City inmates who are sent to Rikers Island have their immigration status crosschecked, and if they are found to be an undocumented immigrant or pose a significant risk to society, they are held for federal customs agents to be deported.
Council Speaker Christine Quinn says the current system is too harsh and arbitrary and has introduced a bill that would limit the amount of cooperation between the city Department of Corrections (DOC) and the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). She is concerned about the federal government continually deporting immigrants who posed no risk to the safety of the country—nearly half of the inmates deported under the program don’t have a criminal conviction.
“We need to stop needlessly and excessively deporting people who have had no prior criminal records,” Quinn said in a statement earlier this month, introducing the bill.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg had expressed concern over the bill, but recent reports indicate that he would now support the measure.
“Since our bill was introduced we’ve had productive discussions with the Bloomberg administration,” Quinn continued. “We are pleased that they’ve agreed to support our legislation that will reduce unjust deportations. This is an important victory for all New Yorkers particularly our city’s immigrant community.”
Supporters of the bill said ICE’s Criminal Alien Program (CAP) needlessly deported immigrants with a heavy hand. According to City Council numbers, nearly half of the inmates deported under CAP were never even charged with a crime. The cooperation between the DOC and ICE has made immigrants hesitant to cooperate with police, the bill’s supporters stated.
“[The new bill] sends a powerful message that the city should not be subsidizing federal immigration policies that erode trust between immigrant communities and government and threaten public safety by scaring immigrants out of reporting crimes and communicating with the government,” said Javier Valdes, deputy director of Make the Road New York, a non-profit that promotes economic justice and equality, particularly for Latin Americans and other immigrant groups.
Critics, however, said this bill was harming public safety. “It’s a bad idea, unequivocally,” Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington said to the New York Times. “They are essentially playing Russian roulette with public safety and putting people at risk needlessly, all because of the politics of immigration.”
The bill’s sponsors maintain the city would still cooperate with federal immigration officials and ensure immigrants are not on the terrorist watch list or have an existing deportation order. The bill would merely prevent the government from gaining information about and deporting any immigrant they choose.
The City Council is moving forward to pass the bill with more than half of the body signing on as co-sponsors—including Council Members Elizabeth Crowley (D-Middle Village), Karen Koslowitz (D-Forest Hills), Jimmy Van Bramer (D-Sunnyside), Daniel Dromm (D-Jackson Heights), Ruben Wills (D-Jamaica) and Peter Koo (R-Flushing).
One local group has called the bill a waste of taxpayer dollars. In an editorial written for its Juniper Berry magazine, the Juniper Park Civic Association (JPCA) asked local Council Members Crowley and Koslowitz to explain their support of the legislation.
“The real question becomes—just who are these elected officials representing,” the editorial posted by JPCA member Lorraine Sciulli states. “Do they really think the taxpayers in the 29th or 30th Council Districts want them to protect illegal aliens in Rikers Island? Come next election time they will hear the answer to that question load and clear.”
Both legislators, however, said that the bill would create a just immigrant reform system in the city.
“As we work to find a fair balance between public safety and the rights of individuals, this legislation aims to do just that,” Koslowitz said. “We need to do everything we can to build trust between immigrant communities and local law enforcement, as well make sure that those with no prior criminal records who have no outstanding warrants and are not on a terrorist watch list are treated justly under our legal system.”
New York, and the rest of the nation, has been fighting endlessly about immigration reform. This summer, three states, including New York, stopped participating in Secure Communities, a fingerprint-sharing program between the federal government and state prisons of immigrants.
“[The bill] is similar to Governor Cuomo’s decision in June not to take part in the ICE Safe Communities program,” Crowley said, explaining her support of the bill. “Elected officials and advocates on both ends of the political spectrum agree that the Department of Correction’s policy hurts families, hurts communities and impacts law enforcement and that is why I co-sponsored the bill.”
By Eric Yun
