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As the Trump administration attempts to crack down on sanctuary cities, New York is slapping more restrictions on its cooperation with federal immigration authorities.
Under legislation the City Council passed 41-4 on Tuesday, city employees will be banned from spending any time on duty or using city property to assist in enforcing immigration laws.
The move makes legally binding a policy the city has already followed of bowing out of assisting the feds in finding undocumented immigrants for deportation.
Another bill bars the Department of Probation from handing over undocumented immigrants in response to requests from the feds.
It expands rules that previously applied to the NYPD and city jails, which say officials can’t honor so-called detainer requests from the feds unless the person they’re looking for has been convicted of any of 170 serious crimes.
“We will not waste city resources to help immigration authorities destroy our families,” said Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito. “If anyone is found to be going against the law, then there will be consequences.”
The defiant step follows President Trump’s threat to strip sanctuary cities of federal funds, saying they were letting potentially dangerous illegal immigrants go free instead of helping the feds.
Earlier this month, the Justice Department gave New York and three other cities a “last chance” warning that the feds believe they’re violating laws requiring cooperation, saying it would nix a $4.3 million grant without proof of compliance.
But the city has only reinforced its policy. Mark-Viverito proposed an expansion of restrictions in her State of the City speech earlier this year.
“We’re taking a serious stance and saying that New York is a sanctuary city. We are not going to held federal authorities find immigrants in this city that are no threat to the resident of New York City,” said Councilman Rafael Espinal (D-Brooklyn), one of the sponsors.
Another bill passed Tuesday will create lesser charges for disorderly conduct so that people won’t lose immigration protections when convicted of the commonly used offense — which had 54,000 convictions in the city last year.
The legislation creates a city offense for disorderly behavior, including blocking traffic or refusing police orders to disperse, with a maximum sentence of five days in jail. Prosecutors will be able to use the new law instead of the state statute, which has a max sentence of 15 days in jail.
New regulations fortify New York City as immigration sanctuary
Under legislation the City Council passed 41-4 on Tuesday, city employees will be banned from spending any time on duty or using city property to assist in enforcing immigration laws.
The move makes legally binding a policy the city has already followed of bowing out of assisting the feds in finding undocumented immigrants for deportation.
Another bill bars the Department of Probation from handing over undocumented immigrants in response to requests from the feds.
It expands rules that previously applied to the NYPD and city jails, which say officials can’t honor so-called detainer requests from the feds unless the person they’re looking for has been convicted of any of 170 serious crimes.
“We will not waste city resources to help immigration authorities destroy our families,” said Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito. “If anyone is found to be going against the law, then there will be consequences.”
The defiant step follows President Trump’s threat to strip sanctuary cities of federal funds, saying they were letting potentially dangerous illegal immigrants go free instead of helping the feds.
Earlier this month, the Justice Department gave New York and three other cities a “last chance” warning that the feds believe they’re violating laws requiring cooperation, saying it would nix a $4.3 million grant without proof of compliance.
But the city has only reinforced its policy. Mark-Viverito proposed an expansion of restrictions in her State of the City speech earlier this year.
“We’re taking a serious stance and saying that New York is a sanctuary city. We are not going to held federal authorities find immigrants in this city that are no threat to the resident of New York City,” said Councilman Rafael Espinal (D-Brooklyn), one of the sponsors.
Another bill passed Tuesday will create lesser charges for disorderly conduct so that people won’t lose immigration protections when convicted of the commonly used offense — which had 54,000 convictions in the city last year.
The legislation creates a city offense for disorderly behavior, including blocking traffic or refusing police orders to disperse, with a maximum sentence of five days in jail. Prosecutors will be able to use the new law instead of the state statute, which has a max sentence of 15 days in jail.
New regulations fortify New York City as immigration sanctuary
