Sen. Gounardes to NY Focus: "Separating families does nothing to ensure public safety or fix our broken immigration system"

President-elect Donald Trump has made it clear: His administration will aggressively pursue “mass deportations.”

States may seem powerless in the face of such an agenda. Immigration is the purview of the federal government, which, in just over two months, will seek to flood communities with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers (and perhaps the US military) to detain and deport as many people as possible, whether those communities and their state and local officials like it or not.

But deportations are a logistical game, and state and local governments hold some of the cards. For a removal campaign as massive as what Trump is promising, states can aid ICE’s efforts to find, apprehend, and lock up deportable people. Or they can throw a wrench in the agency’s plans.

Despite New York state’s immigrant-friendly reputation, the jury’s out on which role it will play. The direction it goes depends heavily on whether state lawmakers and Governor Kathy Hochul take quick action.

In the wake of the first Trump presidency, under then-Governor Andrew Cuomo, New York enacted some policies that restricted federal immigration enforcement in the state. Executive orders and legislation now prohibit immigration arrests at courthouses and within state government facilities, and state agencies are largely barred from coordinating with immigration authorities.

But unlike other blue states — like New Jersey, Illinois, and Oregon — New York hasn’t extended those prohibitions to local and county governments. That means local authorities are mostly free to deal with immigration issues as they see fit, including by helping feds facilitate deportations.

“We don’t have a statewide law that is protecting immigrant New Yorkers, or anybody traveling in New York, no matter where in the state they are,” explained Yasmine Farhang, director of advocacy at the Immigrant Defense Project.

Legislators have proposed those kinds of laws: namely, the New York for All Act, which was first introduced in 2020 and would prohibit local law enforcement from colluding with ICE. Part of the reason those laws haven’t passed is misconceptions about immigration and public safety, according to Senator Andrew Gounardes, a lead sponsor of New York for All.

US media and politicians on both sides of the aisle frequently associate immigration with crime and violence, even though immigrants, including undocumented immigrants, are less likely to commit crimes than US-born citizens. Despite police insinuation otherwise, deportable people go through the same criminal justice system as citizens when charged with a crime, and available research has found that “sanctuary” policies have no effect on reported crime. In fact, sanctuary jurisdictions are associated with lower rates of homicide and assault.

“The truth is that separating families, and sowing fear and chaos in communities, does nothing to ensure public safety or fix our broken immigration system,” Gounardes said. “Local enforcement of immigration wastes resources and distracts police from investigating crimes and responding to emergencies.”

Gounardes called Trump’s plan “a hard-right agenda that would tear apart families.” A Trump presidency makes enacting policies that inhibit aggressive ICE action all the more urgent, he said.

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