Tag: ProtectImmigrants

JHISN Newsletter 04/05/2025

Posted on April 5, 2025 by - News, Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Greetings in a time of emergency and resistance. Across the nation today and in all 50 states (including Bryant Park, Weehawken, and Staten Island) at 1:00 PM the people are demonstrating to demand: an end to the billionaire takeover and rampant corruption of the Trump administration; an end to slashing federal funds for Medicaid, Social Security, and other programs working people rely on; and an end to the attacks on immigrants, women, workers, trans people, and other communities.

The breadth and speed of the Trump regime’s assault on immigrants has been stunning, but not unexpected. Starting immediately after the election, immigrant justice advocates began to regroup. They are looking for ways to draw community allies closer, filing defensive lawsuits, pushing for protective legislation, and conducting intensive “know your rights” campaigns. In our first article, we review the anti-immigrant steamroller of federal actions. In our second article, we look at state and local legislation proposed by local progressive politicians and prioritized by grassroots immigration activists. We conclude with a partial timeline of the deportation machine that is growing ever bolder.

Newsletter highlights
  1. The stunning number of attacks and deportations
  2. Pro-immigrant legislation working its way through our state legislature
  3. A timeline of disturbing deportation actions

1. 76 Days Later: The Cruelty and The Deprivation

“The second Trump administration began with a slew of executive orders designed to terrify and devastate immigrants, their families, and communities across the United States.”—National Immigration Law Center

After trying to make Americans fear immigrants as invaders, the Trump administration is now leveraging the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 in the same way it was leveraged during World War II to round up US Citizens of Japanese descent, steal their homes and property, and imprison them in concentration camps. AI has been used to identify and revoke the visas of academics for their campus protests over Gaza. Long-time green card holders are suddenly losing legal status and facing deportation. The citizenship of people born in the US is being challenged, as is that of naturalized citizens.

The National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC) states that “ALL people in the United States have rights, regardless of their immigration status.” The NIJC advises people to seek legal counsel. But law firms have capitulated to Trump’s unconstitutional lawfare threats to ban legal firms from access to government buildings, meetings or jobs. It is therefore no surprise that individuals and non-governmental organizations may also capitulate. Thus, the Quaker organization, American Friends Service Committee currently guides Venezuelans less about their rights to stay, and more on how people can mitigate the damage by securing a family’s legal power of attorney, managing financial protections, gathering official documents, and avoiding scams related to legal representation for when people are deported.

The White House press secretary makes the absurd argument that opposition to Homeland Security sending people with tattoos to El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center equates to support for vicious gangs. But when the federal government’s deportation machine vanishes people, without orders of deportation, from the US to El Salvador, or Guantanamo, or from any US state to Louisiana’s remote and abusive ICE facilities, then the expectation of constitutional rights for anyone vanishes.

Recently Victoria Spartz, an immigrant Republican member of Congress from Indiana, actually stated in a public town hall: “You violated the law, you are not entitled to due process.” Yet the very purpose of the Fourth Amendment is to place “restraints on the government any time it detains (seizes) or searches a person” and the Fifth Amendment establishes no one shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law. Due process is reiterated in the 14th Amendment and all of these apply against the US government rather than being granted to individuals. 

Homeland Security admits that only 137 of the 238 people were deported to El Salvador as “enemy aliens”; so it deported 101 people to a brutal high-security prison in another country under “regular immigration procedures.” The Trump administration even paid El Salvador over $25,000 per person, for the year, to make them disappear. Their rationale is that it is cheaper than housing them in private prisons. Homeland Security will also not facilitate communications with any lawyers because these people have already been removed. 

There have been so many anti-immigration actions recently taken it is challenging to summarize them. The arrest of Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, the first of many students arrested for their protest actions, suggests that the government is punishing and silencing free speech, or removing the privilege of one’s visa status based on ever-changing political opinions on foreign policy. It is vital to see these actions together, rather than as disjointed news articles. At the end of today’s newsletter we have compiled a partial timeline for you to read, in one place, the key actions reported on by various news sources…many of these sources Trump and his administration are seeking to delegitimize, defund or punish because they report facts instead of amplifying his talking points.   

WHAT CAN WE DO?
  • Join Amnesty International’s campaigns to release Mahmoud Khalil and tell Congress to stop the funding of mass deportations and inhumane border policies
  • Act along with the ACLU and demand elected leaders be vigilant and speak out against mass deportations and the president’s unlawful invocation of the Alien Enemies Act.
  • Subscribe to a new immigration podcast Unsettled, and listen to the National Constitution Center discussion explaining how the recent use of The Alien Enemies Act of 1798 does not meet the requirements of wartime action it requires. 

2. Pro-Immigrant Reps Sponsor Protective Legislation

Fighting to stop the Trump regime’s anti-immigrant juggernaut requires resistance on many fronts. One of those is passing state and local legislation to protect immigrants from ICE abuses. New York voters have sent many progressives to the City Council and Albany. Now some of these politicians, including representatives from our neighborhood, are working with grassroots organizations on measures to prevent mass deportation and ensure due process.

One key piece of proposed legislation is the New York For All Act. This law would formalize a number of sanctuary provisions at the state level. It is strongly supported by Make the Road New York, which is using statehouse rallies and a phone call campaign to push it forward. As MTRNY describes it, the Act:

  • Would prohibit state and local officials from enforcing federal immigration laws or transferring people to ICE custody.
  • Block ICE and CBP from entering non-public areas of state and local property without a warrant.
  • Ensure that people in custody receive notice of their rights before being questioned by ICE.
  • Begin the process of restricting ICE and CBP access to state databases.

MTRNY specifically highlights the need to keep New York’s DMV database—which includes information on undocumented drivers—out of the hands of ICE.

On March 12, the New York City Council sent a message to the state legislature supporting the New York For All Act. During the same session, they also endorsed the Access to Representation Act, cosponsored by local Assemblyperson Catalina Cruz. This bill would “establish the right to legal counsel in immigration court proceedings.”

Cruz has been particularly active in generating pro-immigrant legislation. Her Protect Our Schools Act, co-sponsored by several other local lawmakers, is designed to prevent ICE from entering or making arrests in any state schools without a judicial warrant. Cruz presented this legislation as part of a trio of bills. The other two parts of her package include a law that targets rampant fraud by immigration “advisors,” and another guaranteeing proper translation of all immigration proceedings. The need for translation services and “language justice” is also reflected in a recent NY City Council decision to create a Language Access Bank, and to fund the translation work of local immigrant organizations.

Cruz and other Queens-based legislators are also among the 54 sponsors of the Dignity Not Detention Act. As we reported previously, this proposed law “prohibits governmental entities from entering into agreements to house individuals in immigration detention facilities; requires governmental entities to terminate existing contracts for the detention of individuals in immigration detention facilities.” It is supported by a wide range of immigrant justice and civil rights groups.

Legislation can be an important weapon to defend immigrants. But its success depends on the strength of progressive sentiment: first of all in electing pro-immigrant representatives, and then in backing them up to get just laws passed. It remains to be seen how New Yorkers, including Governor Hochul, respond to recently proposed progressive legislation in the face of the current wave of xenophobia.

WHAT CAN WE DO?
  • Participate in Make the Road’s phone-in for the New York for All Act.
  • Learn about the Language Justice Collaborative, which trains and provides interpreters for African, Asian and Latin American immigrants.

3. A Partial Timeline Of Deportations And Actions

Jan 20 – As promised on day one of being a dictator, Trump signed blatantly unconstitutional paperwork to eliminate the 14th Amendment right to birthright citizenship by executive order and began to eviscerate due process in the immigration system. He also began the process of weaponizing the military against immigrants.

Jan 21 – Alfredo Orellana, a green card holder married to a 6 months pregnant US citizen, was detained after returning from a trip to El Salvador. Originally born in Argentina 31 years ago, Orellana has lived in the US since he was 4 years old.

Jan 25 – German tourists entering the US on valid travel documents were held in ICE detention for 46 days and then deported.

Jan 31 – US Citizen Julio Noriega was swept up in warrantless arrests by ICE in Chicago and given no opportunity to discuss his citizenship. He was released, after being held by Homeland Security for 10 hours, with no money and no paperwork to explain the reason for being held or released.

Feb 1 – TPS was suddenly suspended for 472,000 Venezuelans. Under Biden, the end date had been extended to October 2026. It was shortened to April 7, 2025 which Homeland Security would use to justify their deportation in weeks. A federal judge later halted the suspension pending court hearings.

Feb 4 – A 10-year-old US Citizen with brain cancer was deported from Texas to Mexico with her entire family while they were driving to a medical checkup in Houston from border town Rio Grande City. Other than lacking “valid immigration status in the U.S.,” the parents have “no criminal history,” and they have been deported to a region known for kidnapping US citizens. Heritage Foundation fellow and Project 2025 contributor, Tom Homan, who is not a Cabinet member but wields control over immigration policy with the official title of Border Czar, is known to have cold disregard for the US citizenship of 4 million children who have an undocumented parent. He stated that the parents will decide when to break up a family, not the government.

Feb 7 – Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem directed Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to deputize IRS criminal investigators, to “assist in immigration enforcement”. Acting IRS Commissioner Doug O’Donnell rejected the plan for the IRS to share the addresses of the people in their databases. Three weeks later the 40-year veteran of the IRS, O’Donnell, retired. His replacement, Melanie Krause, is willing to accept the plan to allow the Department of Government Efficiency known as DOGE (most accurately pronounced “dodgy”) access to the address data. Many point out this situation contradicts Trump’s typical narrative that the immigrants he attacks as illegal are a social burden and don’t pay taxes.

Feb 14 – Using a law from WWII, Kristi Noem announced the plan to create a Migrant Registry and require those who are undocumented to come forward or face criminal penalties.

Feb 15 – Camila Muñoz was detained by an immigration agent when she and her Trump-voting husband returned from their honeymoon in Puerto Rico. Her unlawful action was letting her immigration paperwork expire during COVID when she was not allowed to travel. The husband blames the system, not Trump. But within a month he was considering moving back with her to Peru.

Feb 19 – German tourist Lucas Sielaf, and his US Citizen fiancée were held by ICE for two weeks after going to a vet in Mexico.

Feb 20 – Secretary Noem suddenly amended the period of extension and redesignation of Haiti for TPS from 18 months to 12 months. The new end date is August 3, 2025 which Homeland Security would use to justify their deportation.

Feb 25 – While tearing down all rights related to immigration, Trump announces that wealthy immigrants will soon be eligible to purchase a gold card path to citizenship for $5 million. Unlike the EB-5 entrepreneurship visa that requires people to invest in a business over time in the United States, this gold card requires only one payment and will be open to Russian oligarchs who Trump said “are very nice people”.

Feb 26 – Becky Burke, a 28-year-old backpacker from Wales, UK, was held in chains after crossing into the US from Canada; possibly due to the agent’s opinion that the free housing she received was considered payment in return for her helping them with housework. 

Feb 28 – Lewelyn Dixon, a 50-year resident and green card holder, was held in ICE detention in Tacoma when returning from a trip to the Philippines. Her family did not know until March 2 and were not informed why she was being held. She is currently scheduled for a hearing in July.

Mar 6 – Ma Yang, from Milwaukee, is 37 and has lived in the US since she was 8 months old: in mid-February she was detained during a regular US Immigration and Customs Enforcement check-in meeting, separated from her US citizen partner and children, then deported to Laos. Born in Thailand, Laos is a country she has never even visited. 

Mar 7 – A German mother and son, both with permanent residence status, were held at Logan airport with no explanation as to what had flagged the son’s green card. The son had to be hospitalized after release because he had been “deprived of sleep, food and water, and had his anxiety medication withheld.” while he was held.

Mar 8 – Mahmoud Khalil, a permanent resident and recent graduate of Columbia University, was the first of known student protesters of the Gaza conflict to be taken by Homeland Security agents. His 8-month pregnant US citizen wife was also threatened with arrest. After being transferred to ICE custody in Louisiana, he was flown closer to home to a New Jersey detention center at the demand of a federal judge. Trump demanded the compliance of all universities and said “This is the first arrest of many to come.”

Mar 10 – A Venezuelan couple, with Temporary Protective Status (TPS) and valid work authorization, were grabbed by Border Patrol in Washington, DC and separated from their three children. A judge said their arrest was “baseless and unlawful” and the Border Patrol’s assistant commissioner of public affairs, Hilton Beckham, alleged, “without evidence, that the couple had ties to the Tren de Aragua gang”. Megan McFadden, an attorney for the federal government, admitted she had not heard the couple had valid TPS paperwork.

Mar 14 – Dr. Rasha Alawieh, a kidney transplant specialist and professor at Brown University’s medical school, was denied entry at Boston Logan International Airport on a Thursday. The day after her airport detention, US District Judge Leo Sorokin (who was the fourth federal judge to block the attack on birthright citizenship) set a hearing for the following Monday. The hearing was canceled after she was deported to Paris under suspicion of support for Hezbollah.

Mar 14 – The visa of Momodou Taal, a graduate student at Cornell University, was revoked. The United Electrical union supports him because, if the federal government is allowed to come for Taal, they will be emboldened to come for anyone who challenges climate policies, stands for the rights of women and LGBTQ+ rights, racial justice, and workers’ rights.

Mar 14 – Ranjani Srinivasan, a Columbia University student from India, chose to self-deport using the redesigned CBP Home App after Homeland Security revoked her visa on Mar 5.

Mar 15 – Homeland Security ignored a judicial ruling requiring planes, headed to El Salvador with over 200 deportees, to return to the US. A video was released showing their delivery to the notorious Terrorism Confinement Center in El Salvador, whose president mocked the order by posting on social media, “Oopsie…Too Late,” The US paid El Salvador $6 million to take them for a year and provided no proof these people were members of the Tren de Aragua gang. Trump then floated the idea of sending US Citizens to prisons outside the country.

Mar 17 – Jeanette Vizguerra, an immigrant rights advocate with the American Friends Service Committee in California, evaded deportation in 2017 by seeking sanctuary by living in the basement of a church with her children. She was taken into custody near the Target store where she worked.

Mar 17 – Badar Khan Suri, an Indian national and postdoctoral fellow at Georgetown University was detained by masked federal agents outside his home. Suri’s lawyer stated Suri is being punished because of the Palestinian heritage of his US citizen wife because the government suspects they both oppose US foreign policy toward Israel.

Mar 18 – Using false narratives about immigrants increasing crime resulted in an ICE raid in Boston that rounded up 370 people, many of whom were legally in the US and going through the asylum process.

Mar 24 – Yunseo Chung, another permanent resident student at Columbia University, files a lawsuit against members of the federal government for their action against her, claiming “She is being sought for removal proceedings under the immigration laws” for engaging in what they claimed as concerning conduct in a pro-Hamas protest at Barnard College. Chung’s suit states this is a “larger pattern of attempted US government repression of constitutionally protected protest activity and other forms of speech”.

Mar 25 – Alireza Doroudi, an Iranian Graduate student at the University of Alabama, had his visa suddenly revoked and at 3 a.m. agents took him into custody and removed him to an ICE facility in Jena, Louisiana which is holding several international students targeted by Homeland Security. Fortunately, his finacée was able to share his story and people mobilized to help support his legal defense.

Mar 25. – Rumeysa Ozturk, a Massachusetts graduate student at Tufts University, had her visa suddenly terminated and she was grabbed off the street and taken into federal custody by masked agents who are not clearly law enforcement. She had co-authored an essay in the student newspaper demanding that Tufts acknowledge the Palestinian genocide.

Mar 27 – ICE executed an arrest on a farm in Sackets Harbor, New York, the hometown of Border Czar Tom Homan. Agents entered a different home on the property, without a judicial warrant, detained a mother and her three children, and moved them to a detention center in Texas. Homan claims they were moved for safety as potential witnesses to crime. NY Governor Kathy Hochul stated, “I want this family returned to New York state and believe ICE needs to immediately answer for these actions.”

Mar 31 – Seventeen more alleged gang members were flown to the El Salvador high-security prison. To avoid directly challenging the judicial ruling to prevent such deportations, the administration did not leverage the Alien Enemies Act. 

Mar 31 – Robert Cerna, the Acting Field Office Director for ICE filed a declaration admitting that an administrative error sent at least one person, Kilmar Abergo Garcia, to the supermax prison in El Salvador. Despite the wrongful deportation, Homeland Security says they will not facilitate his return because they have no jurisdiction since he is no longer in US custody. Karoline Leavitt, the White House Press Secretary, defended the action and continued to state that this person was a convicted gang member – but provided no proof to back up that claim. 

Apr 4 – A federal judge ruled that Kilmar Abergo Garcia must be returned from El Salvador by Monday because of the Trump administration’s illegal action deporting him. In response, the White House deputy chief of staff called the judge a Marxist and the White House press secretary suggested the judge contact the El Salvador president because the US no longer has jurisdiction.  

In Solidarity,
JHISN

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JHISN Newsletter 01/11/2025

Posted on January 11, 2025 by - News, Newsletter

Dear friends, 

‘Happy New Year. You’re Deported’ was published by The Nation at the end of the year…in 2015…during the second term of the Obama presidency. Horrific, unacceptable, and unconscionable were key words the article used to describe Homeland Security’s plan to begin raids to deport families. Our first article for this new year 2025 looks at the ongoing state-sanctioned deportation threats to immigrant families and communities which promise to be significantly more aggressive than before. Just like a decade ago, our New York immigrant justice organizations today stand against the inhumanity of these policies. Even as our Mayor and Governor both talk about walking back our sanctuary policies and allowing more cooperation with ICE agents, hundreds of people rallied this past week at the state capitol in Albany demanding expanded legal protections for immigrant New Yorkers. 

Government intimidation will not stop the political, social, and community struggles of immigrant-led organizations and justice campaigns. We will, in fact, see community support strengthened this year when Make the Road NY holds a February ribbon-cutting ceremony for its new landmark center in Corona. Our second article spotlights Make the Road’s Deportation Defense Manual and practical guidance for community safety in 2025. 

Newsletter highlights:
  1. A look at deportation threats–and protections–in NYC
  2. Make the Road NY’s blueprint for deportation defense

 

 

1. Cruel Futures—Deportation @NewYork

“By pledging to carry out the largest mass deportation in history, Trump isn’t just targeting immigrant communities, he’s attacking the very fabric of the country … Trump is creating a future where millions of families will live in constant fear of being torn apart, and where entire communities and economic sectors will be destabilized.” —Murad Awawdeh, director, NY Immigration Coalition (12/8/24) 

The destabilization promised by Trump and his anti-immigrant minions holds a special threat to New York State, where 4.5 million immigrant residents are at risk of having families, lives, and communities overturned by a mass deportation agenda. New York City is home to an estimated 412,000 of the state’s 672,000+ undocumented people, all of whom stand in the crosshairs of an incoming administration that aims for cruelty and racist scapegoating as a livestream political bloodsport.

Nearly half of NYC’s small businesses are run by immigrants, including undocumented owners (an estimated 60,500 undocumented entrepreneurs live in NY state). Close to 310,000 undocumented workers compose 7% of the city’s labor force. Undocumented workers in New York State pay about $3 billion in state and local taxes. Many immigrant households in our neighborhood are ‘mixed status’ with members living together who have both legal and unprotected immigration status—including over 351,000 citizen children statewide who live with an undocumented family member. Trump has announced he wants to make even more people ‘undocumented’ by stripping away time-limited legal protections like Temporary Protective Status (TPS), DACA, and humanitarian parole, which would expose thousands more people in Central Queens to deportation threats.

Assessments abound regarding what Trump 2.0 can really do, what they will really do, and how quickly. In recent US history, the vast majority of removals and detentions took place at the US-Mexico border. Deporting undocumented immigrants from New York City would require interior arrests and detentions, actions limited, in theory, by complex legal procedures and choked by overwhelmed immigration courts. But ‘expedited removal’ protocols—which Trump tried to ramp up during his first administration—would allow federal officials to remove anyone who cannot prove they are in the US lawfully, or that they have resided physically in the country for two years or more.

New York City is not without some protections, for now, against deportation frenzy. One of over 170 US cities that has established sanctuary policies, NYC since 1989 has created legal safe zones for immigrants threatened by federal overreach. In 2014 and 2018 under Mayor de Blasio, sanctuary laws were strengthened to preclude local cooperation with ICE’s ‘detainer requests’ (with exceptions for people convicted of serious crimes), and to mandate advance review by senior city officials of any request for help from federal immigration agents that might lead to deportation. In fiscal year 2022-23, the NYPD granted exactly zero of ICE’s requests to hold someone in custody for them. But attempts at the state level to expand immigrant protections have stalled, including the ambitious New York For All Act which has never gotten out of committee. And Mayor Adams has recently threatened to change the city’s existing sanctuary laws to facilitate cooperation with ICE and federal deportation.

As we speak, the city is also closing down the vast tent city at Floyd Bennett Field in southern Brooklyn, built to serve as a family shelter for recent migrants. The closure is due in part to a steady decline in the number of migrants arriving in NYC and being housed in city shelters, a 17% drop from 69,000 migrants in January 2024 to 57,400 in December. Local immigrant justice groups and the mutual aid group Floyd Bennett Field Neighbors also fought for the closure just before Trump’s inauguration: the tent shelter was built on federal land, and advocates feared the new administration could repurpose the shelter as an immigrant detention center.

Finally, the vulnerability of thousands of recently-arrived migrants in NYC to mass deportation is mitigated by the fact that the majority of new migrants are asylum seekers. Though referred to as “illegals” by Trump, and often presumed undocumented, many recent migrants are actually at the start of the years-long asylum process. They exist in a legal border zone, constructed precisely to protect asylum seekers from deportation during the proceedings.

Will legal border zones mean anything in the coming years? Will laws be blown up, and emergency states of exception proliferate? That uncertainty triggers everyone’s worst nightmares. As Murad Awawdeh of NY Immigration Coalition says: “We can’t allow this vision of cruelty, exclusion, and fear to become our reality.”  

WHAT CAN WE DO?
  • Support the New York For All Act which prohibits state and local resources from being used to enact inhumane federal deportation agendas.
  • Support the Dignity Not Detention Act which prevents NYS from entering in, or renewing, contracts for immigrant detention centers. Similar bills have passed in NJ, CA, WA, and IL. Sign on with your organization’s support for the bill.
  • Support the Access to Representation Act which guarantees the right to counsel for anyone, regardless of income, who comes before a New York immigration court, including in deportation hearings.  

2. Preparing for Trump’s Deportation Plans

“I think [Queens], in many ways, ends up being the kind of epicenter for the fights. I think a lot of the work that we’re going to have to do over the next four years, whether it’s deportation defense or education within the community, is going to be centered in our borough.”–Jagpreet Singh, organizer with Desis Rising Up & Moving (DRUM) 

In the first weeks of 2025, our undocumented friends and neighbors are dreading the onset of Trump’s deportation plans. Many of the immigrant justice organizations are on high alert. Both DRUM and Make the Road NY say they have been preparing for the incoming presidential administration:

“Throughout this year, we’ve been preparing our community for this. We’ve been preparing basically this entire year. I think we’re in a better spot than we would have been if this was unexpected.” —Jagpreet Singh, organizer with DRUM  

 “It is a very dark time when New York City, which has always thought of itself as a sanctuary space, that our mayor would even willingly meet with this new border czar. It sets a tone that New York City is not for immigrants, and it puts a target on the back of immigrants.”—Luba Cortes, immigration lead organizer, Make the Road New York 

Make the Road NY, with the help of the Immigrant Defense Project, has created one of the most comprehensive preparedness resources: the Deportation Defense Manual. MTRNY’s website also offers current resources and downloadable flyers, including their recent Stay Safe! How to Protect Yourself in a Trump Administration.

The Defense Manual, available in Spanish and English, has three major parts and several useful appendixes. Part 1: Know Your Rights provides details for dealing with ICE at home, on the street, while driving, or at work. The main message from Part 1 is to not open the door unless ICE shows you a judicial warrant (sample on p. 19). Be calm and remain silent. You do not have to say anything or provide any information. (Your 4th and 5th Amendment rights should protect you from incriminating yourself and/or unlawful search and seizure.) You can say “I want to exercise my right to remain silent.” and “I do not consent to a search.” Ask for an interpreter. Ask to talk to an immigration attorney before signing anything. If you see someone being detained, take photos and write down all the information about the encounter. (Appendix D has a form to use.) Call the Immigrant Defense Project help line (212-725-6422).  Part I ends with extremely important guidance for how to protect your children by creating a plan now, and Appendix C has a comprehensive family preparedness checklist.

Part 2: Rapid Response to Raids provides information needed to support someone or a family after an ICE raid. What information do you need to have about the detained loved one? How to find a lawyer, and how to visit someone in detention? (pp. 28-31).

Part 3: Deportation Defense lists strategies to organize support for an individual who has been detained. How to organize the community to support a detained person? How to create a fundraising campaign or put pressure on government agencies? (pp. 42-44 and Appendix F).

Finally, Appendix G has multiple copyable flyers with rights information to distribute.

WHAT WE CAN DO?

 

In solidarity and with collective care,

Jackson Heights Immigrant Solidarity Network (JHISN)

 

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JHISN Newsletter 12/14/2024

Posted on December 14, 2024 by - News, Newsletter

Dear friends,

 As New York City sits on the precipice of the largest mass deportation in US history as threatened by Trump, the city’s Mayor—indicted under federal charges of corruption and abuse of power—sat down this week with incoming “border czar” Tom Homan. Discussion topic: Adams’ cooperation with the feds’ deportation plans. Already on record saying, “I’m not going to be warring with this administration, I’m going to be working with this administration,” Mayor Adams declared after the meeting that he will consider using executive power to change the city’s sanctuary laws to expedite deportations. Homan declared that the meeting “went great.” 

Immigrant justice activists, including Make the Road NY and Adhikaar, rallied outside City Hall during the Adams-Homan meeting to oppose our city’s collaboration with Trump’s promised spectacle of punishment, caging, and exile.

JHISN will continue to highlight, and fight for, immigrant justice struggles as the enemies of justice gather power and popular support. This week’s newsletter reports again on the draconian Operation Restore Roosevelt and its militarized presence in our neighborhood. We then look at how national immigrant advocacy organizations are stepping up in the face of the incoming administration’s anti-immigrant violence and scapegoating.  

Newsletter highlights:
  1. Roosevelt Avenue: new home for NYPD and NY state troopers
  2. Immigrant advocates gear up for the struggle

1. Political Fault Line on Roosevelt Ave.

Roosevelt  Avenue, along with its plazas, has long been known for its vibrant street life. It’s a microcosm of working-class New York: a human tapestry of immigrant vendors from all over the world, creating an ever-changing, 24-hour open-air market and food destination in the shadow of the elevated 7 train. Today, the Avenue is mostly blank concrete and asphalt. And cops, hundreds of cops. Cops hassling street vendors and sex workers. Cops supervising the bulk seizure of unregistered e-bikes and mopeds. Cops just standing around, in pairs and groups, owning the street.

Answer Triangle, Roosevelt Avenue, May 2024

 

Answer Triangle, December 2024

This new, dreary, police state version of Roosevelt Avenue comes to us courtesy of Operation Restore Roosevelt, a 90-day enforcement crackdown previously described by JHISN (10/26/24). The crackdown is the brainchild of an energetic conservative initiative called the Let’s Improve Roosevelt Coalition, led by disgraced right-wing politician Hiram Monserrate, local church groups, embattled Mayor Adams, and City Councilmember Francisco Moya.

Operation Restore Roosevelt represents another advance for a spreading right-wing politics of respectability and scapegoating of recent immigrants. The current cop takeover of Roosevelt Avenue builds on an earlier conservative victory: largely destroying the internationally famous and much-loved vendor marketplace at Corona Plaza. Operation Restore Roosevelt is an even bigger spectacle of morality policing and criminalization, again directed at the poorest and most vulnerable immigrants in our community.

Acknowledging that there are long-standing problems with crowding and trash on Roosevelt, progressive politicians have attempted to get ahead of the conservative groundswell by promoting their own improvement plans for the Avenue. After Operation Restore Roosevelt was announced in mid-October, State Assembly member Jessica González-Rojas held a roundtable discussion on how to prevent sex trafficking in the community without police action. City Councilmember Shekar Krishnan and Assemblymembers Steven Raga and Catalina Cruz quickly announced a “7 Point Plan,” emphasizing social services, licensing, inspections and infrastructure improvements rather than massive police presence. Cruz told the Queens Eagle:

“I think historically, there has been a relationship of fear, and that’s the reality of the members of the community with the police. It cannot be the only measure or solution…because if the only approach is enforcement, we’re going to have the exact same result that we’ve had for the last 10 years.”

Conservative organizers told news outlet QNS that they “repudiated any efforts by ‘radical fringe groups’ to oppose the policing plan and ‘return control’ of Roosevelt Avenue to cartels and street gangs.” Nevertheless, the 7 Point Plan has had recent mainstream successes. It was endorsed by Leslie Ramos of the 82nd St. Business Improvement District. Also, Governor Hochul just agreed to provide a million dollars to support four local grassroots organizations in implementing the Plan. The organizations include New Immigrant Community Empowerment, AIDS Center of Queens County, Korean American Family Service Center, and Commonpoint. 

It should be noted that Leslie Ramos and Hochul each originally supported Operation Restore Roosevelt––Hochul even supplied state troopers to beef it up. But they also are both aware that the police crackdown on the Avenue is due to end in January, while the 7 Point Plan aims for long-lasting solutions.

Looming in the background of the struggle over Roosevelt Avenue is the issue of big money real estate development. As JHISN previously reported, there has been major controversy over the proposed Metropolitan Park casino project, a giant development which would be adjacent to Roosevelt Avenue. The plan is slowly advancing, despite resistance by many progressives including State Senator Jessica Ramos. Part of the Senator’s concern about the plan, which a majority of her constituents oppose, is that it would bring the wrong kind of development and visitors to Roosevelt Avenue. “Why are casinos our prime economic development idea in New York City?”, she asks. Meanwhile, Mayor Adams’ new “City of Yes” housing plan, which was just passed by the City Council, eases zoning requirements and promotes larger scale real estate development along transit lines, such as the 7 train.

Battle lines on Roosevelt Avenue are being drawn according to where to assign blame for economic problems and quality of life issues. One group of activists has chosen to “punch down” at their most vulnerable immigrant neighbors, resorting to criminalization and demonization. While another group of activists is promoting social solidarity, demanding that all levels of government, community and business live up to their responsibility to provide work opportunity and social services in an environment free from repression and fear.

WHAT CAN WE DO?
  • Consider volunteering with New Immigrant Community Empowerment (NICE) here in Jackson Heights.
  • Subscribe to the Street Vendor Project’s newsletter.

2. Strategies for Future Immigrant Advocacy

“As the new Trump administration takes office, Adhikaar stands resolute in our commitment to grassroots organizing and providing essential, direct services to our community.” —Adhikaar Newsletter (11/15/24)

Last weekend the US president-elect stated clearly his intent to circumvent the 14th amendment in his pursuit to end birthright citizenship. This came after he proposed placing anti-immigrant hardliner and family separator, Tom Homan “in charge of our Nation’s Borders”. They plan to create the largest deportation force in US history, violating the rule of law, by using the US military on home soil despite knowing there are serious financial, legal, and logistical obstacles. Trump’s heartless strategy to avoid separating families that have a mix of undocumented members and citizens is to deport the entire family.

Also last weekend, in counterpoint, the National Immigration Inclusion Conference was held in Texas. The three-day gathering showcased immigrant groups’ intersectional approach to stand against the current and future administration. Building justice coalitions with unions and anti-racist, gender, housing, and youth groups, was a significant daily focus. Also on the agenda were sessions about turning arts and storytelling into impact strategies, examining how funders can support immigrant rights, and discussing various legal and mobilization strategies that the 1,500 people from 450 groups in attendance can implement.

Another organization that brings together immigrant advocacy support is Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees. At their two-day 2024 Convening, just a week before the election, they examined:

  • the state of the immigrant justice movement 
  • power-building strategies
  • how to intersect immigrant justice with racial justice
  • strategies for amplifying groups historically excluded from philanthropic investment. They called on funders “to act boldly, moving beyond financial investments to leverage their privilege and power to tackle the challenges that deny individuals the freedom to stay, move, work, transform, and thrive.”

Immigration Equality is an intersectional advocacy group that focuses on immigration rights for LGBTQ and HIV-positive people in the US. They recently published their Strategic Plan for 2024-2026 which includes demands for equity, secure paths to safety for LGBTQ refugees, robust resources for legal and self-help, and training enforcement officers and judges. They also demand the release of all LGBTQ and HIV-positive people from immigration detention centers.

Simply put—immigrant advocacy organizations are not silenced by Trump’s election victory and vicious rhetoric. They continue to work and provide the support their communities need.

According to Naomi Braine, a longtime activist and sociologist at CUNY, any thought of “resignation and retreat” is largely confined to people “who have never been engaged with sustained forms of action and resistance”. The election, she says, hasn’t affected the immigrant rights movement as a whole. The President of the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC), Murad Awawdeh, stated after the election, “We’re going to fight it…we’re as prepared, if not more prepared than the first time around.” He identified a three-prong approach: protests, local legislation, and lawsuits. Soon after that statement, NYIC published its 10-year Blueprint for Immigrant Progress and Justice. In November, Manuel Castro of NYC’s Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs said they are working with all community groups and agencies to ensure everyone understands the sanctuary laws of our city. 

New York Congressman, Adriano Espaillat, is running unopposed to lead the Congressional Hispanic Caucus in the next Congress. He has said he will oppose any efforts to pursue the additional threat of denaturalizations as promoted by American Firster Stephen Miller. “I think it’s a radical approach, one that is unprecedented in America, and I think that the vast majority of American people will oppose it as well.” The ACLU is also looking at various ways to oppose deportations. Their National Prison Project is looking to shine a light on the shadowy operations of the deportation machine. Using Freedom of Information litigation, the ACLU is preparing lawsuits against mass detention and deportation actions. One of the organization’s recent public record lawsuits demands more details about ICE Air, the government’s method for carrying out deportation flights.

To immigrant advocates, legal support, and immigrant rights groups, the threat of deportation and anti-immigrant rhetoric and legislation is simply not new. Advocates have been providing groups with Know Your Rights materials and are now adding to their presentations family safety planning. They also anticipate a marked escalation of what was seen during the first Trump administration. They anticipate drastic changes without any prior announcements from the administration and will rely on word of mouth as a way for people to learn about what is happening. As Adhikaar concluded in their newsletter:

“The election outcome is a reminder of the entrenched systems that seek to undermine the rights and dignity of marginalized communities…We refuse to let our communities be silenced or pushed into the shadows. Together, we will continue to build power, advocate for justice, and demand a future where all can thrive with dignity and self-determination.”

WHAT CAN WE DO?

 

In solidarity and with collective care,

Jackson Heights Immigrant Solidarity Newsletter (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 11/16/2024

Posted on November 16, 2024 by - News, Newsletter

Dear friends, 

Like many of you, we are caught in a nightmare interlude where our worst fears are not yet real but visible in a gathering storm. Trump and the MAGA movement’s capture of national power is a threat to so much—Constitutional protections, the power of truth, hard-won victories of anti-racism and feminism, Palestinian solidarity, economic justice, historical memory, our beloved communities. But nothing is more threatened right now than the lives of undocumented immigrants residing in the US and especially in New York City. Strengthening our practice of immigrant solidarity, and in the face of voting data showing a dramatic increase in established immigrant-citizens voting for a fascist president, will require collaboration and work. Please. Do not give up.

We offer an article on the pending court decision re: DACA recipients, affecting the lives of over 530,000 Dreamers. We then give our first take on the post-election US landscape of both dread and resistance. 

Newsletter highlights:
  1. DACA decision pending
  2. The votes are in: what next for immigrant politics?   

1. Conservative 5th Circuit Court May Decide Dreamers’ Fate

“DACA has always been only a temporary solution, and Congress must act to provide certainty.” —Jennie Murray, President and CEO of the National Immigration Forum

Over 300 protesters participated in the Home is Here Coalition’s action in New Orleans last month. On October 10, they gathered at the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals where judges listened to the latest arguments about the legality of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) initiative. This was the 14th hearing that has been held to challenge this program; this one specifically challenged recent efforts by the Biden Administration to turn DACA into a federal regulation to protect it from future legal action.

Congress has repeatedly failed to pass laws related to undocumented US residents who have lived here since childhood. It could establish legal pathways to citizenship for young ‘Dreamers’ who have started careers, created families, bought homes, and built businesses in the US. But, for a dozen years, DACA has been the sole program that provided them any federal protection.

The US Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in United States vs. Texas determined that states cannot challenge the federal government’s authority to establish immigration priorities. However, the 5th Circuit Court has challenged that rule, when it prevented US Customs and Border Protection from removing the razor wire that the Texas National Guard placed on land and in the water to harm migrants along the Mexican border.

“In recent years, the 5th Circuit, which serves Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi, has allowed extremist lower court judges to issue sweeping, politically fraught rulings that advance right-wing policy positions…[T]he court has used flimsy legal theories to overturn decades of precedent.“–Center for American Progress

While a majority of Americans want our leaders to create legislative security for Dreamers, many Republican states argue they have incurred damages and injuries from spending millions of dollars on DACA recipients. MALDEF, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, represented DACA recipients at the 5th Circuit court hearing and argued those allegations are not proven. 

There is no timeline by which the court must rule on these latest arguments. To some following this case, the court panel seemed divided. During the 71-minute discussion, there was speculation about whether Texas has legal standing to challenge the DACA program. One of the three judges cited briefs filed by 22 Democratic-led states detailing the economic benefits that program recipients had brought to their communities. “How could a single judge tell all 22 other states, who are so grateful for these people, that actually they’ve all got to leave the United States?” asked Judge Higginson. Despite this, people following the latest challenges to DACA anticipate the case will move to the Supreme Court no matter the outcome.

The fanatical and belligerent America First Legal (AFL) organization supports this latest legal attack on DACA. AFL was founded in 2021 by Stephen Miller, a hatemonger anti-immigration hard-liner, and soon-to-be deputy chief of policy in the next Trump administration, whose tactic is to demonize immigrants. Fortunately, there are organizations such as the President’s Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration that filed an amicus brief supporting MALDEF’s defense of DACA. Many New York universities and colleges signed on to the brief, noting how Dreamers have outperformed peers and made significant contributions to society. Map the Impact data shows how DACA-eligible individuals contribute billions to the US economy. Deporting DACA recipients would cost $60 billion and result in a $280 billion economic loss over the next decade. Map the Impact also notes that immigrants, who provide for our most vital healthcare needs, are twice as likely to work as home health aides, physicians, and surgeons.

And so we wait. The court may rule that DACA is legal. It may rule that Texas and other states have no injury and so cannot bring suit. It may agree with a prior 5th Circuit court ruling from 2023 which declared DACA unlawful. If that last possibility becomes true then it can only be hoped that the court will not order DACA to end suddenly. If DACA renewals are ended, then an estimated 1,000 DACA recipients would be forced out of their jobs every week for the next two years. It would disrupt not only DACA recipients, but their families, their workplaces, and their communities.

“We all should be clear-eyed about who and what is at stake in the DACA case. It goes beyond immigration policy and law and straight to the question of what type of country we aspire to. Hundreds of thousands of Dreamers have relied on DACA to become, quite literally, the embodiment of the American Dream.” – Vanessa Cárdenas, Executive Director, America’s Voice

WHAT CAN WE DO?

2. Heartbreak and Defiance 

“We have had an enormous setback in this election because the fascists won a lot of working-class support. ”  –Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

It will take some time to come to grips with all the implications of the MAGA takeover of the White House and Senate. But we already know that it means trouble for immigrants and asylum seekers. Immigrant justice organizations on the national and local levels are digging in for a long, hard fight. In the immediate aftermath of the election, many of them—including NICE, Make the Road New York, the National Day Laborer Network, Chhaya, and the New York Immigration Coalition—released statements on social media and in email blasts that combined heartbreak and defiance. In a November 7 email message to supporters, United We Dream summed up this widespread dual sentiment:

“I’m not going to lie, it’s going to be hard. We must unapologetically oppose Trump at every turn. But we’re not giving up. Home is here, and we’re here to stay.”

Since migration and the border have become central to US politics, grassroots immigrant justice groups will undoubtedly play a leading role in opposing the Trump/Vance administration’s fascist agenda. In this respect, NYC activism might serve as a model for the whole country. In fact, the resistance has already started locally. On November 9, a mass rally was held at Columbus Circle, sponsored by dozens of organizations.  

One striking feature of the recent election is that voter attitudes toward immigrants and refugees have hardened quickly and dramatically. According to the New York Times, the percentage of those who want the US to clamp down on immigration went from 28 percent in 2020 to 55 percent this July. As we have recently reported, many people also say they support Trump’s threat of mass deportations.

Even more disturbing is that many immigrants have come to share these views.  Exit polls show that large numbers of Latino and Asian voters in Queens and the Bronx backed Trump. In a “pronounced shift,” the Right’s rhetoric and false narratives about asylum seekers—including the slander that asylum seekers are criminals and economic parasites—have gained traction among more established immigrants. On Instagram, the National Day Laborer Network commented acerbically: “45% of the Latinos/as who voted, voted for Trump. 54% of the Latino males who voted, voted for Trump. Aligning with whiteness, especially if you are a dark skin Latino, to feel powerful is an illusion.”

Persistence and determination will certainly be crucial to the resistance. But to fight back effectively, progressive activists will have to find ways to re-establish mass support for immigration and asylum, including rebuilding unity among immigrants and refugees themselves.

“As an immigrant myself and an activist who lived through Trump’s first presidency, I have seen firsthand the impact of his policies. I also had, and continue to have, the privilege to witness how New Yorkers united to defend and advocate for our immigrant neighbors, families and friends.”  –Nilbia Coyote, Executive Director, New Immigrant Community Empowerment (email Nov.7)

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 09/28/2024

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 08/17/2024

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.