Photo Courtesy of Edwin Torres/Mayoral Photography Office
“Welcoming immigrants has helped make this the safest big city in the country,” Mayor de Blasio said.
By Forum Staff
The City announced on Friday that NYC, together with a coalition of 20 other cities and counties across the nation and the U.S. Conference of Mayors, has submitted an amicus brief to help defeat a Trump administration lawsuit seeking to invalidate three California state laws. Among other things, the administration is suing for greater access to sensitive information that states and local governments collect from immigrant members of the community in the course of delivering services to all residents. Amici filed their brief in United States v. California to support California’s effort to limit the information it turns over, arguing that disclosing the information would erode the trust it has built with residents—including in vulnerable immigrant communities—that is necessary to effectively protect the safety and health of all residents.
“In New York City, we have shown how welcoming immigrants has helped make this the safest big city in the country,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said. “We are all better off when we have policies in place that ensure residents are willing to report crime and assist the police, complain about unsafe conditions, send their children to school, and seek medical treatment. In New York, we will vigorously defend against any effort to undermine our local laws to protect the confidential information of our resident immigrants.”
Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney added that the City of Brotherly Love will defend “policies that promote public safety as well as build trust and cooperation with our immigrant communities.
“Cities have an overriding interest in these policies,” Kenney continued. “Policies like these, in combination with smart, community policing, have resulted in our city having the lowest level of crime in 40 years. By working to bring our immigrant communities out from the shadows, we continue to ensure a safer Philadelphia for all residents.”
