NY lawmakers to Trump: Stop harassing immigrants with threatening letters. What was said
SPRING VALLEY ‒ State legislators and leaders of local immigration groups on Friday, April 18, demanded the Trump administration respect federal court decisions and stop threatening immigrants with letters telling them to "self deport."
Advocates reported that dozens of East Ramapo students, here via various immigration programs, were among those targeted by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
"You should depart the United States now," the notice on Homeland Security letterhead states. "As of the termination of your parole, you may be subject to expedited removal."
"The due process violations are abysmal," said state Assemblymember Pat Carroll, whose 96th District covers Clarkstown, including a section of Spring Valley, and parts of Haverstraw and Orangetown in Rockland. He spoke at an April 18 press conference called by local Democratic members of the New York Assembly, Konbit Neg Lakay and Proyecto Faro, organizations that support newcomers in Rockland.
Everyone should demand action, Carroll said, adding: "If it's them now, who will it be next?"
Several speakers at the event outside Konbit Neg Lakay said federal leaders, including seven GOP U.S. House members from New York, need to demand Trump respect immigrants' rights and the rule of law.
"Even if just some of them stand up to Trump," Assemblymember Chris Eachus said, "it would be done."
Deportation politics: How Trump embraces the drama around Abrego Garcia and a Salvadoran prison
Eachus pointed to Rep. Mike Lawler. The Pearl River Republican's 17th District includes Rockland, Putnam and parts of Westchester and Dutchess counties.
He said because immigration is a national issue, members of Congress should be taking the lead on pushing the Trump administration. "We did not invite Mike," Eachus said. "He should have been inviting us."
Lawler's office did not immediately return a request for comment.
Several of the local people targeted for the Homeland Security letters came to the U.S. under a humanitarian parole program called CHNV, for Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela, the countries represented.
The program was activated under the Biden administration as a way to ease the number of asylum seekers at the Southern border. CHNV parole recipients have sponsors, and can work as they pursue their asylum cases.
More on CHNV program: Trump yanks Biden-era CHNV humanitarian parole program. How did Rockland Haitians react?
Trump yanked CHNV and reversed other immigration programs this spring; his administration has aggressively pursued deportation.
A recent federal court order in Massachusetts on April 14 temporarily blocked the Trump administration's efforts to terminate the CHNV program. But the letters from Homeland Security, the state lawmakers and activist said, keep on coming.
Allowing the president to ignore court orders, Carroll said, is "dangerous anti-American and unconstitutional."
Trump, whose first administration targeted immigrants from the Mideast and Latin America, debased immigrants from Haiti and other countries during his 2024 campaign. He began taking action to curb what he said was mainly illegal immigration on Day 1 of his administration, with the White House noting the aim was to "enforce our nation's immigration laws."
About 3,000 Haitians came to Rockland through CHNV, and others are here from Venezuela and Nicaragua, immigrant groups have said.
People in Rockland targeted for deportation also included those here under Temporary Protected Status and young people protected by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program, activists said.
People have come to the U.S. to escape danger and to contribute to the U.S., said Eachus, a Democrat who represents Stony Point and parts of Orange County in his 99th District. His office was recently contacted by the family of a woman who had fled Haiti's violence, including the destruction of her home. She was distraught over receiving the letter from Homeland Security. "The United States would send her straight back into that danger," he said.
Konbit Neg Lakay Executive Director Renold Julien noted that the focus of Trump's actions were immigrants of color; meanwhile, the president was inviting white South Africans to come to the U.S.
"It is not immigration," Julien said. "It is racism."
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: East Ramapo NY students told to self deport or face expedited removal
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