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City Council’s Committee on Immigration, chaired by Council Member
Kendall Stewart, recently held an oversight hearing with the Mayor's
Office of Immigrant Affairs (MOIA). At it,
Guillermo
Linares, MOIA’s new Commissioner, gave testimony regarding his office’s
current initiatives and plans for the future in terms of outreach into
the various immigrant communities, direct services to them, and lobbying
efforts in their behalf.
Among the initiatives Linares spoke about were (1) the "Equal Access
to Human Services" law to improve language access services when people
with limited English seek health and human services, (2) the NYC
Workforce I Career Centers, which focus on improving immigrant access to
employment services, and (3) Intro. 223, which creates new protections
for immigrants against the fraudulent practices of some immigration
assistance services.
Linares also pointed out that his office spearheaded the
administration’s efforts to provide aid to those in Haiti, Grenada,
Jamaica, and other places in the Caribbean devastated by the recent
hurricanes. In doing so, they worked closely with the City’s Caribbean
American community leaders and the Consuls General and other government
officials of the respective countries.
Then for more than an hour Linares was questioned by the Immigration
Committee. For example, Council Member Annabel Palma asked about the
status of MOIA’s website and how immigrants were to obtain access to it.
Council Member Miguel Martinez questioned why – despite the fact that
60% of New York City residents are immigrants or the children of
immigrants – MOIA has only six staff members. Council Member Lewis
Fidler inquired into exactly what steps MOIS is taking to "enforce
vigorously" the laws against immigration assistance agencies that take
advantage of immigrants.
Council Member and
Mayoral candidate Charles Barron queried Linaries about the licensing
process for vendors which requires that applicants reveal their
immigration status. He asked, too, about the Police Department’s
harassment of vendors. "These things are very important," he said,
"since so many immigrants are forced into street vending because they
can’t find other employment."
Kendall
Stewart also brought up an issue of grave concern to many immigrants:
the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) plan to suspend
and revoke hundreds of thousands of driver's licenses of persons who
can’t provide valid social security numbers. This measure is already
adversely affecting thousands of immigrants who lack social security
numbers but need to drive for their work and to do everything else
necessary to take care of their families.
On the whole, the committee members seemed pleased with Linares’
answers and hopeful that, under his direction, MOIA will operate in good
faith. It helps that Linares himself is an immigrant, so he understands
firsthand many of the challenges facing the City’s immigrant population.
In
the second part of the hearing, the committee received valuable
testimony from three immigrants’ rights organizations. One
representative was Amy Sugimori, Attorney with the National Employment
Law Project and member of the New York Coalition for Immigrants’ Right
to Driver’s Licenses. She, too, addressed several points regarding the
driver’s licensing issue. This included the harmfulness of DMV stamping
visa information right on the front of certain driver’s licenses, which
makes the bearer more vulnerable to discrimination and mistreatment due
to their immigration status. She also declared emphatically that New
York should not adopt a two-tiered system that provides a visibly
different form of license for drivers, depending on their immigration
status.
The committee also heard from Chung-Wha Hong, Advocacy Director for
the New York Immigration Coalition, who inquired into the follow-up to
Executive Order #41, generally known as the "Access Without Fear" bill,
and the loopholes being found in it.
The final person to give testimony was Udi Ofer, Attorney with the
New York Civil Liberties Union. He urged the Immigration Committee to
actively oppose passage of the 9/11 Commission Recommendations Act, H.R.
10 that is pending in Congress and, if passed, will negatively impact
the lives of countless New Yorkers.
He explained that the bill authorizes the deportation without a
hearing and without judicial review of non-citizens who have lived in
the City for years. This would include deportation to nations where they
will face a serious risk of torture and to countries without a
functioning government. The bill also calls for the suspension of the
writ of habeas corpus, severely limiting the power of the courts to
review detention and deportation, as well as the secret surveillance of
non-citizens not connected to any terrorist group.
Upon hearing Ofer’s testimony, Council Member Stewart promised speedy
action. And he delivered on his promise. Two days later at the City
Council stated meeting, Stewart gathered the signatures of 35
councilmembers on a letter outlining their concerns about this
legislation. It was delivered immediately to the 21 Congressional
conference committee members.
