Protect Immigrant Communities in New York

People deserve a just and humane immigration process. But around our state, local police departments and jails conspire with ICE to arrest, detain, and deport immigrants – tearing apart families and communities, and subjecting our neighbors to inhumane conditions in the process. And New York does not guarantee legal representation for immigrants facing deportation, leaving too many without a fair day in court.

Where Washington has failed to take action, New York must lead. It’s past time for Albany to take action to keep New York out of ICE’s cruelty, keep all New Yorkers safe, and guarantee a fair day in court for immigrant New Yorkers facing deportation.

ICE’s raids and scare tactics have cruelly separated families, and ICE has leaned on local law enforcement and government agencies to aid their arrests, deportations, and family separation. Because of this, many immigrant New Yorkers and their families live with the anxiety that living daily life in the open and interacting with government – whether in a police traffic stop, attending school, or visiting a public hospital for care – could lead to being torn away from family.  When local agencies work with ICE, it leads not only to unconstitutional racial profiling, but also to the misuse of our local tax dollars and resources to serve the agenda of those who want to stoke fear and divide us. The New York for All Act offers protections that help make this possible, by prohibiting all local law enforcement and state agencies from conspiring with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Patrol (CBP), or participating in its cruelty.

ICE contracts with local jails in New York and across the country to detain tens of thousands of immigrants who have come to the U.S. seeking a better life — subjecting them to inhumane conditions and separating them from family and community. Politicians and federal immigration authorities shouldn’t be able to arrest immigrant communities en masse and jail them indefinitely. Immigration detention is immoral and unacceptable.

No one should be separated from family and have their life upended without their day in court. Yet many New Yorkers can’t afford to hire immigration attorneys who can help with their cases. New York must pass the Access to Representation Act to guarantee legal assistance to immigrant New Yorkers facing deportation.