NEW YORK, CMC – Immigration advocates in New York have condemned violations of the city’s sanctuary laws, after the New York City Department of Investigation (DOI) released a report stating that the Department of Correction (DOC), which is part of the Mayoral administration, has violated New York City’s sanctuary law.
New York City’s sanctuary laws protect Caribbean and other immigrants by limiting local authorities’ cooperation with U.S. federal immigration agents, preventing the sharing of information, and honoring U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) “detainer requests” unless the individual has committed serious crimes or has a judicial warrant.
According to ICE, an immigration detainer is a request that asks a federal, state or local law enforcement agency — including jails, prisons or other confinement facilities — to “notify the requesting agency as early as possible before they release a removable alien” and to “hold the alien for up to 48 hours beyond the time they would ordinarily release them so DHS (Department of Homeless Services) has time to assume custody in accordance with federal immigration law.”
Murad Awawdeh
President and chief executive officer of the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC), Murad Awawdeh, told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) that “New York City’s longstanding sanctuary policies and laws are public safety measures that ensure that any New Yorker, regardless of immigration status, can interact with our public institutions and report emergencies to authorities.
“It is inexcusable that the Mayoral administration’s Department of Corrections has violated the trust created by these policies and broken our laws. This situation is not simply a result of one ‘bad apple’ not knowing the law, but part of a longstanding systemic issue in a department with a legacy of policy violations.
He said the administration must commit to enforcing the sanctuary policies, “and to guarantee our sanctuary policies are enforced, the New York City Council and Mayor must enact the NYC Trust Act to hold any bad actors accountable”.
Awawdeh said the 68-page investigation alleges that a New York DOC investigator assigned to a joint task force with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) provided information on multiple individuals to ICE, which is barred by local sanctuary laws.
He said the DOI report also concluded that DOC failed “to provide proper guidance and training” on complying with sanctuary policies.
“This is not the first time the DOC has violated NYC’s sanctuary policies,” Awawdeh said.
Meantime, the DHS announced last weekend that the federal immigration officer who was captured on video pushing a woman to the ground at 26 Federal Plaza in Lower Manhattan has been “relieved of current duties” while an investigation is underway.
“The officer’s conduct in this video is unacceptable and beneath the men and women of ICE,” said DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin.
Mario Bruzzone, NYIC’s vice president of policy, also said that “the officer’s behaviour was wildly unacceptable, but this is not an isolated incident. Federal immigration agents are violating people’s rights daily and with impunity – with force, with lies, with coercion.
“We have witnessed ICE intimidating children and using violence to separate families, to spread fear through our communities. This pattern of abuse and trauma can’t continue,” Bruzzone added.
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