Latest news with #MikeGianaris
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Queens 11th grader detained by ICE, separated from family: Senator
The Brief An 11th-grade student from Grover Cleveland High School in Ridgewood, Queens was detained by ICE during a routine immigration hearing, as reported by New York State Senator Mike Gianaris and School Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos. Senator Gianaris did not disclose the student's name or provide information on their current location or duration of detention, while ICE has not responded to requests for comment. Both Gianaris and Chancellor Aviles-Ramos have called for the student's release. NEW YORK - A New York City public school student was detained by ICE and separated from family during a routine immigration hearing, according to a New York state senator and School Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos. What we know Sen. Mike Gianaris, who represents parts of Queens in the New York State Senate, posted to X that an 11th grader from Grover Cleveland High School in Ridgewood, Queens, was detained while attending a legal hearing to seek asylum. What we don't know Gianaris did not name the student nor provide further details, including where the student was being held and how long they had been detained. What they're saying "Apprehending minors in courthouses and separating them from their families is unacceptable, and I join the school in calling for his release," Gianaris tweeted. Chancellor Aviles-Ramo also responded to FOX 5 NY's request for comment, demanding that ICE release this student. "This young person should be returning home from school today, surrounded by family — not facing detention," she said in a statement. "Our commitment to all students, including our newest New Yorkers, remains unwavering. Our policies have not changed: schools are and will continue to be safe, welcoming spaces for every child. This incident did not happen in a school, and we urge families to keep sending their children to school, where they belong." ICE has not responded to FOX 5 NY's request for comment. This news comes as a Bronx community is rallying for the release of Dylan Lopez Contreras, a 20-year-old Venezuelan national attending Ellis Prep. Academy. Like the Grover Cleveland student, Contreras was detained in May during a routine immigration court hearing. According to Chalkbeat, he "fled his home country last year and turned himself in at the U.S. border in April 2024 through a Biden-era entry program." The city has since filed a motion for his release from Pennsylvania's Moshannon Valley Processing Center, saying he's being held without due process. The Source This article uses statements from Aviles-Ramo and Gianaris along with background reporting from Chalkbeat and more.
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie makes bombshell bid to reduce Gov. Hochul's power in NY budget negotiations
It's Heastie versus Hochul. State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie is going to war with Gov. Kathy Hochul, pushing a bombshell bill Wednesday to curtail her leverage in high-stakes New York budget talks — as disagreements over her policy demands stymie the negotiations. The Bronx Democrat introduced a bill that would allow lawmakers to continue getting paid if state budget talks drag on with no end in sight past the annual April 1 deadline to pass a spending plan. The legislation was not introduced in the state Senate, where Deputy Majority Leader Mike Gianaris (D-Queens) — who hadn't yet reviewed Heastie's bill — said tensions were growing over Hochul's asks, including those concerning involuntary commitment and discovery law. 'I think it's born out of the frustration we all share about the continued insistence on non-budgetary policy into this budget conversation,' Gianaris said. 'We're now a week-and-a-half late and we're still getting new things dropped on the table that have nothing to do with funding the government and keeping it operative.' Negotiations over Hochul's proposed $252 billion budget breezed past the April 1 deadline as the governor stood her ground on her bids to tweak mandates governing discovery evidence-sharing in criminal cases and to make it easier to force mentally ill people into psychiatric care. Hochul smiled last week as she told reporters she's willing to hold up budget talks for months unless lawmakers fall in line with her demands. And this week, Heastie's counterpart in the state Senate — Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Westchester) — deemed budget talks at an impasse. 'I wish I could say we're further along, but I think we are stuck at where we were last week,' Stewart-Cousins told reporters Tuesday. Hochul's spokesperson Avi Small argued the issues holding up the budget — including tough-on-crime and mental health measures — have the overwhelming support of New Yorkers. 'If the highest-paid State Legislators in America are worried about their paychecks, there's a much easier solution: come to the table and pass a budget that includes Governor Hochul's common-sense agenda,' Small said. The biggest policy issue causing the legislative logjam continues to be Hochul's pitch to reform the 2019 discovery law – signed by then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo – setting strict timeframes for when prosecutors are required to turn over masses of evidence to the defense in criminal cases. City district attorneys and across the state argue the law has caused a wave of cases to be tossed over technicalities, arguing judges can be overzealous in applying a court decision that governs how evidence-sharing should work and when charges should be dismissed due to non-compliance. Hochul wants to limit how and when cases can be tossed over a discovery violation, but lawmakers argue such changes are unnecessary because judges already have leeway to opt not to dismiss. But another possible stumbling block in the budget negotiations — Hochul's pitch to make it easier to commit violently mentally ill people — appears to be clearing. Heastie told reporters Tuesday that negotiators are 'close' to an agreement, which would tack on priorities from the legislature to Hochul's plan, including enhancing planning for when a person is discharged from a hospital after being committed. The snags still evidently frustrated Heastie, whose budget delay bill – first reported by Gothamist — tries to land a punch against Hochul by effectively removing a potential pressure point on legislators. Under the would-be law, legislators would continue pocketing a paycheck if the the budget is late and policy items have been included in the governor's proposal. Unlike lawmakers, Empire State governors keep getting paid if the budget is late. Hochul has held up budget talks every year since taking office in 2021 by including policy asks in her spending plan. Heastie's bill could face a largely unprecedented uphill battle in Albany's recent memory. The assembly has enough Democrats to pass it on its own, assuming there are no defections. The Senate, however, would need Republicans to get on board. A two-thirds majority in both houses would be needed to override Hochul's likely veto of the bill. Democrats have not overridden a governor's veto since the party reclaimed the majority in both houses in 2019. Lawmakers who spoke with The Post had mixed reactions to the seriousness of Heastie's bid to get them paid during the stalemate. Some said it was unnecessary because they're willing to forgo pay. 'Not getting paid doesn't have the effect of making my colleagues hungry to get a deal,' one Assembly member said. Gianaris said Hochul trying to turn the screws on lawmakers with delays won't work. 'This notion that somehow holding it up will allow any governor to shift blame to the legislature, it never works,' he said. 'Every governor I've served with has tried it, and it's never ever worked.'
