Tag: ProtectImmigrants

JHISN Newsletter 04/08/2023

Posted on April 8, 2023 by - News, Newsletter

Dear friends,

We offer two stories this week of immigrant justice struggles here in New York City. First, we report on Mayor Adams’ betrayal of a hard-won agreement between street vendors and the City to decrease harassment and increase new permits for vendors. We then take a brief look at the brewing battle for a fair and equitable 2024 NYC budget that protects essential services for all New Yorkers.  

Finally, with grief and outrage, we mark the deaths of 39 migrants in a blaze inside a detention center just across the border from El Paso, Texas, on March 27. The fatal fire is the latest evidence of the inhumane conditions in which growing numbers of asylum seekers and refugees are being held in Mexico, under pressure from the US government to stall their entry into the US.  

Newsletter highlights:
  1. Adams administration undermines agreement with street vendors
  2. A People’s Budget for NYC fiscal year 2024

1. Street Vendors Under Attack

“We are not a public safety issue. We are vendors, and we are what makes New York City great.” –Guadalupe Sosa, longtime Harlem street vendor

Street vendors’ epic struggle for economic survival and respect on NYC streets has recently suffered a sharp setback. The bad news for vendors—almost all immigrants—began with a March 8 news conference, at which Flushing City Councilmember Sandra Ung launched a petition in English, Chinese, and Korean demanding strict enforcement of city street vending regulations. In particular, Ung called for clearing out a downtown Flushing no-vending zone approved by the Council in 2018. Standing alongside the executive director of the Flushing Business Improvement District (BID), with a group of like-minded brick-and-mortar business people, Ung characterized Flushing’s crowded street vendor scene as a threat to public safety. She described “out of control” street vending as a vector for counterfeit goods, live seafood, and illegal cannabis.

Quickly seizing the opening provided by Ung, the Adams administration suddenly transferred enforcement of street vending regulations from the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) to the Sanitation Department (DSNY) and its police force, effective April 1. DSNY has been heavily criticized in the past for summarily crushing street vendor property in its garbage trucks.

Putting vendors at the mercy of the DSNY Police undermines a careful agreement reached by vendors, the City Council, and Mayor de Blasio in 2021. This plan included the formation of a Street Vendor Advisory Board with a range of stakeholders, de-emphasis on police action, and substantial increases in the number of vending permits, which have been almost impossible to get for decades. Before April 1, the spirit of this agreement had already been violated by the Adams administration, which implemented major increases in inspections and ticketing. New permits, meanwhile, have been repeatedly delayed.

Street vendor advocates responded to the latest development with shock and anger. “What message is the administration sending us? Are they considering us trash that needs to be picked up?” asked Mohamed Attia, executive director of the Street Vendor Project (SVP). Vendors complained that neither the Advisory Board nor the City Council had been consulted about Adams’ change.

Shortly after the mayor signaled his intentions, a March 16 demonstration at City Hall promoted a different path: full and immediate implementation of the 2021 street vendor agreement. This event was attended by many politicians, including Councilmembers Shekar Krishnan, Oswald Feliz, Shahana Hanif, and Tiffany Cabán. At another protest on March 22, after Adams’ plan was formalized, protesters demanded its reversal. Organized by Councilmember Sandy Nurse, chair of the Sanitation Committee, the demonstration included Alexa Aviles, Pierina Sanchez, and Queens reps Jennifer Gutierrez and Julie Won. Street vendors also have elected allies at the state level, where Assemblymember Jessica González-Rojas and state Senator Jessica Ramos have been promoting matching bills that would uncap vending permits, create a fair and equitable street vending licensing program, and expunge the records of vendor violations.

The issues surrounding street vendors have exposed differences along class and ideological lines within NYC immigrant communities. While members of the City Council’s Progressive Caucus from immigrant families have strongly supported the vendors, other immigrant Democrats, like Sandra Ung and her predecessor Peter Koo, have taken the side of brick-and-mortar businesses and “law and order.” Ung, elected in 2021, is carefully navigating the political cross-currents in her district. Speaking about changes in Asian voting patterns in the city, she commented, “I recognized at the very early stage that my constituents, the community, their views are probably not going to be aligned with the progressive caucus stances.”

Immigrant street vendors have more immediate concerns. They are worried about becoming enmeshed in the legal system. And they feel that their economic survival is imperiled. As vendor Guadalupe Sosa puts it, “It’s traumatizing and heartbreaking when you spend your savings and all your time preparing your merchandise or cooking what you sell just for the health department to come alongside with NYPD to dump or confiscate your merchandise into a garbage truck.” 

WHAT CAN WE DO?

2. Immigrant Justice Groups Support a People’s Budget

“Budgets are moral documents.” –attributed to Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Financial budgets are maps of action priorities, worldly statements of what will be valued and what will not. In February, Mayor Adams released a preliminary fiscal year 2024 NYC budget that defunds and devalues core city services including libraries, education, CUNY, and pre-K for 3-year-olds. Just days ago, on April 4, he ordered another round of 4% cuts for almost all city agencies—on top of two previous rounds last year of mandatory 3% cuts. One of the administration’s justifications for the new cuts is the unexpected costs of the city’s migrant crisis.

Local immigration groups including DRUM (Desis Rising Up and Moving) and Make The Road NY are fighting back with the People’s Budget #CareNotCuts. The coalition of groups supporting a People’s Budget campaign state clearly:

“These harmful cuts most deeply impact low-income New Yorkers of color who rely on the City’s public safety net, schools, and institutions. The Mayor’s budget cuts are unacceptable for a city that is home to the most billionaires in the world …. In the long run, divesting from these necessities will make NYC a less safe, stable, healthy, and desirable place to live.”

In response to the Mayor’s proposed cuts in the preliminary $102.7 billion budget, the City Council announced this week that they’ve identified $1.3 billion in taxpayer monies that the city can use to avoid additional cuts to core services. A budget agreement between the Mayor and the City Council must be reached by July 1. Join immigrant justice and local progressive groups in demanding a fair and just budget that meets the needs of all New Yorkers.

WHAT CAN WE DO?
  • Use this Action Network link to send an e-letter to Mayor Adams and the City Council in support of a People’s Budget.

 

In solidarity and with collective care,

Jackson Heights Immigrant Solidarity Network (JHISN)

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

 

 

JHISN Newsletter 02/11/2023

Posted on February 11, 2023 by - News, Newsletter

Dear friends,

The immigration news headlines this past week have been grim. A 26-year-old immigrant attempted suicide on Wednesday at the city’s new ‘migrant shelter’ in Red Hook where hundreds of men are being warehoused in inhumane conditions. At ICE’s Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, WA, private guards sprayed chemical agents on detainees who had launched a hunger strike to protest bad food, unpaid labor, and harassment. 

Beneath the headlines, at a slower tempo and often out of sight, struggles for immigrant justice continue. We report on the ongoing mobilization demanding the establishment of an official NYC school holiday to mark Diwali—a major holiday celebrated by many communities here in Jackson Heights. And as we highlight the unprecedented number of immigration cases backed up in our dysfunctional US immigration system, we ally with all those calling for truly independent immigration courts. 

Newsletter highlights: 
  1. Celebrating Diwali as an official school holiday
  2. Unprecedented backlog of US immigration cases 

1. When Will Diwali Be Recognized?

“If I trusted the mayor by his words, then Diwali would have been made a school holiday on Jan. 1, because that is the promise that he made during his campaign.” –Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani

For more than 20 years, NYC’s South Asian and Indo-Caribbean communities have been trying to get Diwali—the pan-religious Festival of Light—recognized as a school holiday. Hundreds of thousands of local Hindu, Jain, Sikh, and Buddhist residents celebrate the five-day Fall holiday, which is embraced by more than a billion people around the world. But so far, neither the city nor the state has mustered the will to include Diwali on the school calendar. A new initiative in Albany is raising hopes but also provoking criticism and doubts.

In 2013, Jackson Heights City Councilperson Daniel Dromm and 16 co-sponsors were unable to get a local Diwali school holiday bill passed. Dromm tried again, without success, in 2018. At the state level, Assemblyperson Jenifer Rajkumar’s 2021 Diwali bill never made it out of committee. But many advocates were convinced that 2022 would be the breakthrough year. Before his election, Mayor Adams publicly promised that once elected, he “would take his oath of office and walk into City Hall and ‘sign it into a holiday.’”

That did not happen. Adams has adopted a new position: there is no room on the school calendar, because of the state’s requirement for 180 days of instruction. Making Diwali a holiday, he now claims, requires substituting it for another holiday, which in turn requires state approval. Mamdani strongly disputes this, noting that Adams himself had previously dismissed scheduling concerns: “There are ways to move around the calendar to get the required number of days,” Adams once told Politico. South Queens district leader Richard David points out that “whenever the city punts to Albany, it’s always a little unpredictable, and you don’t really know what’s going to happen there.” 

Many private schools in NYC already treat Diwali as a holiday. Some parents question “why Adams can’t follow his predecessor’s example when former Mayor Bill de Blasio added the Asian Lunar New Year and the Muslim holidays Eid Al-Fitr and Eid Al-Adha as fixtures on the city schools calendar.” Fed-up families have resorted to simply taking their children out of school for Diwali on their own.

While the press put a harsh spotlight on Adams’ broken promise, advocates continued to apply pressure. In September, a public school student coalition circulated a petition for the Diwali holiday which gathered almost 5,000 signatures. Finally, in October, Adams joined forces with Rajkumar and Schools Chancellor David Banks in announcing a new initiative. The plan is to get the state legislature to substitute Diwali for “Brooklyn-Queens Day” or “Anniversary Day,” a holiday commemorating the founding of the first Sunday school in Brooklyn in the 1800s. The public announcement of the new Diwali initiative had a triumphal quality, as if it was already a done deal. NBC News said that Diwali “will be a school holiday in 2023.” So did NPR and TimeOut New York. Others were more cautious: “Even with over two dozen state lawmakers signed onto the legislation, community leaders in Queens remain skeptical of the efforts being made to complete a promise that they say has been made to them before,” the Queens Daily Eagle reported.

On November 2, the new City Council held a Diwali celebration in its chambers. On January 25, dozens of lawmakers and activists gathered in Albany to lobby for a bill to carry out the Rajkumar/Adams/Banks substitution plan. In the Assembly, Queens co-sponsors include Steven Raga (D-Woodside), Ed Braunstein (D-Bayside), Catalina Cruz (D-Corona), Khaleel Anderson (D-Far Rockaway) and Zohran Mamdani (D-Astoria). The sole sponsor of the matching bill in the Senate is Flushing Democrat John Liu. Rajkumar observes that “we have never seen such enthusiasm for this cause.” 

Will 2023 be the year Diwali makes it onto the public school calendar in NYC? Advocates say it is possible, if the state legislature gives approval by July. 

WHAT CAN WE DO?
  • Follow the fight for a Diwali holiday at the Diwali Coalition Twitter feed.
  • See footage of Diwali being celebrated in India in this short video.

 

2. Dramatic Backlog in US Immigration System

“When I started [as a lawyer] about 15 years ago, I could take on an asylum case, and within a three-month time frame you’d get a hearing before a judge. Now that time frame has stretched up to a five-year waiting period just to get a court date.” –Karla McKanders, Director, Vanderbilt Law School Immigration Practice Clinic

The numbers are stunning. Over 2 million pending cases in immigration courts at the end of 2022—a number that has more than doubled in the past 5 years. 9.5 million pending applications at US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) as of February 2022, with a surging backlog. At least 1,565,966 asylum seekers currently waiting for immigration hearings in the US, according to TRAC’s Immigration Project.

Behind these numbers are real people living in limbo for months and years, and spiraling stories of partners, families, beloveds, children, workplaces, and communities trying to manage profound uncertainty while sustaining hope and connection.

There are multiple reasons for the growing case backlogs. One major culprit is a history of underfunding of the immigration court system under both Democrat and Republican administrations, which has led to shortages of staff, technology, and resources. COVID shutdowns certainly played a role. Increased migration over the past decade due to economic dispossession, state violence, and environmental devastation is a factor. Also, the Trump administration intentionally jammed the immigration machinery, weakening due process protections in US immigration courts, while simultaneously increasing bureaucratic obstacles to legal immigration.

And there is no easy fix. There are no less than five different federal agencies involved with immigration processing, and four different congressional appropriations committees that fund—and underfund—their work. Right-wing electeds are actively working to slow the wheels of legal immigration while maximizing detention and deportation. Bringing down the number of backlogged immigration cases isn’t an easy target for grassroots activism. And the complexity of the US immigration bureaucracy makes popular education about the backlog difficult. All this contributes to a problem that feels increasingly intractable even as it grows more consequential.  

One step in the right direction for reforming the dysfunctional and backlogged immigration system would be for Congress to create and fully fund truly independent US immigration courts. For historically perverse reasons, US immigration courts are currently housed in the executive branch, under the jurisdiction of the Department of Justice-–a law enforcement agency. Together with the American Bar Association and the National Association of Immigration Judges, we support a separate immigration court system that, like other parts of the US judiciary, has meaningful autonomy from the whims of executive branch authority and is less subject to political pressure. An independent, accountable immigration court system might help to bring justice to the hundreds of thousands of lives currently stalled by the unprecedented backlog of pending immigration cases.

 

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. 

Feature Image – Khokarahman, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

 

 

JHISN Newsletter 01/28/2023

Posted on January 28, 2023 by - News, Newsletter

Dear friends,

We are excited to bring you news about recent changes, and accomplishments, at Damayan—a local immigrant justice group that some of our readers already know well. With Woodside now home to ‘Little Manila’ and over half of all Filipino New Yorkers living in Queens, Damayan’s grassroots work is vital to our community. We also introduce you to public events organized by the Zolberg Institute on Migration and Mobility housed at The New School, with a summary of their recent webinar on US border politics and Biden’s new asylum policy.  

Newsletter highlights:
  1. Damayan celebrates 20 years of Filipino organizing
  2. Public webinar on Biden’s betrayal of asylum seekers

1. DAMAYAN at 20

“Sa loob ng 20 dekada, nanatili ang Damayan na matatag sa pananaw na anti-imperialista, bumuo ng malinaw na vision at mission, at mga strategies para gumabay sa mga tulad nating domestic workers… [For 2 decades, Damayan has remained steadfast in its anti-imperialist vision, developed a clear vision and mission, and strategies to guide domestic workers like us…] —Rose Alovera, Damayan Board Member

Damayan Migrant Workers Association’s mission is to “organize low-wage Filipino workers to combat labor trafficking, promote human and worker’s rights, and develop social justice leaders.” At the end of 2022, Damayan—many of whose 1500+ members live in Queens—made several major announcements at their 20th Anniversary and Annual Holiday Party.

Perhaps the most important news was that Riya Ortiz, a long-time organizer with Damayan, has been selected as the group’s new Executive Director. Ortiz said, “My family’s experience of forced migration and years of organizing and activism convinced me to embrace the vision and mission of Damayan.” Co-founder and outgoing ED Linda Oalican will transition out of office in the first quarter of this year, after two decades of what Damayan praised as “providing critical services, educating, organizing, and mobilizing Filipino migrant workers in New York and New Jersey.”

One of Damayan’s key accomplishments in 2022 was to help more than 200 Filipino workers receive a total of over $3 million from the New York State Excluded Workers Fund. Last year, Damayan assisted a record number of workers to gain visa approval, and secured financial assistance for 26 trafficking survivors through the federal Trafficking Victims Assistance Program. In a display of the group’s broad community support, Damayan’s recent holiday fundraiser easily surpassed its goal, raising over $22,000 from more than 170 donors.

JHISN congratulates Damayan and outgoing ED Lina Oalican on 20 years of impressive achievements in the fight for social justice. We extend our solidarity to new ED Ortiz, and to all Damayan’s Directors, activists, and members. 

WHAT CAN WE DO?
  • If you are able, please donate to Damayan!
  • Attend the tribute to outgoing Executive Director Linda Oalican on February 25th.

2. Asylum Betrayed: Biden’s Border Politics and Title 42

On January 13, The New School’s Zolberg Institute on Migration and Mobility here in NYC hosted an important webinar, “Asylum Betrayed: Biden’s Border Politics and Title 42.” The Institute offers courses, sponsors lectures, and events, and supports critical scholarship on all aspects of migration. The webinar discussion featured Eleanor Acar, director of the Refugee Protection Program at Human Rights First, Alexandra Delano Alonzo, professor and chair of Global Studies at The New School, and Lee Gelernt, Deputy Director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project. 

Participants reviewed multiple aspects of US immigration policy and highlighted problems with President Biden’s January 5 announcement of a new “parole” plan for migrants from Nicaragua, Cuba, and Haiti. This scheme will allow up to 30,000 migrants per month to enter the US for a period of two years and receive work authorization, but will require everybody to apply from their home country, have a sponsor in the US, and pass background checks. Anyone trying to enter in any other way will be expelled under the controversial “pandemic emergency” authority of Title 42 and will be disqualified from the program in the future. Mexico has agreed to accept 30,000 of those expelled each month. 

All webinar participants appreciated the value of providing migrants with a legal path for entry, but rejected the use of Title 42 to punish those unable to meet the requirements of parole. The Biden program is designed to favor people with family connections in the US and with financial resources. Some migrants with good cases for asylum will likely be expelled–-a violation of international law.

The webinar offered updated information about cross-border immigration to the US: 

  • Of the “2 million migrants” said to have recently crossed the southern border, many are actually people who were expelled and who then re-crossed, getting counted two or more times. Ms. Acer explained that the restrictive policies of former president Trump are the main cause of the ballooning numbers, not the weaknesses of Democrats’ border policy.
  • Among migrants recently expelled to Mexico under Title 42, some 13,400 are victims of kidnapping or rape. 
  • For the past three years, there has effectively been a halt to asylum—a clear violation of international law and stated US values, according to Mr. Gelernt.
  • The Mexican asylum system is already overburdened and underfunded and will have difficulty absorbing 30,000 additional migrants per month. It is not known why Mexico has agreed to accept people expelled by the US, but Dr. Delano Alonzo said the Mexican administration might be anticipating some sort of economic quid pro quo.

Biden’s new parole plan has been strongly criticized by many immigrant justice and advocacy organizations as well as by four Democratic senators who are usually White House allies—Senators Alex Padilla (California), Bob Menendez and Cory Booker (New Jersey), and Ben Ray Luján (New Mexico). One biting public statement against “parole” came from Murad Awawdeh, Executive Director of the New York Immigration Coalition:

“President Biden’s plan to expel those who attempt to cross the border … is an attack on the humanitarian values and obligations of the United States. This plan needlessly endangers the lives of those crossing the border in search of basic freedom in our country, and succumbs to the fearmongering espoused by anti-immigrant conservatives. . . . Rather than limiting humanitarian parole for just a select few with family connections and financial privilege, the Biden administration must expand additional protections for all asylum seekers, so that our country can fulfill its humanitarian obligations and provide opportunity and freedom for all.”

 

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 11/12/2022

Posted on November 12, 2022 by - News, Newsletter

Dear friends,

One of the joys of living in Jackson Heights is our vibrant street life, animated by a rich array of food carts and a lively culture of street vending. But behind this sidewalk cheer lies the reality of struggle for immigrant vendors, whose numbers have increased during the pandemic as economic life becomes more precarious. We report this week on the current impasse in NYC street vendors’ fight for legal rights and municipal support.

We also take a look at the housing justice work of Chhaya—a Jackson Heights-based organization serving local South Asian and Indo-Caribbean communities—in the wake of the fatal storm last year that killed 11 basement tenants, including families here in Central Queens.  

Newsletter highlights
  1. Street vendors’ struggle continues
  2. Chhaya works to legalize basement apartments 

1. Street Vendors: Justice Delayed

Despite the passage of City Council legislation aimed at protecting their rights, NYC’s street vendors—almost all immigrants—continue to face daily harassment and disrespect by the city administration. Politicians’ solemn promises to provide new permits and fairer law enforcement have gone unfulfilled.

There are an estimated 20,000 street vendors in the city. Some envision street vending as a step towards a brick-and-mortar store—perhaps following the footsteps of the Arepa Lady of Jackson Heights, Maria Piedad Cano, who is legendary for parlaying a cart on Roosevelt Avenue into a popular restaurant on 37th Avenue. Many more vendors are just trying to survive, including thousands who lost jobs during the pandemic. A vendor in Flushing, who asked to be called Wong, told Documented:

“It’s really tiring and to be honest I don’t really want to be doing this but I can’t do anything else…. I’m pretty old and I looked for another job, but no one would take me. I just want to make some money to pay my living expenses and to operate in a legal way but I can’t get a license.”

Wong, like most other immigrant women street vendors, faces extra risks and burdens. Fifty-two percent of these women are primary breadwinners for their families; 32% are sole providers. Forty-four percent report feeling unsafe at work, because of fear of police or health inspectors, robberies, assaults and race or sex harassment.

Most food vendors are already licensed to serve and sell food; they’ve paid an application fee and passed an eight-hour health and safety course. Yet it’s almost impossible for these licensed vendors to get a license for their cart, because of a rigid cap imposed decades ago in the time of Mayor Koch. The long waiting list for a cart license has been closed for years. Nevertheless, with casual cruelty, the city is dispensing scores of $1,000 tickets for unlicensed carts or stalls. Many local vendors have also been arrested or had their property trashed by the Department of Sanitation.

When we last wrote about the street vendor struggle at the beginning of July, there was a feeling of cautious optimism among activists. Vendors had become better organized. Mayor Adams had endorsed recommendations by the Street Vendor Advisory Board, validating the vendors’ concerns and committing the city to a series of practical improvements. City Council legislation increasing the number of permits was due to take effect that month. The Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) was supposed to take over the enforcement of street vending regulations, replacing the heavy-handed NYPD.

But since that hopeful time, aggressive ticketing of vendors has only intensified—now performed by two agencies instead of one. In an analysis of data from June 2021 to May 2022, City Limits reports that DCWP and NYPD together have issued nearly 2,500 fines, a 33% increase from 2019, the year before policies went into effect to supposedly reduce ticketing. City Limits also noted that Jackson Heights was the most ticketed zip code for vendors during the first year of DCWP enforcement. 

On September 29, street vendors and supporters, led by the Street Vendor Project, marched to City Hall to once again demand justice. State Senator Jessica Ramos told ABC News that the vendors “are not criminals, they are hard-working people looking for dignity and looking for the legalization of their businesses.” In response, a DCWP spokesperson alleged that “unlicensed vending and vendors who flout the rules put New Yorkers at risk of everything from food borne illness to traffic crashes.” 

 As vendors struggle to maintain their livelihoods on the streets, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) bureaucrats botched and delayed the release of desperately-needed cart licenses mandated by the City Council. DOHMH claims it will make the first batch of cart permits (now called “supervisory licenses”) available next year—the ones that were scheduled to be released last summer. 445 supervisory licenses will supposedly be released annually for nine years after that—a meaningful improvement, but still far below demand. 

“One septuagenarian member of the Street Vendor Project recently got an application for a Green Cart permit after 15 years of waiting….The permit would allow her to sell fruits and vegetables in the South Bronx making a modest living for her family. But before she could become a legal vendor, her husband died. ‘I get to see this day that has finally come where I got a permit…and my husband wasn’t able to see it happen.’” –Mother Jones (October 2022)

WHAT CAN WE DO?

2. The Aftermath of Hurricane Ida—Chhaya Responds

“We need to start viewing extreme weather events not only as climate change issues, but also as public health crises that most severely impact low-income communities.” –Tom Wright, Regional Plan Association report (July 2022)

Just over a year ago, six inches of rain fell in a few catastrophic hours, as the remnants of Hurricane Ida passed through New York City. Eleven people drowned in their flooded basement apartments, many of them in Central Queens and most of them immigrants. Hundreds more basement dwellers lost their belongings and their only home.

Today, some of us have already forgotten the horror of the unprecedented flash flooding in early September 2021. But every household affected by the storm remembers. And the local immigrant-led organization Chhaya has, in the past year, amplified their fight for affordable, safe housing, and for the legalization of basement units that are brought up to code and secure. An estimated 31,000 buildings in Jackson Heights, Woodside, Elmhurst and Corona have “below grade” basement units, many of them rented out to immigrant workers and families, and many of the buildings owned by immigrant small homeowners/landlords.

Chhaya recognizes these basement apartments as a “vital part of the city’s affordable housing stock” that have been criminalized by the city’s archaic housing laws. Fighting for well-regulated, safe, and healthy basement dwellings is part of Chhaya’s broader commitment to housing justice for working-class South Asian and Indo-Caribbean New Yorkers. As founder of NYC’s Bangladeshi Tenant Union, Chhaya has been at the forefront of community organizing and political strategy to empower low-income tenants in immigrant neighborhoods like Jackson Heights—where their main office is located.   

In March 2022, Chhaya and coalition partners in the BASE (Basement Apartments Safe for Everyone) campaign released a new policy initiative calling for:

  • a citywide basement legalization program;
  • $85 million in state funding to support low-income homeowners’ conversion of basements into affordable and safe apartments;
  • new investments in climate-resilient infrastructure (including expanded stormwater capture systems);
  • an “amnesty” program for existing basement apartments that commit to upgrading to legally-recognized units.    

Working-class immigrant communities in NYC are living at the intersection of climate change, a crisis of affordable housing, and radical health inequalities—including unequal vulnerability to displacement and death during extreme weather events like Hurricane Ida. Echoing Chhaya and the BASE campaign’s demands, a July 2022 report released by the Regional Plan Association calls for legalization of basement dwellings to increase safety and security, and for immediate investments in green infrastructure to mitigate storm damage and flash flood events. Both strategies are potentially life-saving transformations for immigrants living, literally, underground in Central Queens.

 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 10/01/2022

Posted on October 1, 2022 by - News, Newsletter

Dear friends,

When we are writing the newsletter, we often are imagining you reading it. This week, we are imagining that our quick dive into recent activities of local immigrant justice groups could motivate and inspire you. That our update on the latest twist in revisions to NY City Council district maps might help keep your eyes on the prize of electoral power for immigrant communities. And that our brief comparison of immigration courts in New York and Florida can deepen your understanding of what some officials have called the “human trafficking” of migrants by Florida’s governor. Read on!  

Newsletter highlights:
  1. Activities of local immigrant justice groups
  2. New City Council district maps contested
  3. New York vs. Florida immigration court outcomes

1. News from Local Immigrant Justice Groups: August–September

As always, multiple immigrant-led organizations are working creatively to provide services, leadership-building, and outreach to local immigrant communities. Here are a few of their most recent efforts:

  • Make the Road NY has relaunched its Deportation Defense Handbook, a comprehensive tool helping undocumented people to assert their rights and be empowered when it comes to law enforcement. 
  • New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC) published a 13-page resource guide for immigrants. This toolkit is updated regularly based on changing laws and policies.
  • Make the Road and New York Immigration Coalition have been at the forefront of welcoming the migrants bussed in from Texas and Arizona. They’ve provided information about services and shelter, and distributed  Metrocards, prepaid phone cards, hygiene products, water, and food. In August, New Immigrant Community Empowerment (NICE) collected donations of clothes and hygiene products and will now be participating in the new NY Asylum Seekers Navigation Center on 49th Street in Manhattan. 
  • The 2020 Census necessitated changes to NY’s City Council Districts. Adhikaar and DRUM testified before the NY Redistricting Committee in opposition to proposed new City Council Districts 26, 27, and 31 that would divide the South Asian and Indo-Caribbean communities, lessening their political power. Instead, they are supporting the Unity Map. The next set of proposed maps were presented on September 22 and voted down (see below).
  • Chhaya is still fighting to get relief for families affected by Hurricane Ida in 2021, and is helping small businesses secure NY State Covid-19 Recovery Grants valued at up to $50,000. Also, on September 24, their street fair on 37th Avenue celebrated South Asian and Indo-Caribbean cultural heritage with music, food, and vendors and supplied valuable information on available services in the city.
  • Minkwon Center and DRUM Beats were very active in supplying information to voters during the June primaries. Minkwon is now campaigning to support the NY City Immigrant Voting Rights bill that will give DACA recipients and permanent residents the opportunity to vote in city elections.
  • Now that the worst of the pandemic has passed, Adhikaar and Minkwon Center have restarted their in-person English classes that were discontinued during the height of the pandemic. 
WHAT CAN WE DO?
  • If you are able, make a donation to any of the local immigrant activist and advocacy groups mentioned here–check their website for donation information!

2. Revised City Council District Maps Rejected

On Thursday, September 22, the NY Redistricting Commission held another public meeting to present its revised maps for the 51 City Council districts. Although the revisions incorporated many changes urged by 9500 public comments received during the Commission’s summer public hearings, the maps were rejected by a vote of 8 to 7. Please see our JHISN story of 08/06/22 on the importance to immigrant communities of the redistricting maps. 

Three notable changes to the original redistricting proposals were: 1) restoring District 26 as a Queens-only district by not including Roosevelt Island and part of the Upper East Side. Roosevelt Island would be part of Manhattan’s District 5; 2) reuniting in a single district Rochdale Village, the second largest co-op community in the city and largely home to Black homeowners; and 3) making Staten Island District 50 a crossover district by including a small part of Brooklyn.

Efforts were made to incorporate concerns that many immigrant communities (particularly South Asians) would be split into different districts and lack adequate representation on the Council. But the Commission says it is hampered by state law that only allows a 5% deviation in population between the most and least populated districts, and by the need to follow criteria set by the US Constitution, the federal Voting Rights Act, and the City Charter.

Dr. Lisa Handley, a prominent  Voting Rights Act expert, said the revised maps fulfilled the requirement that Blacks, Asians, and Hispanics would have the opportunity to elect their preferred candidates. But one reason for the “no” votes was that some Commissioners believed that Brooklyn and Bronx residents, and Dominican residents in Manhattan, would have their votes diluted by the new revisions to the maps. Mayor Adams was rumored to have asked his appointees to vote in opposition. 

The Commission is now required to make additional revisions before sending the maps back to the City Council. The next Commission meeting was Thursday, September 29, with time for further deliberations before the December 7 deadline for final maps.

3. New York and Florida—immigration courts in comparison

New York has had a one-way migrant connection to Florida since the 1970s, and 7% to 10% of people living in Florida were born in NY. There is a summer Jitney Bus line connecting the Hamptons with Florida; however, this summer it is the planes that Florida’s Governor DeSantis used to bus migrants North to sanctuary cities that have made headlines…prompting accusations that he may have violated the law. A review of immigration court outcomes in the two states gives us a picture of the systematic differences that shape the everyday lives of immigrants channeled through our current ‘injustice’ system. 

Going back over 20 years, Florida and New York have reviewed a similar number of deportation cases–each state handling between 500-600,000 proceedings. Some years NY has more cases than Florida, and sometimes it is the reverse. But New York consistently releases 7% more immigrants from custody than Florida, and Florida regularly detains 6% more people than New York. 

There are stark differences between how a New York and a Florida immigration court will rule in the cases that come before them. Overall, New York grants relief to 14% more immigrants than Florida, while Florida issues 8% more removal orders forcing immigrants to leave the country. Two crucial elements make the difference in case outcomes: 1) whether a person has legal representation and 2) how long they have been in the US.

Representation makes a difference in New York immigration courts: 40% of cases involving lawyers are granted relief or terminated (the person is released); without legal representation, 52% of cases end in removal orders. By comparison, in Florida, 35% of cases involving lawyers result in removal orders or ‘voluntary’ departure. So outcomes in Florida’s immigration courts, even with legal representation, are more likely to favor deportation over granting continuing residency in the US. The consequences for individuals and families coming before the court is huge. 

The best outcome is given to people who have been in New York for 1 to 2 years: 44% of them are granted a relief to stay in the country. At the other end of the spectrum, 48% of immigrants in Florida (who have been there for 3 to 4 years) face a most likely outcome of a removal order. For someone who has lived in the US for more than 5 years, immigration court rulings in Florida and New York have almost opposite outcomes: over 10% of those Florida cases will result in a removal order while the same (or a slightly higher) percentage of New York cases will result in a grant of relief and the ability to stay in the country. 

Florida processes half as many asylum cases as New York, but the outcomes follow a similar pattern. With legal representation, 64% of cases in New York are granted asylum while in Florida, even with representation, 75% of cases will be denied. Even without representation, New York will grant asylum to 24% more of their cases than does Florida.

So. Perhaps the best way for New York to respond to the DeSantis transport of migrants is to expedite the normal outcome of NY immigration court rulings.

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 09/03/2022

Posted on September 3, 2022 by - News, Newsletter

Dear friends, 

We bring you this week a story of happiness and hope—a local story of one immigrant family’s successful struggle to stay together. We thank the Talukder family, who live here in Queens, for letting us share their story with you. And we are grateful for reminders that sometimes, indeed, collective work can bring the world we want a bit closer. 

Next we get behind the recent headlines about busloads of migrants landing in NYC. Sent by Republican governors hungry for a media spectacle, the thousands of migrants and asylum seekers being transported north from the southern border are part of a broader historical fight over the politics of ‘sanctuary’ and the possibility of refuge.     

Newsletter highlights:
  1. Local Story with A Happy Ending
  2. Busing Migrants to NYC: Republican Spectacle Targets Sanctuary Cities

Photo by Jennifer Deseo

1. Riaz Talukder—An Immigrant Justice Story

On August 2, 2022, after decades, Riaz Talukder and his wife Sayeda were finally granted green cards and the right to remain in the US with their two American-born sons. This is a story of the importance of community support, the alliance of several activist groups, good legal counsel, and a lot of persistence and patience. Here’s how it happened. 

In October 2017, JHISN met with Riaz Talukder, a Bangladeshi immigrant who had been living in the US since he was a teenager, to hear about his immigration situation. We learned that Riaz had come to the US in the 1980s, and been granted amnesty in 1990 under Catholic Social Services which allowed him to live and work here. During a trip to Bangladesh, he received death threats from a political organization. Consequently, when he returned to NY he filed for political asylum. Unfortunately, government policy changed in 1999, and bad legal advice led to a deportation order which Riaz didn’t learn about until 2010 when his home was raided. He was detained for several months and released under an order of supervision requiring him to report for regular check-ins.  

JHISN made support for Riaz’s case a priority and informed our JH neighbors about his situation at our annual community gathering. When Riaz’s new lawyer told us that evidence of community support would be helpful, members of JHISN, DRUM, and New Sanctuary Coalition attended Riaz’s October 21 check-in with ICE at Federal Plaza. There we learned that Riaz was to have a “final” ICE check-in on November 20, 2017, with the threat of being deported after 37 years in the US. 

Immigrant justice groups launched a petition drive asking the Department of Homeland Security to reopen Riaz’s asylum case. JHISN gathered signatures here in the neighborhood. DRUM and United We Dream crafted their petition and circulated it on social media. NY1 interviewed Riaz and the article explained how he was the sole support of his two sons and wife who was being treated for thyroid cancer. All the petitions plus 100 letters of support were brought to Riaz’s check-in on November 20, 2017.

On November 20, several of us accompanied Riaz to his check-in. We were delighted when Riaz was granted a six-month stay of deportation so that he and his lawyer could pursue his asylum case. DRUM and JHISN held a planned press conference that announced the good news. 

November 20, 2017 After the good news. Riaz (in red) and Sayeda (in blue jacket) with Ydanis Rodriquez and Edward Cuccia (at right). Photo by Kisha Bari August 14, 2022 JHISN members celebrate with Sayeda (with blue head scarf), Riaz, and his sons (at right). Photo by Jennifer Deseo

JHISN, DRUM, and United We Dream continued the petition drives, energized by the promising news. Many Jackson Heights community members—perhaps some of you—signed on in support of Riaz’s case. Then in June 2018, Riaz’s lawyer reported that the deportation order had been canceled and the asylum case reopened. The judge’s decision was influenced by the volume of community support, a psychologist’s report on the problems the family would face if the deportation occurred, and the local news coverage.

During the next four years, Sayeda’s health improved, the older son graduated from high school and entered college, and the younger son finished middle school and started high school. Riaz and his family were able to buy a taxi medallion and a house. Finally, on August 2, 2022, with the news of green cards, they have achieved stability and safety.

On August 14, Riaz and Sayeda invited JHISN to participate in a celebration dinner. The food chosen by Riaz and Sayeda was delicious. There were reminiscences and lively talk and a lot of laughs. The family thanked JHISN for our work. It was a pleasure to share their happiness and to be a small part of one immigrant story that ends with justice. 

2. The Political Theater of Abuse: Abbott Buses Migrants Out of Texas

“In Texas, they told us that here, we would get help with housing, work and everything else we needed … It was all a lie.” –Juan Rojas, migrant bused from Texas to Washington, DC

In the last several months, an estimated 8–9,000 migrants who crossed the border from Mexico have been bused to Washington, DC, and New York City. On August 31, the first bus of migrants from Texas arrived in Chicago. Migrants’ lives have become unwitting players in Republican fever dreams of punishing “sanctuary cities” for daring to protect immigrant justice and safety.

No one actually knows how many migrants are being transported in this historically unprecedented exodus. There is no communication between the Republican governors who are overseeing the expulsion of migrants from their state (Greg Abbott of Texas and Doug Ducey of Arizona) and the mayors of targeted northern cities where the chartered buses land. There is no documentation of the undocumented migrants caught in this new act of right-wing political theater.  

The extraordinary $12 million spent so far by the state of Texas on busing migrants northward is the latest cynical escalation in the ongoing demonization by Trump and the Republican Party of “sanctuary cities” as havens of immigrant crime. Launched in the mid-1980s by mostly religious organizations, the Sanctuary Movement mobilized municipal support and legal protections for hundreds of thousands of migrants displaced by wars in Guatemala and El Salvador. The aim of the Sanctuary Movement since then has been to lessen the daily threat of deportation and create greater trust between local law enforcement and immigrant communities.  

 The Right sees sanctuary as a wedge issue. Mobilizing disinformation and fear, the Trump administration threatened to cut off federal funding to “dangerous” sanctuary cities in 2017. Many mayors and cities—like NYC, Seattle, Chicago—held firm and pushed back; California declared the entire state a sanctuary space. But Texas, led by Governor Abbott, banned sanctuary cities throughout the state. Now, Abbott accuses sanctuary cities like New York, DC, and Chicago of ignoring the Biden-induced migration crisis on the southern border. He is spending millions in state taxpayer dollars to fill up charter buses with recent migrants and send them to sanctuary cities in the north. Overwhelming both city resources and local immigrant advocacy groups, the busing of migrants to NYC also creates a delicious political spectacle for right-wing corporate media.

Director of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas complains that Governors Abbott and Ducey’s busing scheme is “making things worse,” with their unilateral decisions and total lack of collaboration with the federal government. NYC Mayor Eric Adams announces emergency measures to expand the city’s homeless shelter system in response to over one thousand asylum seekers being bused into Port Authority.

On the ground, some migrants are glad to head north where there may be family awaiting, and where the court system may be more favorable for their asylum cases. But others report that they did not willingly get on the bus in Texas. Or that they were surprised to get off the bus and learn they were in NYC, having been told they were going to a different destination. Many recent migrants come from Venezuela—where six million people have left in the last decade as the country enters economic and political free fall—with no relatives or settled immigrant communities anywhere in the US. 

Some newly-arrived migrants in NYC “are sleeping in the parks,” according to the director of Catholic Charities which, along with other non-profit and grassroots groups, is trying to provide resources and a warm welcome to unexpected busloads of human hope and human need.

 Immigrant justice organizations and local volunteer groups in NYC  are asking the urgent question, “How can we welcome and aid newly arriving immigrants?” Can we also keep alive the question, “When will the United States become a sanctuary country?” 

 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 co-workers so they can subscribe and receive news from JHISN.