This summary was featured in Documented’s Early Arrival newsletter. You can subscribe to receive it in your inbox three times per week here.
On Thursday, the Executive Office for Immigration Review announced the appointment of 17 new immigration Judges throughout the U.S. Two of them will serve in New York: Adam Perl and William H. McDermott. Perl, who was named a judge, served as deputy chief counsel under Immigration and Customs Enforcement in New York from 2018 to 2021. William H. McDermott was appointed as a judge as well, and has a history of working Maryland’s courts. Both Perl and McDermott began working in April. U.S. Department of Justice
In other local immigration news…
Chinatown’s Nonprofit Landlord Has a Troubling Record
📍 Documented Original
When Jiang Qi Yao’s wife was immobilized after a stroke, he asked Asian Americans for Equality for help finding a building they could live in. The nonprofit landlord seemed like it would help, as it says it aims to “advance racial, social and economic justice for Asian Americans.” But they were denied for years, and Jiang’s wife died in 2018. Soon after, Jiang noticed his rent checks weren’t getting cashed — a common tactic to force eviction — and when he confronted AAFE about it, a property manager had him moved into another building with higher rent. Jiang described AAFE as “robbers” who are “murdering people without knives” — and he’s far from the only person who says AAFE isn’t fulfilling its mission. Read more at Documented.
Documented and Waterwell Present: I Know What Pandemic Means
📍 Documented Event
On Wednesday, May 12 at 2 p.m., Documented and Waterwell will release a documentary that examines how the COVID-19 pandemic has devastated New York’s Latin American immigrant communities. “Yo sé qué es pandemia” or “I know what pandemic means” is a bilingual film directed by filmmaker Frisly Soberanis. It includes voices of the readers of Documented Semanal, a publication that provides undocumented New Yorkers with valuable information via WhatsApp. The film follows the loss, community, financial pressures and an overwhelming sense of helplessness within the city’s Latin American immigrant communities. Register here for Wednesday’s free Zoom screening.
How NYC’s Immigrant Emergency Relief Funds Were Spent
It’s been a year since New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the COVID-19 Immigrant Emergency Relief Program, funded with a $20 million donation from Open Society Foundations. The Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs and the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City were supposed to create a citywide network of community-based organizations that would distribute the fund as one-time emergency payments to the city’s immigrant communities. But even months after the announcement, many immigrants didn’t know where, when and how to apply for the program. It wasn’t until mid-January 2021 that 34 community-based organizations were announced to help with the program. City Limits
