. And move us toward mutual aid and, hopefully, a new mayor.

WHAT CAN WE DO?

2. ‘Operation Restore Roosevelt’ Coming to a Theater Near You

“Mayor Adams and Governor Hochul have decided to launch a quasi-military operation designed to criminalize people just trying to put food on the table and keep a roof over their heads. It is absurd and dangerous for elected officials to scapegoat an entire neighborhood to cover up their own failures of leadership …. [They] talk about New York City as a city of immigrants but yet they put them at risk of deportation every time that they increase policing on the streets. [O]ur leaders have made a cynical play for headlines at the expense of a population that has already disproportionately borne the brunt of police violence.” –Make the Road NY (October 2024)

So now we have “Operation Restore Roosevelt,” press conference photo ops, and political posturing by Mayor Adams and Democratic District Leader Hiram Monserrate. The mayor needs to take the focus off his administration’s scandals, and Monserrate is running for office yet again. So, the fallback position is to send in the cops for 90 days and pacify the locals.

Let’s see what’s really going on here. Hiram Monserrate has a checkered history in Queens politics and is an unlikely person to be concerned about morality. He was expelled from the state Senate in 2010 after being convicted of domestic assault and later served time in prison for mail fraud. For years, he ran unsuccessfully for various state and city offices, but finally was elected Democratic District Leader in 2018. It is from that office that he organized rallies in early October on Roosevelt Avenue at 90th Street “to save the neighborhood” and capture Gov. Hochul’s attention.

This new operation with state troopers and NYPD will focus on Roosevelt from 74th Street to 111th Street over the next 90 days and will see city agencies target brothels and illegal vending. The operation claims it will help women the city said are victims of sex trafficking, forced into prostitution. 

This is not the first time for increased enforcement. Back in January there was a big push to close down brothels; and in April, City Council Member Francisco Moya relaunched the Roosevelt Avenue Task Force (first created in 1991) focusing on street vendors.

State Senator Ramos, quoted in the Queens Daily Eagle, commented:

“It seems like everything else he [Adams] does, a photo op. I think the mayor feels like he’s up against the wall, and he falls back to what he knows–performance policing …. There’s been traffickers along Roosevelt Avenue for nearly all of the 40 years of my life that I have known, and that I have seen. [The mayor] could have started an operation to help the women being trafficked and exploited years ago, when he first took office.”

Queens Borough President Donovan Richards added, “I thought we had a task force. I’m trying to understand why all of a sudden they’re beefing up police presence.” 

Make The Road NY and the Street Vendor Project issued a strong statement on Instagram condemning this criminalization of our Queens neighborhood. City Councilman Shekar Krishnan has put forward two bills to address alleged human trafficking and forced prostitution throughout the city.

On October 22, a coalition of groups including Decrim New York and MRNY hosted a rally in Corona Plaza opposing Operation Restore Roosevelt, claiming that it targets the vulnerable, including immigrants, transgender people, and sex workers. Speakers denounced the flood of cops now in central Queens, saying the operation is displacing street vendors who are afraid to work in the face of heavy police presence. When disgraced former State Senator Monserrate showed up, he was chased out of the Plaza by defiant transgender sex workers and their allies chanting “More resources, not more raids!” 

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 08/03/2024

Posted on August 3, 2024 by - News, Newsletter

Dear friends,

As we swerve into August, heat is rising in the US presidential elections, in Israel’s state violence in the Middle East, and in the climate-fueled wildfires surging across the western United States. We wish you some cool breezes in your own worlds. 

Today’s newsletter reports on the latest survey report from Make the Road NY on immigrants’ experiences here. We then invite you to send us your ideas about a possible mural project here in JH that celebrates the immigrant communities of Jackson Heights. We are inspired by the vibrant mural showing a portal that reflects who the Peruvians of Jackson Heights are and where they come from, recently unveiled near Northern Blvd. on 85th Street—renamed Calle Peru.  

1. New York’s Newest Are Left Behind

Make the Road, NY annually surveys the experience of migrants and asylum seekers. For this year’s survey, they joined forces with the community urban planning group Hester Street, and the Bronx/Harlem community building organization, Afrikana. The latest report, “Leaving Behind the Newest New Yorkers”, was released in May and identified the shortcomings of welcoming asylum seekers to NYC.

Some of this year’s findings are similar to those of “Displaced and Disconnected”, their 2023 report. For example, access to legal services, healthcare, and social services provided by Community-Based Organizations, are all still crucial needs. The major difference revealed this year is related to housing. In 2023 there was just one recommendation: extend the CityFHEPS program to help people move from shelters to apartments by expanding eligibility for the program to include people who are undocumented. Expanding CityFHEPS remains on the 2024 recommendation along with three additional items: Expanding Temporary Shelter options; restoring Right to Shelter Protections; and allowing faith-based institutions to house new arrivals. That last item was a program announced by Mayor Adams in June 2023, which reportedly identified 50 houses of worship that could provide such housing—after 9 months only four were actively providing housing. 

Another new finding is related to workers and labor development. While last year’s report recommended expanding the low-wage worker support program and funding for training, this year emphasizes extending work authorization for public jobs, allowing more positions to be filled by asylum seekers. There was also a new recommendation to invest $50 million in adult literacy programs and expand access to after-school programs, both of which help immigrants overcome language barriers and gain access to the workforce. The importance of literacy programs in Jackson Heights and Corona was recently highlighted when Literacy Partners, which has been active for over 50 years, was honored with the 2024 Mayor’s Office Community Impact Award. 

One area that has not been modified from last year is the recommendations for Federal changes, showing that not much has improved nationally for asylum seekers:

  • Expedite work authorization for asylum seekers.
  • Send more resources to NY to support asylum seekers.
  • Reverse efforts to undermine the asylum system.
  • Expand and renew Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) for countries affected by political unrest and natural disasters.

Several charts in the report give readers insight into the people surveyed and the varied levels of success they have accessing city and state services depending on race. One observation is that 93% of “Black single adults” had received notice to leave shelters in comparison to 66% of “Latine Single Adults”.  Another chart highlights that, of people eligible for TPS, 69% have submitted their applications; in comparison, only 42% of those seeking asylum without TPS have submitted their applications. Among non-TPS applicants: only 17% of Black people have applied for asylum in comparison with 49% of Latine asylum seekers.  

This year’s survey emphasizes images that Immigrants Are Essential, particularly in the US labor market, and that they are here to stay. One statistic notes the increasing percentage of people who want to stay in New York. Last year 67% of people said they would like to stay here even if they had an opportunity to live elsewhere in the US. This year that number rose to 86%. Once again we see a racial difference: 93% of Black immigrants would choose to remain in New York compared to 84% Latine. These new New Yorkers want to be part of NYC.

WHAT CAN WE DO?

2. Can We Have a Mural Project?

At our Jackson Heights Immigrant Solidarity meetings in the fall of 2019, we dreamed and we imagined banners hanging from local buildings, posters pasted on houses and in the windows of businesses, all affirming the beautiful power of our immigrant communities. We imagined monarch butterflies, slogans, and images showing our rich diversity, because behind us was the horror of having seen children separated from their parents and placed in cages. Unfortunately, Covid-19 came and our visions vanished with it.

Four years later, we want to dream again but now with your participation, readers. JH is an extraordinary community of diversity and struggle, an immigrant neighborhood driving most of its creativity and vitality. In short, we want to count on your support for the creation of a mural or two, as a way to promote solidarity and neighborhood pride.

Who do you know, recommend, propose that we can turn to (artists, writers, leaders) to design a mural project for Jackson Heights? Would you like to be involved in developing the project that would be presented to Flushing Town Hall for funding? Please let us know your suggestions and your desires about forming a committee to make murals a reality for the neighborhood–murals that speak for you and that illustrate what Jackson Heights is.

Send us your ideas at info@jhimmigrantsolidarity.org.

 

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 05/25/2024

Posted on May 25, 2024 by - News, Newsletter

Dear friends,

This week’s newsletter highlights the locally-active, immigrant-led group Make the Road NY as they release their vision for New York City—in budget numbers and policy priorities. We then offer a broad review of recent national surveys on immigration, situating them within a longer US history of fear-mongering and false perceptions. With our readers, and in the lush promise of late spring, we continue to ask what immigrant justice can mean, and how we can realize it together.

Newsletter highlights:
  1. MRNY’s people-centered NYC budget 
  2. US ‘public opinion’ on immigration

1. Make the Road New York’s Budget Vision for NYC

“Our communities need bold action to reverse inequities and expand opportunities for all New Yorkers. However, essential programs and services are now under attack from a mayor determined to scapegoat our new neighbors and fear-monger in an attempt to justify draconian cuts.” –Make the Road New York, 2024 NYC Budget and Policy Platform

As the largest community-based membership organization in New York State devoted to building power in immigrant and working-class communities of color, Make the Road New York (MRNY) is a formidable advocate. With headquarters in Brooklyn, Staten Island, and on Roosevelt Ave here in Jackson Heights, MRNY has an ambitious local and state political reach. Their recent annual budget and policy platform for New York City offers a window into what they consider the most urgent issues facing mostly working-class immigrant neighborhoods like ours.

Budgets are not just financial instruments, they are future action plans that reveal the values and priorities of their creators. MRNY’s budget platform for 2024 presents a people-centered alternative to the action plans (or budget commitments) of Mayor Adams’s administration. MRNY launched their 2024 vision for the city with a collective action in front of City Hall on April 24. Here are some highlights:

Education: Reverse prior cuts and restore funding to public education and youth programs now on the chopping block as $1 billion in federal funds expires and millions in city cuts are proposed. Restore over $3 million in expiring federal stimulus funds for Student Success Centers (SSCs) that support first-generation, immigrant, and working-class students of color pursuing college and career plans. Invest between $29.7 million to $43.2 million for Adult Literacy programs for the over 2 million adults in NYC with limited English proficiency or without a high school diploma.

Housing:  As record numbers of New Yorkers experience homelessness, and shelters struggle to address needs, increase the CityFHEPS voucher program that helps folks move from shelters to apartments. Expand CityFHEPS eligibility to more households, including undocumented households. 

Immigration protections: Increase funding by $150 million for immigration legal services that can assist NYC’s newest migrants while maintaining support for thousands of current clients. Refuse Mayor Adams’s proposed cuts to the Rapid Response Legal Collaborative; instead, guarantee at least $1 million in funding so that the RRLC continues to serve people who are detained and on the brink of being deported, or have orders of removal and are at risk of ICE detention.

Policing: Shift priorities from astronomical increases in the NYPD budget to robust funding of programs that create real community safety. Redirect resources to non-police mental health responses and anti-violence programs. Reduce NYPD’s communications and press budget by 50% to decrease their capacity for misinformation campaigns after they kill New Yorkers and in other cases of police violence. Establish police-free public schools and redirect the $400 million spent on NYPD’s School Policing Division to the direct support of youth learning and growth.

Health Care:  Expand funding to at least $100 million annually for NYC Care program that offers low- or no-cost services for New Yorkers who do not qualify for or cannot afford health insurance. Aggressively address healthcare disparities through increased funding for the Access Health Initiative, and maintaining funding for the Immigrant Health Initiative which inform immigrant families of their rights and available health resources.

 WHAT CAN WE DO?

2. Immigration Myths, Realities, and Perceptions

For a nation that was established, and grew, through migrations both forced and self-motivated, the United States has a long history of casting new immigrants as a source of concern or threat. The Axios News website recently showed the continuation of this trend when it released the results of the Vibes survey conducted with The Harris Poll. Various news sources chose to focus on the 51% of responses supporting mass deportation (including 42% of Democrats) and the 46% of Republicans responding who would end the 14th Amendment’s Birthright Citizenship. 

The Vibes survey also revealed that over 62% of respondents believed immigrants today have a “worse character” than those who came 50 years ago. Historian María Cristina Garcia provided Axios a reality check that 50 years ago Americans held the same opinion as today’s respondents. Not only do people today have misconceptions about immigrants seeking welfare benefits and committing crimes, Garcia says they have a romantic and unrealistic attitude about perceptions of immigrants of the past. 

This negative perception is not driven by the number of immigrants in the US. When we compare the data, in 50-year periods, from the Migration Policy Institute and USA Facts we see that, by percentage, current immigrant numbers show a return to previous periods in US history. In 1870 about 15% of the population were immigrants. By 1920 the immigrant population almost tripled, but the percentage decreased to 13% of the whole population. Fifty years later less than 5% of the 1970 total population were identified as immigrants. From 1970 to 2020, the number of immigrants in the US increased from 10 to 45 million people which, at 13.5% of the population, matches with those earlier periods in US history. The lower percentage of immigrants from 1920 to 1970 can be seen as an anomaly in US history.

Another difference in the 50 years after 1920 was that immigration management was transferred from the Department of Labor to the Department of Justice (in 1940) when the deportation of undesirable aliens was made its main function. When the labor contributions of immigrants are highlighted, a more positive story emerges. Indeed NYC Comptroller Brad Lander issued a report in January of this year busting various myths about immigration and pointing out how immigrants benefit our economy; an opinion supported by recent economics research at Boston University. These claims are also backed by findings from the Center for American Progress which, in 2021, published four scenarios showing how citizenship for undocumented immigrants would boost US economic growth. 

In contrast to the negative perspectives expressed in the Axios report, a recent Gallup poll found that two-thirds of respondents consider immigration to be a “good thing.” Despite a 9% drop from 2020 in those who value immigration (from 77% to 68% in 2023), this positive opinion is significantly higher than the 27% who think immigration is a “bad thing.” Perhaps if we moved immigration management back to the Labor Department and provided more pathways to legal immigration, the US could move forward with progressive legislative changes to the immigration system, instead of promoting an unfounded fear of new immigrants.

 

In solidarity and with collective care,

Jackson Heights Immigrant Solidarity Network (JHISN)

 

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JHISN Newsletter 05/11/2024

Posted on May 11, 2024 by - News, Newsletter

Dear friends,

It is a pleasure to bring you news of the local and the uplifting. We offer you two stories—both closely tied to Jackson Heights—from the beating heart of immigrant justice and immigrant culture. First, we highlight the work of a local grassroots advocate working to smooth the arrival of new migrants to NYC. Next, we look at two decades of dance and music training offered by the Pachamama folklore program here in our neighborhood.

Newsletter highlights:
  1. Supporting local immigrants one case at a time–Nuala O’Doherty-Naranjo
  2. Immigrant arts @JH: Peruvian folk music, and dance

1. Immigrant Support on the Street and in the Basement

“You are not going to win. You can apply, these are the benefits of applying. Statistically, you are not going to win.”—Nuala O’Doherty-Naranjo (In conversation on 34th Avenue with JHISN)

Last year Nuala O’Doherty-Naranjo assisted over 2,000 families apply for asylum and start a new life. From her perspective, immigration paperwork is straightforward but managing expectations is not. Many new immigrants think having a lawyer guarantees success. Nuala points out that people with lawyers are more likely to win because lawyers only select winnable cases. Her kids call her the Dream Crusher because she warns everyone they are unlikely to win their asylum cases. Nonetheless, she presents asylum paperwork preparation sessions in her home basement for new immigrants who don’t qualify for such support elsewhere.

Nuala’s social media posts focus on community involvement, from gardening events in Jackson Heights to lively gatherings on the 34th Ave Open Streets. Amid these posts, she highlights immigrant support initiatives: the NYC Green Clean cooperative she started ensures home cleaners receive 100% of service payments; the many English language classes taking place throughout Jackson Heights; and instructions for the asylum paperwork sessions she provides.

Three mornings every week, new immigrants gather around tables on the 34th Ave Open Street, across the road from P.S. 149. Volunteers, who recently went through the process with Nuala, distribute information flyers in Spanish and handle a basic intake process. From about 50 attendees each morning, they identify around 20 who then move to Nuala’s home basement where they work until midnight. 

In the basement, she outlines a plan for their future:

  1. Complete the Application for Asylum—she shares a draft copy of the document, translated to Spanish and annotated to guide people to complete it accurately.
  2. Attend English classes for five months—she has a map of where to go.
  3. File the request for a social security number and work authorization—they become eligible when the court does not rule on their asylum application within 150 days (which it never does due to the case backlog).
  4. Prepare a resume—apply for stable work with a union, hospital, or school system instead of taking occasional construction work, or working as a service provider for individuals/families.

While discussing her process, as we sit outside PS 149, Nuala greets passersby in Spanish but confesses that her Spanish is terrible. If anyone wants to volunteer assistance, she says, they must be able to speak the language, especially if editing personal stories.  But, what she really needs from volunteers are financial donations, like the Facebook fundraiser by Cordelia Peterson, so that all the asylum applications can be printed. She bought cheap printers and bleeds toner onto a case of paper every week. Community members who want to volunteer their time can also be helpful if they bring food, and can keep any children occupied with play. 

Nuala critiqued the city’s failure to prioritize filing asylum paperwork when the recent influx of immigrants began and instead focused solely on finding shelter. Her prodding for action resulted in guidance from the Mayor’s office telling new immigrants to call 311 for asylum paperwork assistance. When that quickly overwhelmed the 311 system the city shifted responsibility to the Red Cross. By Nuala’s own estimate, the Red Cross, with millions of dollars to support their work, has submitted just three times the number of applications she has ushered through—while she spends about $800 a week from her own dwindling funds.

Nuala does not restrict her work to one Jackson Heights basement. In Brooklyn, she works with a group of immigration lawyers, whom she plans to urge to write group briefs instead of individual applications. Group briefs can be used by multiple people in similar situations thus reducing the time required for each individual’s application. In Manhattan, she started the Asylum Seekers Assistance Program with Father Julian at the Church of St. Francis of Assisi, whose Manhattan volunteers spend an entire day working on a single person’s application. She is also starting to work as a counselor at Voces Latinas, allowing her to support people facing homophobia in addition to challenges due to immigration status. 

As we wrap the conversation we discuss her motivation to do this work. “It’s gotta be done. It just needs to be done. Someone needs to do it…I can do it,” Nuala says. “I thought I’d do it until the city started doing it, but the city only does people who are in shelters—and then they kicked everyone out of the shelters.” It still needs to be done.

WHAT CAN WE DO?

  • Provide support through a donation or gift to the Jackson Heights Immigrant Center shopping list.
  • Follow and elevate the work of Voces Latinas.
  • If you have an entry-level open position that can be filled by Nuala’s volunteers, contact the Immigrant Center.

2. Pachamama: Twenty Years in the Neighborhood

Every spring and fall, children in our neighborhood get free Peruvian folk music and dance classes. Pachamama’s folklore program attracts multigenerational families, who bring their children and grandchildren to learn about their heritage. By sponsoring these classes, Pachamama Peruvian Arts has played an important role in uniting the dispersed immigrant Peruvian community in New York. 

Pachamama started as an initiative of the Center for Traditional Music and Dance (CTMD). It was ”the Center’s first long-term project to focus on a South American community.” The Peruvian Folklore Project centered around two accomplished artists and folklorists. Luz Pereira, a graduate of the first School of Peruvian Folk Music and Dance, was also part of the cast of “Perú Canta y Baila,” which won several international folklore awards. And Guillermo Guerrero, an expert in playing traditional Andean music, who expressly traveled to different cities in the Andes region to obtain his authentic instruments. Guerrero and Pereira would be the principal teachers of the Project.

The CTMD introduced the Project to the public in Flushing Meadows Park during the Peruvian National Holiday festival on June 28, 2003, at an event organized by Club Perú. CTMD set up two demonstrations, one featuring Marinera Limeña dance, and another where Andean music was played. A survey asked 100 participants if they would like their children to receive free folklore classes. The unanimous answer was yes. The place chosen was Jackson Heights; a neighborhood where several Peruvian families reside.

Pachamama taught Marinera Limeña and Andean music for the first time in January 2004, at PS 212, to children between 7 and 17 years old. Since then, Pachamama has rotated through other schools in the neighborhood, such as IS 145, PS 69, and has been teaching folklore at the Garden School for three years. Over the years, classes about the folklore of the three regions of Peru have been added, and more teachers have joined to teach cajon, singing and choir. 

Marinera (“sailor” in Spanish) is descended from Zamacueca, a dance of Spanish origin. But in the 1860s, a Peruvian version mixed with Afro-Peruvian rhythms emerged, danced mainly in Lima’s port by Afro-indigenous-Peruvian descendants. At first, it was not allowed in the living rooms of aristocratic families, who considered it too sensual and flirtatious. That story changed after the term “Marinera” was adopted to give support to the Peruvian Navy who were fighting the Pacific war in 1879. Actually, there are many styles of Marinera named by region. Today, Marinera Norteña is considered a national dance of Peru, and annual competitions are held to choose champions by age group. 

After several years of being funded by the CTMD, Pachamama Peruvian Arts was established as a separate non-profit, non-governmental organization. Luz Pereira continues as the Executive Director. There have now been twenty years of uninterrupted Pachamama activity. The program persevered even during the height of the pandemic, when classes and graduations took place via Zoom. Pachamama students have performed at different schools and institutions, such as Queens Public Library, Corona Plaza, the Queens Museum, and Queens Theater.

More than 2,000 children, mostly from Peruvian and partly-Peruvian immigrant families, have studied with Pachamama. Many of them continue to practice dance, music, singing, and theater. The program has awakened a sense of belonging and identity in many second-generation Peruvian immigrants. It has even encouraged tourism to Peru, as Pachamama students ask their families to learn more about their culture. Thanks to Pachamama Peruvian Arts, Peruvian cultural heritage is being valued and preserved in New York.

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.