Tag: Temporary Protected Status

JHISN Newsletter 09/21/2025

Posted on September 21, 2025 by - News, Newsletter

Dear friends,

In just the past few days, news that can knock you over has reached our door. JHISN learned that ICE snatched a well-known and beloved waiter in Jackson Heights on September 3. According to the GoFundMe campaign for Dino, he was “chained hand-to-feet, and taken by bus and plane to several prisons and detention centers, always chained up, going for days without any food, from New York to New Jersey to Texas, until he was finally left with the Mexican immigration officials at the border.” His situation is similar to tens of thousands of US immigrants attacked by the Trump regime, but recognizing his face and benefiting directly from his labor makes his inhumane incarceration and deportation a shock and a wake-up call. It can happen here. It is happening here. 

Dino, outside the Queensboro restaurant where he worked in Jackson Heights.

Our newsletter, in keeping with these grim times, reports on the federal government’s unprecedented attack on immigrant children, including the arrest of students and young neighbors here in Queens. And we offer a wide-ranging political analysis of the current deportation machine, accompanied by a locally-focused survey for our readers about what you hope to do as ICE violence against immigrants closes in. 

Newsletter highlights:
  1. Immigrant children detained and caged
  2. Resisting ICE is crucial – how will Jackson Heights resist?

1. ICE Wages War on Immigrant Children

This is a really tough year for young immigrants in the US.

“We now regularly hear reports from members whose friends and classmates have disappeared after routine court appearances, and our members are afraid to go to court, school, and even leave their homes out of fear they will be detained by ICE. No child should have to choose between their safety and their right to due process.”–Beth Baltimore, deputy director of The Door’s Legal Services Center 

The dramatic spectacle of the Trump regime attempting to deport, in the dead of night over Labor Day weekend, 76 Guatemalan children who had come to the US alone and were living in shelters or with foster care families, only intensified fears for immigrant children across the US. Lawsuits were immediately filed and the removals were temporarily stopped. Missing from many news reports was the fact that in July Guatemalan government representatives toured US detention facilities.To avoid the possibility that any detained Guatemalan children who turned 18 would be sent to adult detention centers, the Guatemalan government said they would accept “all unaccompanied minors, who wanted to return to Guatemala voluntarily.” On September 10 in federal court the Department of Justice abandoned its claim that either Guatemalan parents or children had requested to be reunited and stated it actually had no evidence for that allegation. On September 18, a federal judge blocked the children’s removal for the foreseeable future. But the incident shines light on the plight of immigrant children now in the crosshairs of a deportation machine running wild.

Although Trump’s deportation plan claims to focus on “the worst of the worst,” it seems more like an assembly line plan of “last in, first out.” Those who entered the US without papers in the last 2 years are most likely to face expedited removal. Not only are they detained, they are also shunted around to as many as four different detention facilities before either being deported or released to face further immigration hearings.

Back in May 2023, the Biden  Administration expanded the digital CBP One app to allow immigrants to make appointments for asylum hearings before entering the country. People could stay for 2 years and work legally. However, Trump cancelled the program in January 2025 and invalidated 30,000 appointments. All entries using CBP One became grounds for removal. Now when people who used the app show up in court for legally arranged required hearings, ICE agents waiting outside courtrooms snatch them immediately, even if they have received new court dates.

Several minors in New York city and state have been caught in this process: 50 children younger than 18 have been detained by ICE at their legally required check-ins and 38 have been deported. Also, some New York high school students have been detained. Here are details of some cases.

In May, Dylan Lopez Contreras, a 20-year-old student at ELLIS Prep, was the first public school student detained by ICE at his scheduled hearing. He arrived from Venezuela in 2024 and had permission to live and work here through Biden’s CBP One program while he went through the asylum application process. On June 16, a federal judge reinstated Dylan’s pending asylum case and pursuit of protections under the Special Juvenile Immigration Status (SIJS). Dylan spent two months in ICE detention. He’s represented by New York Legal Assistance Group. 

On June 4, Derlis Snaider Chusin Toaquiza, a 19-year-old 11th grader at Grover Cleveland High School, was the second known New York City public school student apprehended by ICE. He and his family arrived from Ecuador in March 2024 and applied for asylum. Derlis was detained for a month in Texas and finally released on July 18 so he can return to school and continue his asylum case.

In June, Joselyn Chipantiza-Sisalema, a 20-year-old high school student, was arrested. She arrived from Ecuador in May 2024. According to her attorneys, at her June asylum hearing, the immigration judge had set a court date for March 2026. But she was arrested by ICE officers outside the courtroom anyway and sent to Louisiana. She was released in July after Make the Road New York sued on her behalf.

Also in June, Oliver Mata Velazquez, a 19-year-old asylum seeker from Venezuela living in Buffalo was unlawfully arrested by ICE agents while attending a mandated court hearing and then fast-tracked for deportation. Oliver had legal entry in September 2024 via CBP One, has no criminal history, and complied with all government orders when applying for US citizenship. He was released in August and able to reunite with his family and community as his asylum case proceeded after US District Judge Lawrence Vilardo ordered ICE to release him, saying,

“Mata Velasquez followed all the rules. On the other hand, the government changed the rules by fiat, applied them retroactively, and pulled the rug out from under Mata Velasquez and many like him who tried to do things the right way.”

New York Civil Liberties Union, African Communities Together, and The Door are hoping Judge Vilardo’s decision will help others kidnapped by ICE. “These policies are unlawful,” the lawsuit argues. “Such arrests chill access to the courts and impede the fair administration of justice.” An initial hearing is scheduled for October 10.

In August, Martha, a Jackson Heights mother with four children (two daughters 6 and 16, two sons 19 and 21), took her 6-year-old and 19-year-old to their required immigration hearing and all three were detained. Martha and two children arrived from Ecuador in December 2022. Their application for  asylum was denied, and an attempt to appeal failed because paperwork was filed too late. Martha and the 6-year-old were deported to Ecuador; 19-year-old Manuel is in detention in New Jersey.

On August 9, Roger Iza, a 15-year-old Manhattan high school student, and his father, Edison Iza, who arrived in 2023 from Ecuador, had their asylum application denied. They had filed without an attorney. Roger was enrolled in school, but they were arrested by ICE at a required check-in in New York. After being transported to a series of out-of-state hotels, where they had no access to phones or the internet, they were deported to Ecuador on August 14. 

On August 4, Mamadou Mouctar Diallo, a 20-year-old Brooklyn student from Guinea, was detained at his hearing at 26 Federal Plaza.  He’s the third NY city high school student to be detained at a required hearing. He arrived in January 2024. Before he was arrested, he had been released by the Biden administration, enrolled in high school, completed a training program to become a security guard, joined the Audubon Society and enrolled in a culinary internship. His teachers and NY City Schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos have expressed support for him.

No arrests have yet been made inside NY City schools, and principals and teachers are trying to reassure parents and students that it’s safe to attend classes. But many students are afraid to go to school. In addition, immigrants who are victims of crimes or abuse are afraid to contact police and/or appear in court as witnesses and many others are afraid to get necessary medical care.

WHAT CAN WE DO?

2. Resisting the Deportation Tsunami–Invitation to Our Reader Survey

Multiple legal cases have tried to slow down the Trump regime’s trampling of long-standing asylum laws and the supposedly sacred Constitution. Court decisions have gone back and forth, but the trend is clear: they can’t be counted on for relief. In May, a Massachusetts District Court ruled that immigrants must be offered asylum hearings, and must have 15 days to contest a threat of deportation to a third country. But in June, a Supreme Court order put that ruling on hold, allowing third country deportations to continue. In July, a federal judge ruled that ICE must stop racially profiling Latinos for indiscriminate arrests. In September, an “emergency intervention” from Supreme Court “justices” overturned that injunction. This month, a California federal judge ordered that Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelans and Haitians must be restored immediately—but the administration stalled and refused to comply, causing widespread panic. Now the Ninth Circuit Court has recently ruled that the regime can and in fact already has terminated TPS for our Nepalis, along with Hondurans and Nicaraguans. Lawsuits by the National TPS Coalition and the ACLU attempting to restore TPS are ongoing.

Despite the lack of a united, strategic Left and progressive movement nationwide, angry people in many localities are resisting. In particular, there is a spreading neighborhood-based movement against ICE and mass deportation. In Rochester, more than 200 local residents showed up to disrupt an immigration raid causing ICE agents to flee the neighborhood with four slashed tires. Worcester residents surrounded ICE agents and delayed their arrest of an immigrant mother. In Nashville, an ICE arrest was prevented by angry neighbors. There are many other examples of community intervention: in San Diego, Minneapolis. San Francisco, Huntington Park, Waltham, Los Angeles and many other places.

JHISN has been talking among ourselves about the likely arrival of large-scale ICE attacks in our neighborhoods in the near future, and how to respond. We don’t think we can rely on the midterm elections, or wait and hope that Trumpian fascism will fall apart on its own. Legal and legislative attempts at the national, state and city levels to try to rein in ICE are important, but not sufficient. JHISN believes there has to be a local response by local residents, showing our opposition and outrage at attacks on immigrants, and countering ICE’s secret police outrages. We must do our best to make ICE a pariah.

 We consider our 550 newsletter subscribers to be an informal local network of people in solidarity with immigrants. What role can we play in resisting ICE? Would you like to be informed when ICE shows up on our streets? Would you be interested in reporting ICE’s presence to the whole neighborhood? Would you be part of a rapid response network to protest and defend immigrant neighbors threatened with deportation? We’d very much like to hear your thoughts…to share information with us, please complete our short survey.

WHAT CAN WE DO?
  • Complete the JHISN survey and add your thoughts to our community’s insight on resisting ICE actions in our neighborhood.

 

In solidarity and with collective care,

Jackson Heights Immigrant Solidarity Network (JHISN)

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

JHISN Newsletter 05/31/2025

Posted on May 31, 2025 by - News, Newsletter

Dear friends,

With ICE thugs stalking our streets and universities and Eric Adams selling out to Trump’s Department of Homeland Security, the NYC mayoral election is unfolding in the middle of a human rights crisis, for migrants and for the city. Few of the candidates vying to replace Eric Adams address the issues of immigration and mass deportation with the urgency it demands. JHISN does not endorse candidates, but we ask that you pay attention to their platforms and use your ranked-choice vote to support candidates who will fight for immigrant justice. The mayoral primary will be held on June 24, with early voting running from June 14-22. Given how ranked-choice voting works, if you want to maximize your vote against a particular mayoral candidate, the best strategy is to fill in all five ranked slots (rather than just 2 or 3) provided on the ballot—while not listing/ranking the candidate you are trying to defeat! 

Our newsletter today addresses palpable fear. We begin with the voice of one of our city residents who shares personal stories of fear, not just for how families will be torn apart by executive priorities, but also the fear of speaking out against Enforcers. We then look at the confusing and contradictory information about arrests, detentions, and deportations. We see how the clickbait social media productions from official government accounts attempt to spin a narrative of criminal deportations which is simply false.

Newsletter highlights:
  1. “Due process be damned”—living in constant alert
  2. Trump regime twists the narrative re: deportation numbers

1. The Voice of a Neighbor and Concerned Citizen

Under the draconian practices of this regime, fear has gripped undocumented New Yorkers. But many citizens also live in fear. A citizen, and former resident of Jackson Heights, has suffered and learned so much about our immigration system after successfully bringing her deported husband to the US that she decided to volunteer for an organization that provides free (pro bono) legal advice to people held in immigration detention centers. While studying to become a lawyer herself, she has developed a private paralegal clinic and handles a few cases that don’t require an attorney. 

Here is her anonymous testimony about what she is experiencing, feeling, and the state of constant alert in which she lives:

“I have a client from Honduras—let’s call her Claudia M. She came around 10 years ago to the United States, fleeing violence and gangs in her native country. Honduras has the highest femicide rate of all the countries in Latin America, which also affected her since she was fleeing her aggressive domestic partner. When Claudia left Honduras, she left her three children behind with her mother. 

“Her oldest child—let’s call him Diego, who is now 23 years old—had a childhood friend who was killed by the MS-13 gang around three years ago. That is when Claudia decided to pay for his voyage to come to the United States. She also financed the trip for her two other children to come to the United States. 

“During the 10 years that Claudia was here, she had been in a relationship. As that relationship was coming to an end, she got a letter for her last court appearance regarding her asylum petition. During the turmoil of her breakup and fearing deportation, she missed her final immigration appointment. Due to this, the judge automatically gave her an order of deportation. Every day, she lives with fear that she will be deported. She is scared when she has to drive to work or pick up her kids from high school. 

“One of the hardest parts for me is not being able to help her file paperwork with USCIS because of my fear of “activating” her case. 

“When Claudia’s two youngest children were held in ICE detention in Texas, they were released to her care, and her address is listed on that release form. If we begin to move one of their cases along by applying for Temporary Protected Status (TPS), I am afraid that she might end up on a list of people with active orders of removal. 

“Her second oldest son is doing very well in high school and is getting ready to go to college. However, he is unable to apply to be admitted to college or get financial aid without a work permit and Social Security Card. In order to do this, he needs to file a petition under TPS. Once that is approved, then he might be eligible to get a work permit and Social Security card. However, under this current administration, by trying to do the right thing for her son, I might inadvertently negatively impact his mother. 

“This is the same fear that my own family felt when I was getting ready to do an interview about my own experience of being the wife of a deported husband, and that might be watched by current immigration officials. Since my husband was deported about 10 years ago and then given a waiver and pardoned, I am afraid of speaking out. It seems to me that this administration will stop at nothing to quiet people who oppose their methods. If by speaking out, I am harming my husband’s chance at staying in the United States and becoming a US citizen, then I would rather stay quiet. I can not rip him apart from my daughter’s life and go back to the way things used to be before. He is here now, and we are grateful for that. 

“Currently, many immigrants do not feel free to speak openly about things done to us by the previous or current government. Even my mother, who is a citizen, also fears losing benefits she got from the government. They might take any chance to send anyone back. They might be looking for any excuse. Due process be damned.”

WHAT CAN WE DO?

2. Deportation Misrepresentations Generate Fear

We repeatedly watch President Trump’s deception in action, particularly his lies about immigration. He states that actions will be taken, based on invalid or inaccurate source material, and then, regardless of the actual outcome, declares the outcomes met his stated goals. We see this again in the way his administration reports on immigrant deportations. While campaigning he promised the largest deportation program of criminals in US history. Now elected, he strives to control that narrative and claim he is delivering on that promise—despite facts and reality to the contrary. 

In the first weeks of his presidency, Homeland Security posts on ex-Twitter showed daily immigrant arrest numbers that made Trump look tougher than the Biden administration. A 627% increase in monthly arrests makes an impressive headline, but the DHS Press Release related to that post plays with nuanced deportation terminology, comparing different types of arrests while implying they are the same. Those headline-grabbing posts stated average counts of 800 arrests per day, but research by Hearst media suggested the daily numbers were closer to 300 arrests per day, similar to Biden. Also, back in 2021, the Government Accountability Office documented how DHS arrests and detentions of US citizens—which are taking place under Trump—have happened before. What is new is the self-aggrandized and inhumane reporting of immigration enforcement activity shared by DHS just to instill fear.

“While DHS has stopped reporting monthly data on removals, NBC reported that ICE removed 4,300 noncitizens from the U.S. interior in February, a slightly higher pace than the average 3,200 per month from FY 2021-24, under Biden, but lower than the 6,800 in the first Trump administration and well below those of the Obama administration, when ICE carried out about 12,900 removals from the interior per month.” —Migration Policy Institute, April 24, 2025

We are seeing how the Project 2025 blueprint is being implemented as the administration seeks to dramatically increase the number of people who can be targeted for removal. This month the Supreme Court ruled the administration can end Temporary Protective Status for over 800,000 people. Yet to be addressed are the threats made to cancel DACA for 540,000 Dreamers, and to end the asylum parole status for 240,000 Ukrainians. Also under threat are international students and green-card holders whose visas could be revoked. All these conditions set the foundation for yet more deportation increases in the future. But during these first months, the more accurate story is that ICE arrests in the US interior have increased while Border Patrol arrests have dropped significantly, as shown by TRAC-obtained data. This switch in arresting agencies has kept the overall numbers of arrests similar to the Biden administration. 

Source: Austin Kocher

This means that Trump’s success in dissuading people from attempting to cross the border has negatively impacted the deportation numbers he desperately wants to show are growing. In the chart below, note the three short red lines (on the right) for Feb, March, and April 2025 showing that attempted SW border crossings have dropped from well over 100,000 to less than 12,000 monthly encounters. 

Southwest Border Encounters. Source: NBC News

So how has Trump kept his overall arrest numbers slightly higher than Biden’s? The data shows, “ICE’s enforcement surge has largely targeted immigrants without criminal convictions or criminal charges, contrary to the Trump administration’s baseless public assertions.”  Throughout January 2025 the distribution of ICE detainees was steady at around 62% with criminal convictions, 32% with pending criminal charges, and just 6% with no criminal violation. But by April 20 the data shows that 18% of  ICE detainees have no criminal convictions (triple the percentage in January), while only 45% have criminal convictions. This is actually just a continuation of the Biden approach when, in 2021, the majority of people in ICE custody first started to have no criminal record.

 Source: WDSU – Hearst Media

Just because the current administration lies about their deportation numbers does not in any way suggest that the actions they are taking to reshape immigration law–sidestepping Congress–are not heinous. In week one of Trump’s ICE raids, 100 NYC immigrants were arrested, and little is known about their current situation. New York City’s rapid response immigration hotline tracked a 68% increase from prior months with 140 requests for help in January, 35 of which were for people in immigration detention. As if life was not hard enough as a street vendor, “vending without a license“ can be prosecuted in NYC as a criminal summons or misdemeanor rather than as a civil liability, which also puts vendors at risk of deportation if they encounter police. The fear of being deported has caused many vendors to stop working.

“It’s not about public safety anymore. It’s just about this volume number. And we are less safe for that.”
—Former ICE Chief of Staff, Jason Houser

WHAT CAN WE DO?

 

In solidarity and with collective care,

Jackson Heights Immigrant Solidarity Network (JHISN)

 

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

 

 

JHISN Newsletter 08/03/2024

Posted on August 3, 2024 by - News, Newsletter

Dear friends,

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

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

1. New York’s Newest Are Left Behind

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

WHAT CAN WE DO?

2. Can We Have a Mural Project?

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

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

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

Send us your ideas at info@jhimmigrantsolidarity.org.

 

In solidarity and with collective care,

Jackson Heights Immigrant Solidarity Network (JHISN)

 

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