Four Things New York Lawmakers Must Do to Fight Trump

Dire predictions about what the second Trump Administration would try to do to our civil rights and civil liberties are proving to have been right. Trump is rounding up untold numbers of legal permanent residents, immigrants going through the asylum process, and many others. He’s dumping them in a notorious hellhole prison in El Salvador, in a blatant violation of due process and a threat to the rule of law.

The president is threatening to decimate access to abortion and gender-affirming care, surveilling immigrant and other communities, cracking down on dissent, and so much more.

Trump has unleashed a dizzying array of extreme attacks designed to create chaos and bend our country to his will. To meet this moment, New York lawmakers must mount a proactive, smart, and comprehensive defense to protect our state from the worst harms of the Trump administration.

There is no time to waste. Our rights depend on lawmakers acting quickly and boldly to shore up our protections and secure our rights.

Protect Immigrant New Yorkers

The Trump Administration poses an unprecedented threat to our immigrant communities. He and his enablers are pulling out all the stops to carry out the largest mass deportation program in our nation’s history. State and local authorities are a centerpiece of Trump’s deportation agenda. Immigration authorities have long relied on collusion with local police and other government actors to gather information, detain, and deport people. This is already happening – and increasing – across New York, and it is allowed because of loopholes in our law. Trump is hellbent on making sure this collusion increases under his presidency.

The legislature must act to protect immigrants by passing the New York For All Act, which would bring New York in line with states like Illinois, Washington, and California that refuse to use their resources for federal immigration enforcement. Legislators must also pass the Dignity Not Detention Act to keep local jails from renting out cell space to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for profit. Finally, the legislature must pass the Access to Representation Act to ensure New Yorkers facing deportation have a lawyer by their side, and the Clemency Justice Act to reduce the chances that criminal convictions create negative immigration consequences.

Protect Reproductive Freedom and LGBTQ Rights

Trump is making good on his threats to reproductive freedom and LGBTQ rights. The president and his allies have made clear that overturning Roe v. Wade was just the beginning—their ultimate aim is to eliminate access to abortion across the country and erase transgender people from public life. He wants to eliminate federal funding for reproductive health care and gender affirming care. And he wants to roll back privacy protections, and misuse federal law enforcement and surveillance capabilities against those who provide, seek, receive, and support abortion care and gender-affirming care.

New York must do everything in our power to protect our communities. First, we must increase privacy protections for health information—including electronic health records and commercial health data. To do this, Gov. Hochul must sign legislation that gives New Yorkers control over our commercial health data and the legislature must pass protections for our electronic health records to make sure these records are not used against us. Second, New York must make it harder for the federal government or other states to investigate, prosecute, and punish people for providing, seeking, or facilitating reproductive health care or gender affirming care. This includes ensuring that New York protects all health care providers who offer gender-affirming or reproductive health care.

Protect Privacy and Guard Against Surveillance

Trump wants to expand the use of unchecked and emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence. His administration also wants to push for further data collection and information sharing through government entities and private data brokers to advance his draconian law enforcement and deportation agendas. These efforts paint a dystopian picture in which technology undermines our fundamental rights.

All our privacy and civil liberties remain at risk unless and until the New York legislature passes necessary protections to catch up with 21st century technologies. New York must pass the Digital Fairness Act to protect our personal information and ensure algorithms do not undermine anti-discrimination laws. Lawmakers must also create safeguards for Digital IDs, ban biometric surveillance, and limit law enforcement technologies such as license plate readers and drones. State leaders must update our warrant protections to be in line with newer technology by passing and adopting the Electronic Communications Privacy Act and by prohibiting the use of reverse location and keyword search warrants.

In addition, Albany must stop partnering with federal authorities to conduct abusive surveillance operations by terminating state and federal data sharing arrangements, which immigration authorities can use to facilitate deportations. They must also end or drastically curtail our participation in joint federal, state, and local task forces and fusion centers.

Protect Protest

Trump has made his hostility toward peaceful political protesters who disagree with him crystal clear. He’s trying to deport pro-Palestine protesters – even those with green cards – for protected speech. But his threats to protest don’t end there. He’s taken numerous actions to try to undermine, criminalize, and threaten his political opponents.

Lawmakers must shore up basic First Amendment guarantees by codifying affirmative protections for protesters. Lawmakers should also advance measures to eliminate law enforcement access to military weapons and armored vehicles, to restrict police use of drones, and to restrict the use of chemical and acoustic weapons and crowd-control munitions.