On the 3rd, New York State Senator Julia Salazar, State Representative Grace Lee, City Councilwoman Alexa Avilés and representatives of several immigrant rights organizations, including the New York Immigration Coalition, gathered in front of the Manhattan Immigration Court to escort undocumented immigrants in and out of the court to prevent them from being arrested by the Federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during their court appearances. After the escort operation, they held a press conference at Federal Plaza to criticize ICE’s arrests in the court.
On the same day, New York City Public Welfare Advocate Jumaane D. Williams gathered with representatives of the immigrant community and elected officials at Foley Square in Manhattan, emphasizing that immigrants are an important part of the United States and criticizing President Trump and his “Make America Great Again” ideology for excluding and discriminating against non-white, non-rich immigrant groups.
Over the past week, ICE’s enforcement actions in the New York Federal Court have continued to escalate. Masked ICE agents forcibly took people away and detained them in accordance with federal orders. Murad Awawdeh, president of the New York Immigration Coalition, said: “The court in this building is gradually becoming militarized and has become a place where people disappear.”
City Councilman Aviles pointed out that “these people just reported to their lawyers in accordance with regulations, but were kidnapped by agents wearing masks and whose affiliations could not be identified. It is simply the state using taxpayers’ money to intimidate and treat the constitution as dirt.”
The rally that day also spoke for a detained woman, Jocelyn. Jocelyn’s parents said in Spanish that Jocelyn was arrested at the court for her fourth hearing last Tuesday. She has been detained in the federal building for more than a week. She cannot take a shower, sleeps on the floor, and has extremely limited food. There are about 50 people detained with her, all of whom will face the fate of being deported.
Li Rongen said that she met a woman with cancer in the court who was undergoing special treatment but still faced the risk of deportation. Another man sought asylum because his life was threatened by gangs in his home country. “These people have legal reasons to stay in the United States, but the Trump administration has forced them to separate from their families. We can’t just sit back and watch, we must fight together.”
Williams said at another rally that in Trump’s “ideal country”, “if you are not a white child, you are ‘un-American'”, but in fact, no matter what skin color you have, all people born and living on this land are Americans and have the right to celebrate the birth of this country on July 4. “Patriotism” or not is not defined by Trump.
City Comptroller Brad Lander said that defending the city’s immigrant tradition is “patriotism” for New Yorkers.
