Pro-sanctuary Dems, activists launch Albany sit-in to push law that would restrict ICE

New York Post

a day ago

ALBANY — Activists and socialist Democratic lawmakers held a sit-in on a busy street outside the state Capitol to push for a bill that would expand the state's controversial sanctuary policies.
The so-called NY4All Act would stop all police and New York state employees from working with immigration authorities.
Pro-sanctuary policy activists blocked a busy Albany intersection Tuesday.
Vaughn Golden/NY Post
Demonstrators called for the passage of NY4All, a bill restricting local and state law enforcement from working with ICE.
Vaughn Golden/NY Post
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'We will remain here until NY4All passes,' one activist with a bullhorn declared.
The demonstration blocking Washington Avenue came as unrest over ICE raids roiled Los Angeles, where President Trump took the extraordinary step of deploying the National Guard and Marines.
Support for NY4All in the state legislature is on shaky ground at best.
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Republicans have blasted the bill despite its longshot status.
'While President Trump continues to remove dangerous criminals here illegally, the NY for ALl Act will make our state a safe harbor and magnet for illegal immigration,' Assemblyman Matt Slater (R-Westchester) told The Post in a statement. 'Clearly, Democrats learned nothing from the failed open border policies of the past.'
Socialist pols including state Assembly members Emily Gallagher (D-Brooklyn), Marcela Mitaynes (D-Brooklyn) and Claire Valdez (D-Queens) spent about an hour at the sit-in, which was organized by the New York Immigration Coalition.
Gallagher referred to the Trump administration as 'fascist' in an X post featuring a video of her sitting in the street as a brass ensemble played in the background, threatening to drown out her words.
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'ICE might still overwhelm us, but we need to make sure that we are doing everything that we can to protect our community members,' she said.
The bill — beyond restricting local and state law enforcement from working with federal immigration authorities — would prohibit ICE from entering state property without a judicial warrant, stop county jails from boarding out ICE detainees and bar state employees from entering any information about a person's immigration status into a state database.
The sit-in led many buses to reroute as it unfolded along an intersection that's a major stop for many bus routes going in and out of Albany.
The activists were cleared away by 4:30 p.m. and no arrests were made.