NYIC Denounces Revelations NY Corrections Officers Were Facilitating ICE Deportations

NEW YORK, New York – The New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC) has strongly denounced corrections officers’ emails to agents with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency and called for swift passage of protections for Caribbean and other immigrants.

NYIC, an umbrella policy and advocacy organization that represents over 200 immigrant and refugee rights groups throughout New York, said that it was revealed during a New York City Council Committees on Immigration and on Criminal Justice hearing that New York City Department of Corrections (DOC) officers were sharing information about incarcerated immigrants with ICE.

“Emails sent from DOC officers to ICE were intended to help facilitate ICE pickups and deportations,” Murad Awawdeh, NYIC’s executive director, told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) on Sunday.

“This is a violation of NYC’s 2014 Sanctuary City legislation, which is supposed to end the warrantless and unconstitutional detention of immigrants, and stop collusion between NYC law enforcement and ICE.

“New York is a welcoming city for all people who call it home, and our Sanctuary City laws exist to protect all of our neighbors from unjust detentions and deportations. But apparently, some DOC officers have decided that the law does not apply to them. By unlawfully colluding with ICE, these officers put the futures and families of our immigrant neighbors at risk, and betrayed the trust between immigrant communities and local law enforcement that is essential for fostering a safe city,” he added.

Awawdeh said this shameless disregard for the law and the rights of the people those officers were charged with serving, will not go unnoticed.

At the city level, he said, the New York City Council must “immediately pass – and the mayor must sign – each bill that is part of the ‘ICE Out.’”

New York City Council legislative package, especially Intro 185, would prohibit the DOC from communicating with US federal immigration authorities.

“At the state level, the Legislature and governor must enact ‘New York For All’ (legislation) to ensure our state and local law enforcement and other resources are not used to support the ICE agenda: targeting and separating New York immigrant families, and sowing fear in our communities,” Awawdeh said.

“While some in law enforcement are actively working to subvert justice, our elected officials must swiftly step up to provide stronger, more comprehensive protections for immigrant New Yorkers.”

NYIC’s protest comes as New York immigration advocates has also denounced an “Asylum Transit Ban” plan by the Joe Biden administration in the United States that would block asylum applications from Caribbean and other asylum seekers who traveled through third countries to the US but did not apply for asylum.

NYIC said this proposed rule favors more affluent asylum seekers and needlessly excludes others from the United States.

It urged the Biden administration to expand protections for all asylum seekers, including those from Haiti, Cuba and Venezuela.

“A just, humane immigration system is an important and necessary part of a healthy democracy and a growing economy. However, the Biden administration’s proposed ‘Asylum Transit Ban’ rule is a blatant and ruthless attack on our humanitarian obligations, and the children and families seeking refuge from violence and persecution in our country,” Awawdeh told CMC.

“The transit ban cruelly favors wealthier asylum seekers coming to the United States via air travel over those who travel by foot to seek asylum at our borders. These unnecessary and arbitrary exclusions privilege some asylum seekers over others on the basis of wealth, and is a shockingly inhumane proposal from the Biden administration.

“Despite campaign promises to deliver solutions for our immigration system, President Biden is instead reviving discriminatory Trump-era policies that endanger people and undermine one of our proudest traditions as a welcoming nation by recycling a policy that never had a place in America’s future,” Awawdeh added.

He insisted that the Biden administration must end this policy once and for all and also work with Congress to reform the asylum system so it is fair, efficient and has integrity.

Yaritza Mendez, co-director of organizing of Make the Road New York, a Brooklyn, New York-based immigration advocacy group, described the new proposed rule as “reckless.”

He said the move by the Biden administration would bring “further harm to asylum-seekers and violate their rights”.

“We are extremely disappointed that President Biden continues to attempt to gut the asylum system and mimic the unlawful actions of the previous administration,” Mendez told CMC.

“People have the right to seek asylum; we must provide asylum seekers due process and the opportunity to have their claim heard.

“We urge the administration to immediately reverse course on this proposed policy and instead refocus its efforts on investing to support asylum-seekers who are looking for safety and protection,” he added.

As previewed in the January 5 border enforcement announcement to limit irregular migration and create additional safe and orderly processes, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the US Department of Justice (DOJ) said in a joint statement that they were “issuing a proposed rule to incentivize the use of new and existing lawful processes and disincentivize dangerous border crossings by placing a new condition on asylum eligibility for those who fail to do so.”