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A security guard pulled a gun on protestors calling for the abolishment of Immigration and Customs Enforcement after they stormed 26 Federal Plaza on Wednesday afternoon. The building houses ICE and immigration courts in New York City. A video shared on social media showed a guard who worked for the firm Paragon Systems pointing her gun at a group of protesters. Around 100 demonstrators had gathered at Foley Square and marched for 90 minutes before the confrontation at the building. The protests were sparked after a whistleblower alleged immigrant women detained in an immigration jail in Georgia received hysterectomies without consent. The Justice Department later tweeted that all the immigration courts in New York City would be closed “due to civil unrest.” The New York Post, ABC7NY
In other local immigration news…
Street Vendors Still Get Tickets After De Blasio Moves Enforcement from NYPD
Three months ago, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced he would move street vendor enforcement out of the hands of the NYPD. But street vendors say police are still ticketing them, and the NYPD has even said it’s doing so Twitter. “Unlawful vending can adversely affect local businesses and quality of life. Community members alerted @NYPD1Pct cops to quality of life concerns regarding illegal vending and your cops went to work addressing those concerns. We hear your voices NYC and we are acting,” a tweet from Chief Fausto Pichardo read recently. “Why do I have to feel like a criminal if I’m just working?” said Nabil Boussbaa, a 46-year-old street vendor. He said it was the first time he received a citation from the police after five years of selling. THE CITY
Hudson River Trust Advisory Council Seeks E-Bike Crackdown on Greenway
Members of the Hudson River Park Trust Advisory Council want e-bike riders to be ticketed if they ride on the greenway. New York State Department of Transportation Regional Director Craig Ruyle told the group his department could work with the NYPD to do more about “enforcement.” Delivery workers use e-bikes to ferry goods across the city and meet intense time pressures. E-bikes were illegal in the city until recently, but it’s still against the law to ride them on the Hudson River Greenway. Critics of the punitive measures against e-bike riders say enforcement always ends up hurting the largely immigrant population that uses them. STREETSBLOG
New Jersey Census Response Rate Surpasses National Average and New York’s
New Jersey has reached a 68.1 percent self-response rate for the 2020 Census, officials say. That’s a higher self-response rate than the state has seen for the past three censuses, New Jersey Secretary of State Tahesha Way said. State officials are still urging residents to complete the survey as census workers knock on doors of those who didn’t respond. New Jersey has surpassed the national self-response rate of 65.9 percent. New York is trailing behind at 62.4 percent. Pix 11
New Jersey Tenant Legal Advocacy Gets a Boost
In an effort to stave off looming mass evictions, the New Jersey Pandemic Relief Fund is donating $2.35 million to legal efforts to protect renters. New Jersey renters are protected from eviction until two months after the official end of the pandemic. But with almost 35,000 eviction orders filed since the pandemic began, renters and advocates fear what will happen then. Some renters have already left their homes after landlords offered to waive rent they owed if they left immediately. Some undocumented immigrants say their landlords have threatened to report them if they don’t leave. A consultant estimated 304,000 evictions would’ve happened in August without protective measures. NJ Spotlight