All New Yorkers, regardless of immigration status, want to lead open lives, participate in their communities, provide for family, and access health care without intimidation.
For years ICE has tried to divide us, determined to cruelly target immigrants and separate families. ICE continues to pressure local law enforcement and local government agencies to search for, arrest, and deport people, and to separate families who are part of our New York.
Doing so opens the door to unconstitutional racial profiling and diverts our local resources to enable ICE’s agenda.
Because of ICE’s pressure on local law enforcement, many immigrant New Yorkers live with the fear that living daily life in the open and interacting with government agencies – whether in a routine police traffic stop, attending school, or visiting a public hospital for care – could lead to being torn away from family. This fear is especially damaging during the COVID-19 pandemic, pushing key communities away from the help they need to protect themselves and neighbor New Yorkers.
I urge you to pass the New York for All Act, S987 (Gounardes) / A5686 (Reyes). The bill helps immigrant New Yorkers lead freer lives and take care of family, preserves state and local resources for community safety, ensures that local resources cannot be diverted to carry out ICE’s cruelty, and protects immigrant families.
Targeting immigrant communities for deportation is ICE’s priority, not New York’s.
