Latest news with #NewYorkImmigrationCoalition
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
New Yorkers react to Trump's travel ban for certain countries: ‘Bad intentions'
QUEENS, N.Y. (PIX11)– Hundreds of people living in New York neighborhoods are now trying to figure out how they will see their families again. Starting June 9th, 2025, President Trump banned citizens of 12 countries from entering the United States, and there is restricted access for people from seven other countries. President Trump cited national security concerns. More Local News The ban announced Wednesday applies to citizens of Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen. The heightened restrictions also apply to people from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela who are outside the U.S. and don't hold a valid visa. Emmanuel Therassens, who immigrated to the U.S. in 2021 to attend college, told PIX11 News the travel ban means he won't be able to return to his native Haiti to visit his father and other family members. Therassens currently has Temporary Protected Status and is working while living in Queens. His father, who still lives in Haiti, was trying to get a travel visa to visit him since the two have not seen each other in four years. 'When we hear this news, it really takes a big toll on us because there is nothing we can do about it, to change the situation,' Therassens told PIX 11 News. 'Everyone is being portrayed as those people with bad intentions. Most of the people who are eager to come to the United States these are hard working people who just want a better chance at life.' The New York Immigration Coalition and the Legal Aid Society are among the groups closely monitoring this latest presidential order. Hasan Shafiqullah, an attorney with the Legal Aid Society, told PIX 11 News, 'for them to say entire countries are categorically banned does not serve national security, this is purely, it is politics, this is keeping out people mostly of color, this is about xenophobia, it is about racism.' In 2017, President Trump's Muslim ban was met with legal challenges. Murad Awadeh, the President and CEO of the New York Immigration Coalition, said this time, 'It should not impact people who currently have status from those countries, but what we saw in 2017 was that regardless of that, people who were green card holders were put in detention at airports.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Herald Scotland
23-05-2025
- Politics
- The Herald Scotland
ICE now targeting people attending immigration court hearings
"This escalation of tactics breaks down trust," the New York Immigration Coalition said in a statement. "People should be free to attend their important court cases without fear of being arrested, detained and deported outside of the court." Under Biden, many people who crossed the border without permission turned themselves in, were paroled into the country and later allowed to plead their case before an immigration court. A few were released with orders to wear GPS trackers, but many others were just told to come back to court at an appointed time. Now, in addition to more aggressively stopping people at the border, the White House has given ICE agents new powers to detain and deport people when they show up for those court hearings, as long as they arrived in the United States within the past two years. The shift in tactics has prompted confrontations between advocacy groups and ICE agents, and injected further uncertainty into the lives of undocumented people who believed they followed the rules properly. Some advocacy groups are suing to stop the process. In Phoenix, ICE agents detained more than a dozen people outside court over a two-day period, May 20 and 21. Normally, undocumented people who are going through the immigration court process cannot be deported until a judge issues a final order of removal. But federal lawyers have been dropping those cases, allowing ICE agents to swoop in and detain them under the new Trump "expedited removal" process. Phoenix immigration attorney Nera Shefer said some of her clients came to court and were prepared to celebrate when federal lawyers dropped the case against them. Instead, they left the courthouse in handcuffs. "It used to be getting your case dismissed was a celebration," she said. "Not anymore. The government is given the opportunity to reprocess you under the new rules. That's what it means." Immigration-rights groups report having seen also federal immigration attorneys and ICE agents adopting the new tactics in New York, Seattle and Miami. Trump has repeatedly attacked Biden's decision to allow millions of people to enter the United States. And Trump has also repeatedly complained that it would take too long to hold court hearings for every one of those people. The administration has adopted a string of new tactics to speed up deportations, from invoking the Alien Enemies Act to deporting accused criminals before they ever appear in court. "We cannot give everyone a trial, because to do so would take, without exaggeration, 200 years," Trump said in a April 21 social media post. "We would need hundreds of thousands of trials for the hundreds of thousands of Illegals we are sending out of the country. Such a thing is not possible to do. What a ridiculous situation we are in." Immigration advocates and attorneys have argued that witholding such trials is a violation of the Constitution, which guarantees due process to anyone in the United States, not just citizens or other legal residents. Trump has promised to conduct 1 million deportations annually, a dramatic escalation from previous administrations, including his own first term. Congress is considering a proposal to add 10,000 new ICE agents and double the number of detention beds. During his 2024 presidential campaign, Trump repeatedly vowed that his administration would primarily target violent offenders. Immigrant-rights advocates say the administration's get-tough approach is also targeting people without criminal charges or even immigration violations. Contributing: Edwardo Cuevas, USA TODAY, Raphael Romero Ruiz, David Ulloa Jr and Richard Ruelas, USA TODAY Network
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump signs executive orders targeting sanctuary cities, protecting law enforcement
April 29 (UPI) -- President Donald Trump signed a trio of executive orders on Monday that target sanctuary cities, increase English proficiency requirements for truck drivers and a third to protect police from consequences of wrongdoing. Since returning to office nearly 100 days ago, Trump has ruled via executive orders, signing more than 140 of them in that time span. Some have been challenged in court. Sanctuary cities As part of his crackdown on immigration, Trump on Monday signed an executive order directing Attorney General Pam Bondi and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to compile a list of so-called sanctuary states, cities and jurisdictions for punishment. Sanctuary cities are those that limit or outright deny cooperation with federal immigration law enforcement. Under the executive order, jurisdictions found to be violating immigration federal law may lose federal funding. Bondi and Noem are instructed to develop mechanisms to ensure "proper eligibility verification in sanctuary jurisdictions to prevent illegal aliens from receiving federal public benefits," according to a White House fact sheet on the order. "It's quite simple," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said during a press conference on Monday. "Obey the law, respect the law and don't obstruct federal immigration officials and law enforcement officials when they are simply trying to remove public safety threats from our nation's communities." The move is expected to attract lawsuits. The New York Immigration Coalition described the executive order as being designed to "punish" local governments for establishing their one public safety policies and standing up to the Trump administration's mass deportation plan. "This executive order is nothing more than an intimidation tactic designed to undermine the ability of local governments to enact policies they believe best safeguard their communities, while strong-arming localities into becoming complicit with Trump's attacks on immigrants," NYIC President and CEO Murad Awawdeh said in a statement. "New York must reject this threat to its constitutional right to pass local laws that serve our communities best." The Trump administration is seeking to deport millions of undocumented migrants and has led a campaign that has seen many arrested, including more than 200 who were shipped to El Salvador and are being held in a mega-prison, raising concerns over due process rights. Amid its immigration crackdown, the Trump administration has attacked those who have stood in defiance, suing the city of Rochester over its sanctuary city policy and arresting a Milwaukee judge on accusations of assisting an undocumented migrant in evading capture by federal agents. Policing Trump also signed an executive order to "empower state and local law enforcement to relentlessly pursue criminals and protect American communities," according to a White House fact sheet. The executive order directs Bondi to create a mechanism to provide officers accused of wrongdoing with legal resources, including pro bono assistance. It also calls for a review of federal consent decrees, out-of-court agreements and post-judgment orders involving state or local law enforcement agencies and to either modify or rescind any that "impede the performance of law enforcement functions, the White House said. It will also increase the provision of surplus military assets to support local law enforcement, among other directives. The American Civil Liberties Union described the executive order in a statement as one that "seeks to prevent accountability for law enforcement misconduct and encourages police brutality." Truck drivers The third executive order Trump signed Monday directs Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to issue new guidance increasing English-proficiency requirements for truck drivers. "President Trump believes that English is a non-negotiable safety requirement for professional drivers, as they should be able to read and understand traffic signs; communicate with traffic safety officers, border patrol, agricultural checkpoints and cargo weight-limit station personnel; and provide and receive feedback and directions in English," the White House fact sheet said. During the Monday press conference, Leavitt described the English-proficiency of truck drivers as being "a big problem." "Unless you're in that community you might not know but there's a lot of communication problems between truckers on the road with federal officials and local officials as well, which, obviously, is a public safety risk, so we're going to ensure that our truckers, who are the backbone of our economy, are all able to speak English. "That's a very common-sense policy," she said.
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Cuomo skips another major NYC mayoral face forum — where candidates will talk immigration
Democrats running for mayor will hash out the hot-button issue of immigration Wednesday night – but frontrunner Andrew Cuomo will be notably missing. The former governor is skipping out on another chance to answer tough questions, this time at a forum in which his opponents in the June primary were expected to address how they'd respond to the Trump administration's crack down on illegal migrants. The event at the CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies, hosted by the New York Immigration Coalition, was set to feature socialist Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, the runner-up in the polls after Cuomo. It's the latest in a string of mayoral campaign forums that the ex-gov has opted not to attend — and his past absences have sparked a chorus of criticism from his opponents. 'When you are scared to answer to the people of New York and are scared to be held accountable than you're not going to participate in the forums,' state Sen. Jessica Ramos told NBC 4 NY last month after Cuomo missed another forum in Brooklyn. He also brushed off a discussion on public safety last week, which was attended by most of the other Democratic primary candidates. Cuomo, however, did speak at the Rev. Al Sharpton's annual National Action Network Convention earlier this month. Organizers of Wednesday's immigration forum said on their website that Cuomo had been invited, along with Mayor Eric Adams, who is running as an independent and who also opted to skip the event. Along with Mamdani, other candidates expected to attend include Ramos, City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, city Comptroller Brad Lander and his predecessor Scott Stringer, state Sen. Zellnor Myrie and ex-Obama aide Michael Blake. Cuomo's chronic absences haven't hurt him in the polls — he led Mamdani 34% to 16% when voters were asked about their top choice, according to a survey released Tuesday. But Cuomo — who resigned from the governor's office in disgrace in 2021 over sexual harassment allegations he denies — faced a rash of embarrassing fumbles this week. The veteran pol lost out on almost $3 million in campaign matching funds due to a paperwork snafu and unveiled a typo-laced housing plan, which a representative admitted was put together with the help of research conducted by ChatGPT. A Cuomo campaign spokesperson insisted the ex-governor has attended 'a number of forums and will attend others in the coming weeks as he continues to engage voters on his platform to make New York City a safer and more affordable place for all.' Cuomo has also talked about immigration with media outlets and voters are aware of his past track record, the spokesperson added. A political consultant not affiliated with any campaign argued there is 'no benefit' to Cuomo showing up at forums. 'When your name is Andrew Cuomo, you're leading in every poll and you have millions upon millions to spend, the truth is you don't need to show up to the forums,' said John Tomlin, senior managing director of Actum. 'People know who he is, they know what kind of leadership he brings and they either support him or they don't. Him showing up to the forum just puts him in the line of fire and honestly elevates his opponents more than it does him.'
Yahoo
11-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
PIX on Politics Daily: NYC Sanctuary City status
NEW YORK (PIX11) — Welcome to PIX on Politics Daily with Dan Mannarino, where we break down the day's political news, headlines, and issues that matter most to you through in-depth conversation. Join us daily on PIX11+ streaming at 1:00 p.m. as we invite the newsmakers, lawmakers, and key players shaping policies that impact local communities. On Friday, Henry Rosoff was joined by the president and CEO at the New York Immigration Coalition, Murad Awawdeh, to discuss the migrant crisis in New York City. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
