Issues related to migrants were top of mind at the Capitol, with rallies taking place both to support and oppose strategies to assist them.
Some Democrats were pushing to ensure asylum seekers get legal assistance as they fight to remain in the country. A coalition of Republicans, meanwhile, introduced legislation to enable greater cooperation between federal immigration authorities and New York, arguing that anything less is unfair to and unsafe for New Yorkers.
“We are saying give us the bare minimum of an opportunity to keep our families together,” Assemblymember Catalina Cruz said at a rally inside the Capitol.
Lawmakers like Cruz and Assemblymember Marcela Mitaynes and Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal are pushing for legal representation for those facing deportation in New York, along with a $150 million investment in immigrant legal services they say would ensure recent arrivals are able to apply for work authorization in a timely manner.
“The fact that we are expected to go into a legal system without support, without representation, without understanding the complexity, does not give us the opportunity to fight,” Mitaynes said.
Murad Awawdeh, executive director of the New York Immigration Coalition, said non-citizens lacking the right to a government-paid attorney in immigration court puts them at a disadvantage.
“What ends up happening is if you have a lawyer, you have a 10 times better chance of winning your case than if you didn’t, and we’ve seen that play out time and time again,” he said.
Republican lawmakers, including Assemblymember Jarett Gandolfo, slammed the proposal Tuesday, telling Spectrum News 1 they feel it’s another example of Democrats working against solving the migrant crisis.
“The vast majority will have their asylum claims denied,” Gandolfo said. “To ask for $150 million to go toward the representation for people who are crossing the southern border illegally, it just underscores the point we are making here today. The priorities are all mixed up.”
It came at an event to unveil their own legislation to combat the crisis, cosponsored by Gandolfo, specifically pushing to expand the ability for state and local law enforcement to notify ICE of the arrest or conviction of non-citizens.
“It’s federal immigration law; law enforcement should be working together to protect New Yorkers,” said Senate Minority Leader Rob Ortt.
Ortt told reporters the push is in response they to what they call Governor Kathy Hochul’s unwillingness to reverse former Governor Andrew Cuomo’s 2017 executive order limiting that ability, along with limits on federal access to New York’s DMV records through the Green Light Law and other legislation.
“ICE can’t find you in New York to send you back because New York won’t cooperate,” he said. “New York will intentionally shield these individuals from federal immigration law.”
In response, the governor’s press secretary Avi Small hit back Tuesday afternoon with what has become a common refrain from the office in recent weeks.
“Instead of hosting press conferences about bills that will never pass, we urge these GOP legislators to call their local member of Congress and urge them to support a bipartisan compromise on border security,” he said.