The New York Immigration Coalition organized a protest Monday in lower Manhattan against new Department of Homeland Security policies, which may prevent immigrants from successfully obtaining a green card if they received aid from federally-funded programs like Medicaid and food stamps.
The policy was officially announced Saturday. But it’s been rumored for weeks, and data obtained by Documented revealed threats of its implementation have led to drops in enrollments for benefit programs.
Dozens of protesters showed up at the Tenement Museum on Monday, and 14 immigrants and NYIC staff members were arrested during the protest. Read more at Patch.
Good morning, and welcome to Early Arrival. I am Irene Spezzamonte, here to take you through the latest in local and national immigration news and analysis. If you have feedback, suggestions, tips or leads, reach out at irene.spezzamonte@documentedny.com.
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Local
Chinatown residents fight to keep a jail out of their neighborhood
Mayor Bill de Blasio’s plan to close Rikers Island is moving forward, and with it, a proposal to open four new jails in four different boroughs is ramping up. One of the proposed jails would likely open in Chinatown, which is already home to the Manhattan Detention Complex also known as ‘The Tombs.’
Chinatown residents have organized community meetings to voice their concerns, saying the decision to place a jail in their neighborhood was driven by racism and classism. Protests similarly emerged when the Tombs reopened 35 years ago.
The new 40-story jail will be located about a block away from the Tombs. And, just as before, residents are concerned the new complex will increase traffic and crime in the neighborhood. Read more at Documented.
Bill Would Bar NYPD From Sharing Gang Database with ICE
New York City Councilman Rory Lancman introduced a bill Tuesday that would stop the New York City Police Department from sharing gang database information with any federal agency that would use it to enforce immigration law. That means Immigration and Customs Enforcement wouldn’t be able to access the names of the individuals considered to be part of a gang. Bill proponents say the NYPD adds names to the database without sufficient evidence and is slow to delete names once they’re cleared. New York Daily News
ICE Wanted to Deport This N.J. Man Over an Old Conviction. He Fought Back — and won. NJ.com
‘Consultant’ Allegedly Scammed Immigrant PIX11
National
ICE Deports Mauritanian Man who Escaped Ethnic Cleansing
ICE agents arrested and deported a 64-year-old Mauritanian man who found refuge in the United States after he escaped ethnic cleansing in his home country. Seyni Malick Diagne escaped Mauritania in the 1990s and arrived in Columbus, Ohio in 2001. Diagne, who has kidney cancer, applied for asylum and received an order of removal in 2005. But back then, ICE let Diagne “pursue legal remedies” and didn’t deport him. Diagne is one of dozens of Mauritanians who have been deported recently as a result of stricter immigration policies. Reveal
Undocumented Man Says ICE Offered him Freedom for Information
An undocumented immigrant from Mexico who has been living in California said ICE officials asked him to report undocumented immigrants with criminal records to the agency for three months. ICE arrested 28-year-old Carlos Rueda Cruz in 2017 while he was on his way to work. He received an order of supervision requiring check-ins with ICE, and says he had to expose undocumented immigrants with criminal records or risk deportation. Cruz refused, and says he was then detained and physically assaulted. The father of three has since been released. The Intercept
Being a Minor Could be a ‘Negative Factor’ in Residency Application
Age could play a defining factor under the new ‘public charge’ immigration policies, which say immigrants who received government assistance could be denied green cards. Children under 18 could have a higher risk of not having their residency application approved, as DHS would consider their age a “negative factor” because they’d have a higher chance of depending on federal programs. Age, as well as education, health and income, will be the main determining factors for whether or not the government sees the applicant as a potential “public charge.” VICE News
New Employment-based Visa Regulations to be Introduced by End of Year
Federal overhauls to immigration regulations will likely hit businesses that rely on foreign labor at the end of 2018. New regulations may make it easier for businesses to bring in foreign workers, but could also strip work permits from spouses of H-1B holders. Employers can still comment on these proposals before they become official. Bloomberg Law
British priest to be deported for an illegal vote he cast 12 years ago
A British priest who has been living legally in the United States for 14 years is being deported for casting a vote in 2006. Rev. David Boase, who lives in southern Illinois and is a legal permanent resident, applied for citizenship and told officials he voted once. A DMV employee asked Boase if he wanted to register after he passed a driving test, and he voted the following year, Boase said. That’s a “criminal offense” warranting deportation under recently implemented Customs and Immigration Services guidelines. The Washington Post
17 Months After Deportation, Maribel Trujillo-Diaz Back Home in Fairfield, Cincinnati.com
ICE Arrests 34 People in Wisconsin, Associated Press
Washington – Family Separation was Actually a DHS Policy
Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen authorized a policy that caused the separation of thousands of children from their parents, a newly released memo shows. Nielsen previously declared there was no such policy, and a separate “zero tolerance” policy was credited for family separations.
But this memo, released through a Freedom of Information Act, shows how the chiefs of CBP, USCIS and ICE proposed three options to prosecute immigrants crossing the border without proper documentation. The three heads recommended ‘Option 3’ that would prosecute “all amenable adults who cross our border illegally, including those presenting with a family unit, between ports of entry in coordination with DOJ.”
At the height of the separation crisis, Nielsen declared the Trump administration “did not create a policy of separating families at the border” and called on lawmakers to reverse stop separations from happening. The Intercept
