Make the Road New York
navigation
whoweare howwework whatwedo press participate

May 18, 2011

Governor Cuomo: Stop deportations now!

By  Queens Latino Staff / QueensLatino.com


A wide coalition of immigrants and advocates [including members of Make the Road New York], joined by politicians and other supporters, rallied in front of Governor Cuomo’s Manhattan office today to demand an immediate end to a mass deportation program that New York signed into effect exactly one year ago.

“We have no time to lose,” declared City Council Member Daniel Dromm. “On this first anniversary of S-Comm, we need Gov. Cuomo to take immediate action to demonstrate that New York is a place where immigrants don’t lose their rights just because they have been accused or convicted of a crime.”

“The Governor has a unique opportunity to correct past wrongs,” said Michelle Fei, one of the event organizers. “New York cannot stand for a program that funnels immigrants into an unjust deportation system while jeopardizing our safety and violating our rights.”

The call for Cuomo to quickly end the program comes as a rising tide of opposition to the ICE deportation program is sweeping across the state and country. Recently, U.S. Representative Zoe Lofgren, joined by Sen. Robert Menendez, called for an investigation of ICE and S-Comm, and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus urged Pres. Obama to stop S-Comm. On May 5, Illinois Governor Quinn rescinded that state’s S-Comm agreement. A group of 38 New York legislators sent a letter urging Gov. Cuomo to terminate NY’s S-Comm on May 9. And just this week, both the New York State Assembly Puerto Rican/Hispanic Task Force and U.S. Congress Members José E. Serrano and Nydia Velázquez sent letters to Cuomo in support of the program’s termination.

“Gov. Cuomo must step up if he wants New York to continue to be a leader for immigrant rights,” said Manisha Vaze, another event organizer. “Our communities are getting ripped apart, and Cuomo has the power to stop this devastation by simply ending the agreement.”

Under S-Comm, local police are forced to automatically forward the fingerprints of every arrested person to federal immigration databases. The program aims to transfer people suspected of being deportable directly into the detention and deportation system. Locked up in detention centers, advocates say, immigrants have severely limited access to lawyers, medical care, family, witnesses, and evidence to defend against deportation.

S-Comm now covers nearly 1300 jurisdictions across 42 states. It is currently active in 24 New York counties. In January and February alone, the program identified nearly 3,500 immigrants for potential deportation.

“We hope Gov. Cuomo will respond to our communities’ fears and frustration,” said Mizue Aizeki from the Northern Manhattan Coalition for Immigrant Rights and another event coordinator. “Ending S-Comm now is the only right solution.”


For the original article, please click here.


More on: Expanding Civil Rights 

DonateNow


Victory for Immigrant Families: Preventing Unjust Deportations in NYC

On March 18, 2013, Mayor Bloomberg signed new legislation to stop federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents from using NYC’s criminal justice system to deport thousands of New Yorkers.

Building on legislation we helped to win just over a year ago, Local Laws 21 and 22 prohibit not only the Department of Correction but now also the NYPD from spending millions of city taxpayer dollars to hold individuals on behalf of ICE agents for detention and deportation. Each year, thousands of New York families will stay together who would otherwise have been torn apart by overly aggressive, indiscriminate immigration enforcement.

At a moment when the country is debating immigration reform, with these laws, New York City sends a clear message to Washington that tearing apart thousands of immigrant families is bad policy.

With your support, we look forward to winning national reform that keeps families together. We thank our partners at the Center for Popular Democracy, the Cardozo Immigration Justice Clinic and the bills’ sponsors, NYC Council Speaker Quinn and Council Member Mark-Viverito, for their courageous leadership.


No Events at this time