Campaign News

The New York Times - December 5, 2013, by Kirk Semple - For years, New York City correction officials routinely provided federal immigration authorities with information about foreign-born detainees in their custody. The city, in response to federal requests, would transfer many of those detainees into federal custody, often leading to their deportation.

But a series of laws passed by the City Council over the past two years sought to restrict this cooperative agreement.

And according to new city statistics, the laws appear to be achieving their goal, prompting celebration — albeit guarded — among immigrants’ advocates.

From July, when the most recent of the restrictive laws went into effect, to September, city officials responded to 904 federal hold requests, known as detainers, according to the statistics. Of those detainers, the city declined to honor 331, or 37 percent.

In contrast, until the laws were passed, the city customarily honored every detainer, according to city officials.

“We feel good about the impact that this legislation has had because it has stopped the deportation of a lot of New Yorkers,” Javier H. Valdes, co-executive director of Make the Road New York, an advocacy group, said on Thursday.

“Our hope,” he said, “is that with the new administration we can increase the number of New Yorkers who will not be turned over to immigration.”

Even with the new city laws, New York’s restrictions are still not as tight as those of other major cities, like Chicago and Washington, advocates said.

Cooperation between local governments and federal immigration authorities has been a deeply contentious issue around the United States.

Some jurisdictions, convinced that the federal government has not done enough to enforce immigration laws, have increased their role in immigration enforcement. But others, concerned about the impact of deportations on their communities, have tried to put distance between themselves and the immigration machinery of the federal government.

Much of the recent debate has surrounded the federal Secure Communities program. The initiative allows Homeland Security officials to more easily compare the fingerprints of every suspect booked at a local jail with those in its files. If they find that a suspect is a noncitizen who is in the country illegally or has a criminal record, they may issue a detainer.

The Secure Communities program, a cornerstone of the Obama administration’s immigration enforcement strategy, has been vehemently opposed by some elected officials around the country, who have sought to limit their jurisdictions’ participation.

In November 2011, the City Council passed a law that narrowed the range of detainers the city would honor. Among other terms, the law prevented correction officers from transferring immigrants to federal custody if the inmates had no convictions or outstanding warrants, had not previously been deported, were not suspected gang members or did not appear on a terrorist watch list.

The effect on the detainer system was immediate: Correction officials went from routinely honoring all detainers to, according to the recently released statistics, about 75 percent of them.

In February, the Council imposed additional restrictions, including blocking detainers for immigrants facing all but the most serious misdemeanor charges, like sexual abuse, assault and gun possession.

Under these new guidelines, the percentage of detainers the city rebuffed rose to about 37 percent from about 25 percent. The rates may have even been higher had the federal government not concurrently altered its own detainer policy, limiting the range of immigrants it would seek custody of.

Still, immigrant advocates said they would press for more restrictions and have reoriented their lobby toward Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio, who has vowed to end the city’s cooperation with federal immigration detainers except for detainees convicted of “violent or serious felonies.”

Newark, San Francisco and Santa Clara, Calif., are also among the cities that have more restrictive detainer policies than New York, according to Emily Tucker, staff attorney at the Center for Popular Democracy, an advocacy group in New York.

“New York City can do much better than these numbers show we are doing at the moment,” she said.

Source

The killing of Eric Garner, Mike Brown, John Crawford III, and Ezell Ford over just four weeks last summer, and the subsequent failure to hold any officers involved responsible, spurred a national conversation about police violence and systemic racism. Community members, often led by tenacious young leaders, planned direct actions, die-ins, walk-outs, and acts of civil disobedience to demand accountability and recognition that black lives matter. From New York to Seattle, outraged elected officials walked out of city council meetings and state buildings with their hands up to express solidarity with, and commitment to, the movement for police and criminal justice reform.

Communities across the country that have lived for too long under the weight of discriminatory policing and mass incarceration are calling for a transformation of our policing and criminal justice systems. They are making it clear that it is time for policies to first and foremost reflect the concerns and solutions of communities most affected by flawed policing practices. Communities are demanding meaningful oversight of law enforcement, accountability, an end to the criminalization of communities of color, and an investments well beyond federally-sponsored tanks and additional police. To support the efforts of community organizations and elected officials, the Center for Popular Democracy (CPD) and PolicyLink have created Building Momentum from the Ground Up: A Toolkit for Promoting Justice in Policing. The Toolkit is a direct response to organizers, elected officials, and community members from across the country seeking support and resources for campaigns aimed at transforming the policies and practices of local law enforcement.

Download the Toolkit here

Epoch Times – August 5, 2013, by Genevieve Belmaker - New York State residents with limited English language proficiency still face problems with access to government services, according to a new study.

More than 2 million people in New York State have limited English proficiency (LEP), according to Make the Road New York (MRNY), an immigrant advocacy organization that has partnered with The Center for Popular Democracy to complete the study.

Despite the number of people with LEP and the 2011 executive order 26 issued by New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo for better provision of services, they still face many barriers accessing services.

Cuomo’s order requires that all state agencies that have direct public contact translate vital documents into the state’s top six LEP languages. The order also requires that interpretation and transportation services be provided in native languages if needed. But the study found two years later, that requirement has still not been fully implemented.

“There’s a growing number of cases where they are asking people to bring someone [for interpretation],” said Cornelia Brown, founder and executive director of the Multicultural Association of Medical Interpreters. “The one exception might be the Child Protective Services.”

Brown, who was speaking as part of a Monday, Aug. 5 conference call about the report, added that in many cases LEP people are asked to bring their own interpreters with no arrangement for reimbursement of any cost incurred.

In general, the report states that despite New York State’s indisputable position as a national leader in pro-immigrant policies, a “significant amount of work remains to be done to dismantle language barriers at government agencies that dispense key benefits and services.”

Some of the report’s key findings include that the majority of LEP New York State residents don’t get translated documents when trying to get access to state benefits and interpretation services. Despite the implementation shortfalls, most people who got translated materials or interpretation services said it was helpful.

To gather the data, MRNY and The Center for Popular Democracy worked with partner organizations across New York State starting in the spring of 2012 to survey LEP individuals in New York City, Long Island, Albany, Central New York and Buffalo.

Source

As Labor Day approaches, advocates in Maryland are pushing for a change in how workers receive their schedules.

Take Hilaria, who lives in Gaithersburg and works at a fast food restaurant. (That's all she'll say on the record, fearing potential reprisal from her employer.) Hilaria says she often doesn't receive her weekly work schedule until right before she has to start it.

"Sometimes it three to four days before the schedule [starts]," Hilaria says. "So we don't have enough time for activities — like for my daughter in school, or for my appointment with a doctor."

Advocates for workers argue Hilaria's story is not uncommon for those in the restaurant and hospitality industries. They're pushing the Maryland General Assembly to approve a measure next year that would make employers issue schedules three weeks in advance. It's called the Fair Work Week Act.

Del. David Moon of Montgomery County says it would provide protections for workers who don't have many.

"Schedules change. You're asked to fill in for people at the last second. It's a busy night and all of the sudden you have to jump in and completely alter your schedule. And if you can't, you're often made to find a replacement yourself," Del. Moon says.

A similar bill never received a vote during this year's session in Annapolis. Nationwide, Fair Work Week bills have been more successful at the city and county level. San Francisco approved a similar measure last year, and Albuqueque, New Mexico, is currently debating one.

Source: WAMU 88.5