Menchaca, Speaker Announce $1.6M Emergency Funding To Immigrant Family Unity Project
City Council Speaker Corey Johnson and Council member Carlos Menchaca (D-Sunset Park, Red Hook), Chair of the Immigration Committee, along with Mayor Bill de Blasio, yesterday announced an emergency $1.6 million allocation through a transparency resolution to fund the New York Immigrant Family Unity Project (NYIFUP).
The NYIFUP is the nation’s first government-funded legal representation program for detained and non-detained immigrants. On Thursday afternoon, the City Council approved a budget modification which funded the increase for NYIFUP.
The emergency funding builds on the $10 million that was already secured for the current Fiscal Year 2019. The funds will help NYIFUP lawyers represent immigrants facing deportation in the two immigration courts located in New York City, one at Varick Street and the other one at 26 Federal Plaza. The Speaker and Menchaca recently visited the Varick Street Immigration Court to learn about the ongoing casework at the facility.
Under the Trump administration, there is no prioritization scheme for initiating deportation for immigrants considered removable. As a result of ensuing backlogs, more and more immigrants are remaining in detention –many over 6 months– while their legal case completion timelines are extended. Bond, which is typically set at a minimum of $1,500, is rarely granted. When bond is granted, the amounts set are generally unattainable for working class families. Recently, a judge at Varick Street set bond in a case for $25,000, to be paid in full, in cash.
“Since its establishment through Council funds in 2014, NYIFUP has served as a model of universal legal representation for immigrants facing deportation. This injection of much needed funds ensures this can continue to be the case, even in the face of the Trump Administration’s mounting attacks on our immigrant communities,” said Menchaca.
BP Adams Pushes Non-Profits Apply To Program Cutting School Space Costs For Community Orgs
Brooklyn Borough President Eric L. Adams yesterday encouraged small non-profits across the city to apply for the Extended Use Hardship Waiver Pilot Program, an effort to provide community organizations with greater access to school facilities.
Launched last month, the $2 million initiative to ensure greater space use access for small, not-for-profit, community-based organizations (CBOs) that provide services to young people was created after years of advocacy in Brooklyn from Adams. The program was highlighted by a youth sports walk over the Brooklyn Bridge in October 2015.
The program is being organized in partnership with the New York City Department of Education (DOE) and Adams colleagues, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, Queens Borough President Melinda Katz, and Staten Island Borough President James Oddo.
“Public school buildings are community assets that must be maximized for full community benefit, especially for developing the full personhood of our young people. Many useful spaces lie dormant before and after school hours, as well as on the weekends,” said Adams.
“Extended use permit fees should not be a barrier to entry for those serving the underserved. The Extended Use Hardship Waiver Pilot Program empowers small non-profits and CBOs that offer youth cultural, sports, or enrichment programming with critical resources, without having to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to create new community facilities,” added Adams.
Extended Use Hardship Waiver Pilot Program applications are now being accepted through the offices of the five borough presidents for consideration until Sunday, June 30th. For more information on the program, including downloadable request forms, click here.
Treyger Calls On State To Mandate Employee Protection For School Bus Contracts
City Council members Mark Treyger (D-Coney Island, Bensonhurst), Education Committee Chair, I. Daneek Miller (D-Queens), Civil Service and Labor Committee Chair and Daniel Dromm (D-Queens), Finance Committee Chair, yesterday introduced Resolution 811 aimed at protecting fair wages and benefits for New York City employees in bus contracts.
The measure, of which Treyger is the main co-sponsor, calls on Governor Andrew Cuomo and the State Legislature to pass fair wages and benefits for unionized school bus drivers, matrons and mechanics in New York City. The three members’ resolution calls for the passage of a measure, as part of the upcoming fiscal year’s state budget, mandating the inclusion of EPP in all current and future New York City school bus contracts covering Kindergarten through Grade 12.
According to the lawmakers, the City’s school bus system is on the brink of collapse and special needs students face a shortage of drivers. For more than 30 years, Employee Protection Provisions (EPP) were in place to help protect fair wages and benefits for experienced workers in all NYC school bus contracts. EPPs were removed by the previous mayoral administration in 2012.
Since then, new drivers have been forced to work for lower, near-poverty wages, and have been denied pension security. As a result, the city is now facing a shortage of 500 school bus drivers. The shortage was most visible during the start of this school year, when thousands of children were forced to wait on buses for hours as inexperienced drivers and DOE management struggled to navigate new routes in the sprawling, complex system.
However, three years ago, the State Legislature passed a bill to restore EPP, but the Governor vetoed it, citing fiscal concerns. A recent economic study shows that EPP would provide a net savings of $114.8 million to taxpayers in FY 2019-2020, and almost $300 million over the next five years.
“It is a disgrace that our families do not have a school bus system that they can trust. New York City students should be able to count on the most experienced bus drivers and matrons to take them to school and back to their families. Bus drivers deserve compensation in accordance with the sacrifice a job that starts before 5:00 AM demands, which does not end until every child has returned home safely. This is a common sense measure for all,” said Treyger.
Gounardes Joins Fight Against Robocalls, Phone Scams
State Senator Andrew Gounardes (D-Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, Bensonhurst, Marine Park, Gerritsen Beach, Gravesend), is pushing for passage of bill S8674, The Robocall Prevention Act, of which he is a co-sponsor, that would ban robocalls across the state.
The Robocall Prevention Act would make it illegal for any person or entity to make robocalls to any New Yorker’s phone number without permission, unless there is an emergency. The bill passed the Senate’s Energy and Telecommunications Committee on Tuesday, according to initial reports.
The legislation aims to strengthen regulations governing the mysterious and ubiquitous calls, which often try to scam seniors, immigrants and others, the lawmakers say. Some 4.9 billion robocalls were placed across the United States last month, including 294.7 million — or about 122 per second — in New York State, according to YouMail’s robocall index, with nearly half, about 46.6 percent, of the calls nationwide being scams.
“Every day I hear from constituents who are subjected to intrusive and unsolicited calls. With these predatory practices, impostors are defrauding seniors, non-native English speakers, and the vulnerable; rattling our confidence when answering the phone. Caller ID isn’t trusted. Important calls go unanswered. Robocalls are a menace, plain and simple. If the FCC is unwilling to act, the New York State Legislature must,” said Gounardes.
Rose Applauds Trump Administration’s Delay In Deportation Of Liberian Residents
Congressman Max Rose (D-Staten Island, South Brooklyn) applauded President Donald Trump’s announcement yesterday to extend Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) status for Liberians for one year.
Earlier this month, Rose called on the Administration to extend the DED program to prevent thousands of Liberians living lawfully in the United States from imminent deportation if their temporary status was not extended beyond the March 31, 2019 deadline.
The West African nation of Liberia, which was founded as a colony in 1822 by freed slaves from the United States, was plagued by two brutal and deadly civil wars in 1989 and 1999-2003 and more recently by a major Ebola outbreak from 2014 to 2016. As part of its humanitarian response, the United States offered certain Liberians an opportunity to live, work, and pay taxes in the United States under the TPS and/or DED systems, extended by both Republican and Democratic administrations beginning in 1991.
Last year, President Trump terminated DED for Liberian beneficiaries, setting up a March 31, 2019 deadline. Thursday’s announcement pushes the deadline another year to March 31, 2020. Additionally, Rose is also supporting an effort to protect our nation’s DREAMers, Temporary Protected Status (TPS), and DED holders by co-sponsoring H.R. 6, the Dream and Promise Act of 2019.
“This is a huge relief to so many in our communities living in fear of what tomorrow would bring. But this reprieve is only temporary. I’m going to continue fighting to pass the Dream and Promise Act to provide a permanent fix,” said Rose.
