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Workers’ Safeguards Strengthened by N.Y. Law
By Sam Dolnick December 13, 2010
Gov. David A. Paterson signed into law some of the nation’s strongest protections against wage theft on Monday, after months of lobbying by immigrants’ advocates and labor unions that said New York lagged behind other states on the issue.
The law, which takes effect in April, will quadruple the penalties for employers who steal workers’ pay, and will protect whistle-blowers from retaliation.
Employers, who pay below the minimum wage, fail to pay overtime or unfairly garnishee wages are especially rampant in restaurant, retail and construction businesses where illegal immigrants make up much of the work force, according to a report this year by the National Employment Law Project. In New York City, the report said, lost wages add up to more than $18.4 million a week.
“These issues go unreported and unaddressed because if you speak up you’re likely to be terminated,” Mr. Paterson said in a news conference. “There’s no administrative remedy; there’s no voice. That ends today.”
Under the old law, employers found to have stolen workers’ wages had to repay the money with a penalty of 25 percent.
“The fines were so minimal that a lot of these rogue employers saw them as the cost of doing business,” said State Senator Diane J. Savino, a Democrat from Staten Island who was the bill’s lead sponsor. Under the new law, the employers’ penalty will be up to 100 percent.
The law removes technicalities that required whistle-blowers to cite the section of the law that the employer broke. It also allows up to $10,000 in added penalties for employers who fire or threaten workers for speaking out.
“At long last, this puts real teeth in New York’s labor law,” said Andrew Friedman, co- director of Make the Road New York, an immigrants advocacy group that pushed for the bill, joined by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union.
Opponents of the bill, which the Legislature passed largely along partisan lines, say it will simply create paperwork for employers who do not steal wages. “Now all employers in the state have this new regime to prevent them from doing something the vast majority of them never think of doing,” said Kenneth Adams, president and chief executive of the Business Council of New York State.
A national trend toward strengthening worker-protection laws has already taken hold in states like Massachusetts, New Mexico and Illinois, said Rebecca Givan, an assistant professor at the Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations. She called the New York law “a really big success for workers.”
Maria, a Mexican immigrant who asked that her last name be withheld because she was in the country illegally, said she had worked 70 hours a week at a lamp factory in Manhattan that denied her overtime for more than a year. Make the Road New York helped her recoup almost $10,000 this year. “The new law is very great because this won’t happen to someone else,” Maria said.
Begging for Your Pay
By Elizabeth Dwoskin
December 15, 2010
Romulo Saldana** was looking for work.
It was 2001, and Saldana had moved to East Harlem from a small town in the Ecuadorian Andes three years before. Besides a sister, he knew few people in the city. A friend sent him to Manuel, an older Ecuadorian, who had papers and owned a successful construction company in Queens. The man hired Saldana as a day laborer and, over the course of five years, he built some 30 block houses, the kind of low-rise brick rental units that have sprung up lately in sections of the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens. Eventually, Saldana was promoted to foreman.
Every week, Saldana would gather his crew of six men in the “yarda” — a garage in a house the boss owned in Long Island — to hand out their pay. Only the money would always come up short — sometimes $3,000 for all of them together, sometimes just $1,000, even when they were owed a total of $4,000. At first, Saldana didn’t much mind his boss’s negligence: it was the height of the construction boom; he was able to do other jobs on the side. “I trusted him because he was from my country,’ Saldana told me, in Spanish. “I thought, ‘‘If he isn’t going to pay me this week, he will pay me later.’”
In 2006, Saldana added up all those deferred promises in his notebook: $34,000. He is still seeking most of that money.
What does $34,000 mean to a New Yorker? For Saldana — who works in the kitchen of a restaurant in Long Island now that construction work has dried up — it meant the difference between being able to send money home to pay for his teenage daughter to go to middle school, and provide for a caretaker and medicine for his ailing 90-year-old father. It was the difference between paying his own rent and borrowing money from his sister. And this Christmas, he can’t afford to buy presents for his American-born 6-year-old. “I will tell my daughter, Santa Claus is very poor,” he said.
Jason Wisdom, a 39-year-old Rutgers-educated freelance computer consultant, is owed roughly the same amount of money but his desperation takes a different form. For a year, Wisdom contracted for $70 an hour with a client, who in turn had a contract with Sirius Satellite Radio. At first, the payments came on time: within 30 days. Then they started to arrive more slowly. Then, they didn’t come at all.
He waited on $31,000 through November 2009; by February, the company still owed him $20,000. Wisdom, who said he had had a perfect credit score until then, racked up over $20,000 in credit card debt, and his bank raised his interest rates to 30 percent. He was paying more than $500 a month in credit card interest, and withdrew from his retirement accounts to make ends meet.
Unlike Saldana, Wisdom knew his rights. He filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. He called Sirius directly, to see if the company had paid his client (it had), and left a message for a detective in the Nyack district attorney’s office.
And Wisdom saved e-mails. The kind of excruciating e-mail in which the client says, “the check was postmarked last Friday,” and then, several weeks later, the check has disappeared into the ether and the client offers, sort of apologetically, to call up accounts payable to find out what happened. And then, radio silence, filled only by the ping of Wisdom’s messages, fired off every four or five days, asking after the results of that inquiry.
Saldana, on the other hand, did the only thing he knew to do. He called his boss every week for a year, using other people’s phones in the hopes that Manuel would pick up. (He did, sometimes. He always said he was “duro” — hard up on cash. He went and parked himself in front of Manuel’s house, in Middle Village, Queens, but his former boss wouldn’t see him. Eventually, Saldana made his way to Queens Civil Court, where, without a lawyer’s assistance, he managed to extract a settlement of $10,000 from Manuel. Saldana was able to garnish a few thousand from Manuel’s bank account, but his former boss wouldn’t pay the rest. Now Saldana is in court again, suing for $25,000.
Like many New Yorkers, Saldana and Wisdom both spent months — in Saldana’s case, years — essentially working for free. No one forced them to stay in those jobs, but there were too many contingencies (not least that, in a bad economy, the devil you know might be better) that caused them to stay on and endure a stressful, humiliating and ultimately unjust experience.
Neither man is likely to benefit from the new protections of the Wage Theft Protection Act, signed into law this week by Gov. David Paterson, although there is a separate bill pending in Albany that would enable the cases of independent contractors to be investigated by the state Department of Labor. Sara Horowitz, the founder of the Freelancer’s Union, explained the “deadbeat clients” bill this way: “There is something wrong in our economy,” she said. “It’s happening to people with formal skills. To people without them. It’s happening across the board.” She rebuffed the idea that her members were, “professional slackers with lap tops.” “Think of your friends. They are going from one job to another, and waiting a year in between. So people are freelancing, and cobbling it together, or not. I feel like that’s the big lie. We’re not middle class.”
Chasing after money is an excruciating experience, and one I know well. I am 28, earn a beginning writer’s salary and, in an expensive city, I need to freelance to make ends meet. I am also responsible for more than $50,000 in student loans. Every month, there are always five big bills: rent, food, cell phone, credit card and the loans. If one freelance check doesn’t come — and they almost never arrive even close to the time an employer says I should expect them — I rotate which bill I’m going to have to delay paying.
So when I read Jason Wisdom’s e-mail chain, I felt my pulse quicken and the veins pumping in my chest. In them, I recognized a version of my own e-mails to employers.
There are e-mails in which you can sense Wisdom tiptoeing, trying hard to conceal his distress. But there are others where it all explodes outward — not just his agitation but his anger at having to reveal himself in this way. “I ABSOLUTELY NEED THIS MONEY TO BE DEPOSITED OR I WILL EXPERIENCE COMPLETE FINANCIAL RUIN,” he wrote in all caps and bold letters, after three months of polite inquiries to the head of the company. The reply that he receives from the manager is civil and untroubled: “You say this isn’t important to me, but it is.” About two months, and dozens of other e-mails later, Wisdom’s check finally arrived.
Freelancers often engage in a delicate, disquieted dance. People showed me drawn-out e-mail chains with a subject line of “URGENT,” but the sign offs are peppered with “Thank you!” and “Please tell such-and-such-colleague I hope he feels better!” and assurances from the exasperated, resentful freelancer of how much she is looking forward to working with the company again in the future. “I’m in the professional equivalent of an abusive relationship,” said Ben Ryan, a low-income freelancer writer who says his former employer owes him $12,925. “I would describe an overriding, constant sense of anxiety. Of course, that’s what the freelancer experience is.”
An opaque terminology accompanies these delays. There are “checks” versus “processed invoices,” “mailed checks” versus “cut checks,” “payments processed” versus “payments in the system.” It was always unclear to me whether any of these terms described real occurrences, actual actions taken, or whether they were merely meaningless placeholders for an action that never took place. There is always something that holds up the payment — a lost invoice to be pursued, a person who went on vacation who is suddenly being replaced by someone else, a contract that wasn’t signed, somebody to follow-up with in another, buried department, until you get to that individual who may have actually laid on eyes on your check.
At least Jason Wisdom, Ben Ryan and I have a least some expectation of being paid. That’s not the same for many people doing construction or domestic work in this city. I once interviewed a nanny in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, who said she worked for a year without being compensated. Her job wasn’t even really a job anymore, because she was working for free. But she stayed on because working for free with the faint possibility of getting paid was better than the prospect of not having any job in this economy.
This sort of situation is so common that Saldana’s lawyer, Elizabeth Wagoner of Make the Road New York, has created a manual for summer legal interns that lists 10 common excuses from employers for why they cannot pay. No. 8 is the most cynical: “We’d like to pay you, but we can’t – because you don’t have a social security number.” Wagoner’s clients can’t fire off an e-mail or probe accounts payable when their bosses run away. How does one chase after money when all you have is the first name and the cell phone number of some fly-by-night contractor, and maybe the license plate number that you copied off the back of his work truck? How do you negotiate payment in a language that is not your own?
As a reporter, I found that following these kinds of stories has had a destabilizing effect, inviting feelings that are neither neat nor easy to package. Nothing I could go through would resemble what Romulo Saldana has lived, and the last thing I’d want would be to suggest otherwise. I get annoyed with myself when I even think it. But here I am, spending my days reporting on people seeking back payment while I am doing the same. I’m listening to stories of people borrowing money to make ends meet and thinking of whom I could ask to borrow from.
Reporting on the subjects I cover — on people who have lived through these sorts of nightmares — I’ll be honest: at the end of the day, you take a certain psychological comfort in knowing that you are different — it helps you withstand the creeping sensation that whatever failed in the lives of the people you write about could fail in your own. But, suddenly, you see your grip on that difference start slipping away. And I’m confronted by a thought so troubling it’s difficult to even entertain: we are trapped by forces greater than ourselves.
**Member of Make the Road New York (MRNY).
Method Used to Deport Rikers Inmates Is Questioned
By SAM DOLNICK
November 10, 2010
As the Obama administration steps up efforts to deport immigrants held on criminal charges, federal officials in New York City have long been on the job. At the city's main jail on Rikers Island, immigration officers comb through lists of foreign-born inmates, then question, detain and deport about 3,200 of them a year.
Immigration authorities say they decide whom to flag by considering the severity of the crime and the inmate's criminal history and immigration record. Their top priority, they say, is removing the most dangerous offenders.
But a new analysis of Rikers Island statistics by Justice Strategies, a prisoner advocacy group based in New York, shows that among inmates held on drug charges, those accused of misdemeanors were chosen for deportation proceedings more often than those charged with felonies. Suspects charged with lower-level felonies were selected more often than those charged with more serious crimes. And, the A man [member of Make the Road New York] report says, inmates were flagged for possible testified on Wednesday during a Council hearing on city deportation in patterns that mirrored simple cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. jailhouse demographics.
The study, which was released on Wednesday, comes as debate swirls around Secure Communities, a new federal program that will require local law enforcement officers to send fingerprints of everyone booked into jail to the Department of Homeland Security, which will compare them with prints in its databases. If officials find that the suspect is in the country illegally, or is a noncitizen with a criminal record, they may pursue deportation.
Federal officials say the program will protect the public and streamline enforcement efforts. But critics protest that it will sweep up immigrants who have not been convicted of or even charged with serious crimes, and will discourage immigrants from going to the police as victims or witnesses, for fear of deportation.
The city's relationship with Immigration and Customs Enforcement came under scrutiny on Wednesday at a joint hearing of two City Council committees.** Several members voiced concern about the Rikers Island program, which has been in place for more than a decade.
Advocates for immigrants point to the new study as evidence that federal authorities sometimes show little discretion in whom they choose to deport. "These numbers suggest that there's not a system in place to identify people based on risk, and ICE is simply tagging people who show up," said Aarti Shahani, the study's author.
Ivan L. Ortiz-Delgado, a spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, disputed that, saying the agency's priority at the jail was to "remove from the country first those criminal, convicted aliens who pose a threat to the safety of our communities and national security."
At Rikers Island, federal immigration officers stationed there place holds, or "detainers," on noncitizen inmates they want to send into deportation proceedings. The detainers allow jail officials to hold inmates for 48 hours after their scheduled release, so they can be transferred to immigration custody.
The Justice Strategies report studied the records of 1,215 noncitizen Rikers inmates in 2008 whose top charge was a drug-related offense. Of those, 552, or 45 percent, were issued detainers.
The report shows that only 34 percent of inmates facing the most serious charges received detainers, compared with 48 percent of those facing misdemeanor charges. About 44 percent of inmates charged with lower-level felonies received detainers.
City and federal officials said that the pool of inmates was too narrow to offer insight into enforcement strategy, and that the study did not consider key factors, like an inmate's criminal history, that influence the issuing of detainers.
Bloomberg administration officials did their own analysis on those inmates and found that 72 percent of those with detainers had prior criminal records.
"We've learned how critically important it is to both public safety and national security to ensure that government agencies work together to connect the dots," said John Feinblatt, the mayor's chief policy adviser. "Yet some apparently believe that immigrants suspected of being here illegally should get a special get-out-of-jail-free card even when there are legitimate concerns about the risks they may pose."
While the Justice Strategies report is far from conclusive, advocates for immigrants say it identifies troubling patterns. It shows that the distribution of charges across the inmate pool nearly matched the distribution of detainers, suggesting that detainers were not handed down on the individual merits of each case.
For example, roughly 26 percent of the inmates studied were charged with low-level misdemeanors; that group represented roughly 28 percent of those who received detainers. About 7 percent of the inmates were charged with serious felonies; that group represented 6 percent of those with detainers.
The study also concluded that detainers slowed down the already overburdened jail system. Suspects with detainers spent an average of 134 days in custody, more than twice as long in jail as the average inmate. Those without detainers stayed 59 days.
Sharman Stein, a Department of Correction spokeswoman, said that the extended stays could not be explained solely by the detainers, and that it would be impossible to fully explain the longer stays without more information about each case, like an inmate's prior criminal history.
But immigration lawyers said the long delays cited in the report should come as no surprise to anyone who works with inmates and immigrants. Inmates with detainers, they said, have no incentive to raise bail because once they raise the money, correction officials hand them over to immigration authorities. Only 1 percent of inmates in the study with detainers paid bail.
**Organized by Make the Road New York and allies, and featuring testimony from MRNY members.
As City Fixes Buildings, Reimbursements Lag
By Cara Buckley
December 7, 2010
During the worst of times at his Brooklyn apartment, in the winter after the hot water was shut off and the ceiling caved in and the floor buckled because of incessant leaks, Julio Yanez resorted to desperate measures to bathe his year-old twin sons.
Tucking one boy under each arm, he hightailed it every morning across the street in Bushwick to a kindly neighbor who let the family use her tub. Eventually, the city replaced the roof, patched ceilings and repaired walls, and billed the landlord $434,000.
Mr. Yanez could not be happier with the fixes. But the city has yet to be paid back. The city has not been paid for repairs it did on the building where This was not the outcome officials said they hoped for Julio Yanez, shown with his son when they started a new housing enforcement David, lives. More work is needed. program three years ago, which allowed the city to make repairs at severely distressed buildings and then, it was hoped, force landlords to pay for the work. But of the $17 million in repair work the city has undertaken, only $4.5 million has been paid back.
Meanwhile, the program is set to grow in ambition: newly proposed legislation would widen the list of repairs the city would do to include removing asthma triggers like vermin infestations and increasing the number of units allowed in the program to 3,500 from 1,000.
“Asthma is directly related to substandard housing,” Christine C. Quinn, the City Council speaker, said at a news conference announcing the legislation this week. “And some landlords are simply lawless bad actors.”
Rafael E. Cestero, the commissioner of the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development, said that while the repayments were not what the city had hoped for, the program had nonetheless been a success.
“This is not a program aimed at collecting money,” Mr. Cestero said. “It’s to ensure that the citizens of our city don’t live in unhealthy and unsafe conditions, and that’s what we’re doing.”
Under the original measure, which was part of the city’s 2007 Safe Housing Act, the city identified 200 of the worst buildings and ordered landlords to make repairs within four months or be subject to stiff penalties. If the landlord failed to make repairs, the city did them itself. If the landlord did not repay the repair costs and associated fines and fees, the city placed a lien against the building, which the landlord would have to repay before refinancing or selling. The city also publishes the addresses of the 200 buildings on a widely circulated “worst buildings” list.
Mr. Cestero said that one-third of the buildings that had been in the program got off the list because owners did the fixes themselves. A second third, he said, entered into agreements with the city after vowing to make the fixes over time. The final third, he said, accounted for the $17 million because owners ignored orders to make repairs. The landlord of Catherine Zito’s That money, Mr. Cestero said, would “absolutely” be Brooklyn apartment has not paid the paid back, as owners eventually refinanced or sold city for renovations it did on her their buildings. “It could be many years, or it could be kitchen and bathroom. next year,” he said.
The expanded legislation, introduced on Tuesday by Ms. Quinn, would also allow for landlords to enter payment plans with the city, which Mr. Cestero said should help the city recoup money spent.
Even though the city would include more than triple the number of units currently in the program, Mr. Cestero said its costs would not increase substantially. While larger buildings would be singled out under the new program, there would still be a maximum of 200 buildings on the “worst” list. This meant, Mr. Cestero said, that the city would probably still be doing major repair work — like fixing water supply systems and roofs — on the same number of buildings. “Replacing a roof on a 20-unit building is not exponentially more expensive than a six-unit building,” he said.
The new measure, which is expected to be passed with little resistance, has the enthusiastic support of housing rights advocates, who said the program had already vastly improved life for thousands of tenants. Michelle de la Uz, executive director of the nonprofit Fifth Avenue Committee, said that saving decrepit buildings had a positive ripple effect on neighborhoods, stabilizing communities by keeping tenants in place, in safe homes.
The hope is that the new law will help drive down asthma rates in the poorest neighborhoods. “We believe it’s going to confirm our theory that aggressive code enforcement reduces asthma triggers, which in turn leads to fewer asthma attacks,” said Javier Valdés, a deputy director for the community group Make the Road New York.
Joseph Strasberg, president of the Rent Stabilization Association, which represents 25,000 building managers and landlords, said he was concerned that landlords could be penalized for asthma triggers that were beyond their control, like the poor quality of outside air. But his group would not oppose the new measure, he said, if it was only used to identify “the really bad guys.”
Advocates: NYC Jails Should Limit Dealings with ICE
By Associated Press Staff
October 19, 2010
Dago Bustillo,** left, a Dominican immigrant living in Staten Island, joins a coalition of Latino workers, clergy and civic leaders in a march over New York’s Brooklyn Bridge against the Department of Corrections policy to “funnel” illegal immigrants into ICE’s detention and deportation program.
NEW YORK — Immigrants and their advocates want New York City to limit the information it gives to federal authorities about who’s locked up in city jails.
They say the city tells Immigration and Customs Enforcement about who’s in custody before they’ve been convicted. That can lead to federal authorities having immigrants held and transferred into the federal detention system even if their criminal case ends up dismissed. Once in detention, immigrants face deportation.
A crowd of a few hundred immigrants and their supporters rallied outside City Hall on Tuesday.** They called on the city to only inform ICE about those convicted of serious felonies.
The city Department of Correction said it complies with federal regulations, and that ICE determines who gets transferred.
** Members of Make the Road New York.
Thousands of Students Arrested by Safety Agents Last Year Raises Parents Concerns
By Meredith Kolodner
December 16, 2010
More than a thousand students were arrested by safety agents last school year, and nearly 300 were collared during just the first two months of this academic year, the Daily News has learned.
The arrest statistics were revealed as advocates prepare to testify before the City Council in support of the School Safety Act today, hoping to crack the secrecy that has surrounded school discipline for years.
The act would force the city to regularly release the number of school arrests and suspensions by race.
According to data released to the New York Civil A rash of school violence has many parents Liberties Union in connection with a lawsuit against concerned about students' safety. the NYPD, there were 1,124 arrests by safety officers last year and 286 in the first two months of this school They say it's a problem that there are more school year. safety agents - 5,200 - than guidance counselors and social workers combined. With a recent rash of school violence - including a Bronx teacher suffering a miscarriage after breaking "Safety is absolutely essential for kids to learn," said up a fight - some parents say they have dual NYCLU director Donna Lieberman, "but we don't get concerns: keeping schools safe, while making sure effective education by turning discipline over to the their children don't face aggressive discipline. police."
One mom of a Queens high school student said her The president of the safety agents' union said he son, who has heart problems, was arrested last hoped the bill would "put to rest the notion that school month after safety agents accused him of writing on safety agents abuse children in the schools." the bathroom wall. He was thrown to the floor and handcuffed, she noted. "I don't think any kind of training will suffice for children who do not behave properly," said Gregory "He was hysterical, crying," said the mom, who asked Floyd, president of Teamsters Local 237. to remain anonymous to protect her son. "I said to the agents, 'Why didn't you call his counselor?' They said The Education Department supports the bill and notes they weren't aware he had any disabilities." that violent crime in the schools has dropped by 39% since 2000. The charges against the student were later dismissed and he was granted a safety transfer, but the Some students say they want more peer mediation. experience traumatized him. The boy had a panic "Sometimes, I feel like they forget that we are not attack in his new school and is now in the hospital criminals," said Jorel Moore, 17, a 12th-grader at being treated for anxiety, his mom said. Franklin K. Lane High School in Brooklyn. "We're still children." Groups like Make the Road New York say many problems stem from the fact that safety agents are trained in street policing, not conflict resolution.
New DREAM Act Gives Undocumented Kids Reason to Hope, but Senate has Final Say
By Erica Pearson
December 9, 2010
The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday gave the green light to a bill giving green cards to undocumented kids who go to college or join the military.
The Senate is slated to take up the DREAM Act on Thursday, but backers on Wednesday couldn't guarantee the 60 votes they need to pass the immigration bill. The House's narrow tally was 216 to 198.
"Oh, my God, I don't know if I'm going to sleep tonight!" said Francisco Curiel,** 18, an Francisco Curiel is an undocumented high school undocumented high school senior senior who left Mexico to join his mom in Queens three who left Mexico to join his mom in years ago. Astoria, Queens, three years ago.
He spent much of the day calling representatives or glued to C-Span anxiously awaiting the vote.
"I feel really, really represented," he said. "When they passed it we started jumping all over the room."
The act only applies to undocumented immigrants who arrive in the U.S. before they turn 16. They must be under 30 when they apply, spend at least two years in college or the military and have no serious criminal record.
**A member of Make the Road New York (MRNY) Youth Power Project.
Activists Tout Economic Benefits of DREAM Act
By Fox News Latino Staff December 8, 2010
Washington – About 30 undocumented students and sponsored by 39 senators and 128 members of the community activists on Tuesday presented to the U.S. House of Representatives. Congress symbolic checks for $2.3 billion that, they said, would flow into the public coffers if the DREAM Simultaneously, the Pentagon and White House also Act is approved. presented a common front in favor of the DREAM Act during a telephone conference with reporters. The students, who come from 20 states, presented copies of the checks to Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R- "As we look at our force now for the future, bringing in Texas) to emphasize the urgency for undocumented talented people in this cyclical nature of how our youths of approving the measure. recruiting business goes is significant," Under Secretary of Defense Dr. Clifford Stanley said. The group, part of a national campaign supporting the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Meanwhile, the White House director of Act, served as a counterweight to a conservative Intergovernmental Affairs, Cecilia Muñoz, said that - organization also present in the Capitol building on contrary to Republican accusations - the DREAM Act is Tuesday and opposed to the measure. "very, very far from amnesty" because participants "have to comply with a series of requirements." The bill allows the legalization of people who illegally entered the United States before they turned 16 years It is calculated that each year about 65,000 old, who have been here for less than five years and undocumented students graduate from high school but who complete at least two years at a university or enlist see their academic careers cut short due to lack of the in the military, among other requirements. proper immigration documents.
"We've come to deliver these checks to legislators, Republicans and allied conservative groups insist that which represent the economic benefit of the DREAM the measure rewards illegal immigration and increases Act. We're here to contribute to this country that has the burden on taxpayers. seen us grow up," Erica Andiola, a 23-year-old graduate of Arizona State University, told Efe. Activists with the conservative group Progressives for Immigration Reform, or PIR, said in the Capitol that the "If they give me the chance, I know I can contribute to DREAM Act is a "bad idea" while the United States is society, to my community. Legalization and security facing a high unemployment rate. can go together" and the solution is not "to put up walls" along the border, she said. "This is rewarding illegal conduct ... Our children are the ones who are suffering from unemployment, and they Natalia Aristizabal,** with the United We Dream would be competing for jobs with people who are not group, told Efe that the approval of the DREAM Act supposed to be in this country," Carmen Perez Morales, would contribute $2.3 billion to the U.S. economy and a Puerto Rican activist with PIR, told Efe. would help reduce the fiscal deficit, according to official calculations. Other pro-immigrant organizations, religious leaders and union activists will hold a vigil Tuesday night in Los The members of the group, who met with one of Angeles supporting the measure. Hutchison's advisors, said that they will continue their activism until they achieve the approval of the DREAM The city's Catholic archbishop, Cardinal Roger Mahony, Act, which Congress will begin debating on Wednesday and AFL-CIO Executive Secretary Maria Elena Durazo prior to voting upon it. will participate in the vigil.
Activists with the League of United Latin American **DREAM Act organizer at Make the Road New Citizens brought to the halls of Congress bags filled York with letters supporting the measure, which is co-
Bill to Outlaw Wage Theft is Sent to N.Y. Gov. David Paterson
By Albor Ruiz
December 5, 2010
Most New Yorkers are working people, and, as such, Rogue employers who either don't pay workers or they have plenty of reasons to celebrate last Tuesday's grossly underpay them have been getting away with this passage of the Wage Theft Prevention Act by the state veritable crime wave because most abused workers, Assembly. afraid of losing their jobs, don't speak up, and because penalties have been so minor as to be totally ineffective. At a time of all-around bad economic news, this is a welcome piece of good news. Actually, even if they get caught stealing from their workers, it is currently cheaper for employers to pay a "This is spectacular. This groundbreaking penalty than to pay workers what the law requires. legislation puts New York at the top of the list in terms of labor protection laws," said Andrew The WTPA, a comprehensive 26-page bill, would Friedman of Make the Road New York. combat the impunity dishonest employers have enjoyed over the years by making it easier for employees to Friedman's group was part of a coalition of low-income collect unpaid wages and holding employers workers, small businesses, organized labor, nonprofits accountable for violating wage and hour laws. and legal services providers that worked tirelessly for passage of the legislation. Another important benefit, advocates say, is that the law will bring in approximately $50 million in increased Gov. Paterson, a firm supporter of the bill, had issued a savings and revenues to help the state government message of necessity last Monday, ensuring that it save valuable programs currently threatened by the could come up for a vote in the Assembly. fiscal crisis.
The bill will now go back to Paterson's desk for his The bill protects law-abiding businesses from unfair signature. Both the Senate and Assembly passed competition with employers who reduce labor costs by versions of the bill in summer. stealing workers' minimum wages and overtime pay.
"We don't know yet when he will sign it, but it "Stealing from employees not only hurts families, it hurts probably won't be this week," Friedman said. communities. It also makes honest employers less competitive. Businesses that are good citizens and pay
their employees what is owed them and on time, as is The act, sponsored in the Senate by Sen. Diane Savino required by law, should not be at a disadvantage to (D-S.I.) and in the Assembly by Assemblyman Carl companies that are illegally withholding wages from Heastie (D-Bronx), will help eliminate or at least reduce their workers," Savino said. what is a real wage-theft epidemic.
"These rogue employers not only steal wages from It will ensure that shameful stories like that of Luis hardworking families who are doing all they can to make Olivo, a Dominican immigrant who was robbed of ends meet ... but also steal much-needed funds from $200,000 in wages after he worked for seven years at a our city and state coffers," he said. Bronx supermarket without receiving a salary, will not be repeated. As Nieves Padilla of Make the Road New York
said, "Now we'll have the tools to make employers National Employment Law Project studies reveal that in follow the law." New York City alone - the only city for which data is available - unscrupulous employers steal more than $18.4 million a week, almost $1 billion a year, from their workers in the form of wage theft.
Immigrant Activists Regroup
By Daniel Altschuler
December 2, 2010
Over the past decade, the immigrants' rights movement has Finally, RIFA's leadership—which includes the National become one of this country's strongest grassroots forces. Immigration Forum, the Center for Community Change (CCC) Nationwide, grassroots groups and legislative coalitions have and the National Council of La Raza, among other groups— mobilized millions of people to protest punitive enforcement has also tried to improve the movement's messaging capacity laws, promote legalization for undocumented people and and its policy impact. To help translate grassroots activism demand access to state services. into legislative victories, the movement has created new organizations in strategic states; enhanced its But following the Republicans' midterm victories, the communications platform; built a digital platform to marshal movement faces a hostile environment. How it responds will calls, faxes and e-mails to legislators; and mobilized voters. affect whether the country continues shifting toward restrictionism or rediscovers a middle ground on immigration. These tactics worked—and they didn't.
The recent elections may turn back the clock to 2005, when To immigrant advocates' delight, on election day Latino voters the last Republican-controlled House passed the infamous provided the Democrats with a firewall in the West to keep the Sensenbrenner bill, which triggered an unprecedented wave Senate majority. Although there was some concern early this of protests in which Latinos, immigrants and allies took to the year about voter apathy given President Obama's failure to streets. push for CIR, Arizona's SB 1070 and Republican support of repealing birthright citizenship showed Latino and immigrant With millions marching and a legislative coalition backing voters the price of inaction. them, the movement resisted the restrictionists' surge and pushed a comprehensive immigration reform (CIR) bill Eliseo Medina, secretary-treasurer of SEIU, presciently through the Senate. Still, when a similar CIR bill failed to pass observed before the elections, "Democrats ought to be the Senate the following year, three key movement thanking their lucky stars that there are Republicans, as far as weaknesses became clear: shaping public debate, solidifying the Latino community goes. Because the Republicans are labor alliances and connecting grassroots and legislative making crystal clear to the Latino community why they cannot work. afford to stay home." In Colorado, California and Nevada, Latinos' pro-Democratic impact on the Senate races Since 2008 the movement has tried to address these surpassed the overall margin of victory, enabling Democrats shortcomings. To broaden the immigration conversation, to keep their majority. groups throughout the country have reached out to potential local allies, including business, evangelical and African- Moreover, in a display of the movement's sustained American groups. Pro-immigrant organizations have also grassroots capacity, a rally on the Mall in March and May Day convened meetings at congregations and town halls for demonstrations nationwide mobilized hundreds of thousands immigrants to tell their stories. As Andrew Friedman, co– of supporters. And in September, after Senate majority leader executive director of Make the Road New York, Harry Reid introduced the pro-immigrant DREAM Act, which explained, "This issue is made understandable through provides a path to legalization for young people who attend the experiences of actual people. Everyone can raise the college or serve in the military, RIFA and its grassroots specter of the negative impact of immigrants. But when affiliates mobilized hundreds of thousands of supportive calls, you actually look at it, you've got hardworking folks, e-mails and faxes to Senate offices. In previous legislative raising kids, who are going to school—the stories are on battles, restrictionist callers had overwhelmed Senate phone our side." lines and cowed potential CIR supporters.
The movement has worked to strengthen alliances with labor, In short, the movement showed its ability to convert bringing unions into the latest national coalition, Reform grassroots power into legislative pressure and conveyed to Immigration for America (RIFA). In 2009 the Change to Win both parties the risk of taking Latino voters lightly. coalition and the AFL-CIO (which withdrew support for the 2007 bill, mostly because of concerns about guest-worker But the movement's makeover was not as successful in two provisions) agreed to a unified framework for CIR. SEIU, the other critical areas: developing a unified legislative strategy service employees union, has worked especially closely with and shaping the national debate. RIFA's leadership, participating in its management team and collaborating with grassroots organizations nationwide. The lack of legislative opportunities through this past summer may have been beyond movement leaders' control, but they also failed to find agreement about whether to push Democrats to present a bill without Republican support. Some Indeed, state fights are arguably more important because for thought it necessary; others deemed it political suicide. the next two years the best national legislative scenario may Movement leaders never resolved where to apply the most be a stalemate: the House and Senate passing irreconcilable pressure. Ali Noorani, executive director of the National bills, as in 2005 and 2006. If the Senate advances toward Immigration Forum and RIFA's chair, acknowledged that "the bipartisan solutions while the House turns toward legislative strategy wasn't clear. And, when you don't have a restrictionism and mass deportation—and if the movement clear legislative strategy, it's hard to keep a legislative can ward off malicious state legislation while persuading the coalition together." White House to reduce deportations—the immigrants' rights movement and its Democratic allies will have performed well. For now, the strategy has become clear again. In December the movement will focus on getting the DREAM Act through Over the longer term, the movement must focus on Congress. Phone-banking and lobbying have already begun, broadening its alliances and shifting the national immigration and the DREAM youth activists—many of whom have risked conversation. Thus far, efforts to share immigrants' stories deportation by protesting and getting arrested—will continue have resonated with small audiences. CCC has recently tried mobilizing supporters. to lift individual narratives into the national spotlight through its "We Are America" initiative. These stories, however, have But what then? First, the movement must become more adept never gained anything near the traction achieved by at handling tough legislative calls. This may mean changing restrictionists' scare tactics. For its storytelling efforts to figure the composition of the national coalition's leadership team, centrally in a national campaign, the movement must expand and it will certainly require doing a better job of building its audiences. consensus between national and state groups. The movement needs to get better at anticipating when and how Moreover, the movement must redouble its efforts to build legislative proposals will spark tension between advocates in local and national alliances. There could be accidental side the Beltway and organizers on the front lines. benefits to a nativist surge—laws that encourage racial profiling, for instance, may prompt alliances with African- The most contentious issue may be enforcement policy. Americans and other minority groups. And evangelical groups Movement leaders accept that any immigration compromise may also become more vocal in response to punitive will include enforcement, but they fear disproportionately proposals. punitive measures. As CCC executive director Deepak Bhargava explained, "The question isn't whether we have The movement will need all the allies it can get. Evangelicals enforcement but what kind of enforcement we have." and business groups can advance the moral and economic cases for comprehensive solutions among conservatives. Deportations spiked under President Bush and have Such pressure would not likely be enough to get CIR passed continued increasing under Obama. To express their in the next two years, but it could help resist punitive state frustration with Obama's de facto enforcement-only policy, legislation. In Utah, for instance, business leaders, clergy and pro-immigrant groups have organized rallies and engaged in Republican officials recently signed the Utah Compact to civil disobedience. Though the Obama administration has oppose SB 1070 copycat proposals. shifted enforcement, with prodding from advocates, toward targeting criminals, it may continue trying to use deportations For the foreseeable future, the movement's goals will be to to prove its "toughness" to immigration opponents. fend off punitive enforcement legislation and lay the Meanwhile, the movement will likely protest ongoing groundwork for CIR. Even the best-case scenario will entail deportations while pressing for the White House to use substantial compromise, particularly on enforcement. But the executive authority to provide relief to undocumented people. challenge will be to sustain a strong enough left-of-center coalition to prevent future legislation from, as one Senate If restrictionists dominate House debate as much as in 2005, staffer put it, "going off a cliff" to the right, as it did in 2007. however, the locus of protest could shift away from Obama's Maintaining such unity will require the national leadership, enforcement to the proposals of Republicans Lamar Smith grassroots groups and unions to work out tensions on and Steve King—the likely Judiciary Committee and contentious issues—e.g., enforcement and future immigration immigration subcommittee chairs. These House leaders will levels—before legislative windows open. likely focus on repealing birthright citizenship, attacking family reunification provisions and ramping up enforcement. This will Ultimately, CIR is not just about fixing the country's broken put the movement on the defensive, but as Noorani noted, immigration system; it promises broader political change. If "Our movement does well when we have a clear target. the movement achieves legalization for the roughly 12 million Lamar Smith makes for a clear target." undocumented people in this country, it would strengthen an increasingly powerful—albeit diverse and often socially The movement will also have to respond to developments at conservative—Latino voting bloc. As CCC's Bhargava the state level. Since Republicans made gains in legislatures argued, widespread legalization could mark "a structural and governorships, anti-immigrant legislation is likely to arise change in the politics of the country that will make the country across the country. With legislative contests imminent in more generous to immigrants in the future. So, if you want states like South Carolina, Pennsylvania and Florida, the better immigration policy ten years from now, you'd better movement and its foundation funders may concentrate support and do what's necessary to get the current resources on building and reinforcing state coalitions. undocumented population legal."
Dream Deferred for Undocumented Students By Tatiana Sanchez December 2, 2010
When friends asked Francisco Curiel if he would be applying to college, he wanted to tell them he’d submit applications to schools like New York University or Columbia. Instead, he said he didn’t know.
In early November, Curiel, 18, of Astoria, said he felt anxious that he might not be able to continue his studies after high school because he came to the country as an illegal immigrant at age 15. “How am I supposed to break stereotypes if I don’t have the basics, which is an education?” Curiel asked.
Curiel, who emigrated from Mexico City with his younger sister, has big plans just like any other high school student on the verge of graduation. However unlike most students, his future in the United States may rest upon the passage of a piece of legislation known as the DREAM Act.
If passed, the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors would grant temporary legal status to undocumented young adults in good standing who grew up in the United States. The legislation would make it easier for these young adults to pursue higher education nationwide, and eventually, citizenship. To qualify for citizenship, students would have to graduate from a two-year college, have studied at least two years toward a bachelor’s degree, or served in the U.S. military for at least two years.
Now a senior at Pan American International High School in Corona, Curiel said he has many talented friends who may not go to college because they are undocumented too. Many undocumented students choose not to pursue a higher education because it’s expensive and they won’t be able obtain legal work in the United States after graduation anyway.
“In my country I was known as ‘Paco’… now I’m just undocumented,” Curiel said.
Curiel is worried the DREAM Act may never pass. The Nov. 2 elections gave Republicans a majority in the House of Representatives, and many do not support the bill. They say it would reward parents who bring their children into the country illegally and some worry those same parents could get resident status as relatives of their children who would be legalized. But Curiel isn’t giving up.
As weekday commuters and evening shoppers made their way home on Nov. 1, Curiel and his classmates joined students from the Bushwick School for Social Justice in Brooklyn to reach out to New York voters.
The group of around 40 gathered in a brightly lit, compact room at Make the Road New York in Jackson Heights. The organization aims to promote economic and social justice through community outreach.
Excited teens packed all corners, but Curiel stood out with his liveliness and big smile. He circulated the room throughout the evening, stopping to speak and joke with his peers. At times he offered chairs or voter T-shirts to guests who stood in the back. He looked comfortable working the crowd. He was in his element.
Make the Road’s outreach efforts were conducted with the hope that voters they contacted would elect politicians who support the DREAM Act.
Every year, 65,000 students who would qualify for the DREAM Act graduate from high schools around the nation, according to the National Immigration Law Center. Only 10 states, among them New York, allow undocumented students to attend public institutions of higher education at the same in-state tuition rate as documented students. Many undocumented teens cannot afford to pay the in-state tuition rate of $4,600 per year as full-time undergraduate students at CUNY four-year colleges or $4,970 per year at SUNY four-year colleges. Undocumented students are not eligible for federal financial aid and tuition does not include activity fees or living expenses.
Poverty often plagues undocumented immigrants, according to Natalia Aristizabal, a youth coordinator at Make the Road who works closely with students from Pan American and the Bushwick School through the organization’s youth empowerment programs. All 350 students at Pan American are Latino, and 80 percent of them are eligible for free or reduced price school lunch, according to Anthony Riccardo, assistant principal at the school.
Curiel, who maintains a B average, said his inability to receive federal financial aid or scholarships from universities was his biggest obstacle to obtaining an education. With few private scholarship opportunities for students like Curiel, the fact that some universities do not require legal documentation is often small consolation.
City Councilwoman Julissa Ferreras (D-East Elmhurst) said that undocumented students are experiencing a growing frustration in the United States. Students are forced to work and go to school to afford the in-state tuition rate, which, according to Ferreras, has created a separate class tier. Talented students who cannot afford to pay tuition are out of luck.
Only 5 to 10 percent of undocumented high school graduates attend college, compared with 75 percent of their documented classmates, according to the National Immigration Law Center. Juan, 21, who declined to give his last name because he is undocumented, has been a part of Dream Activist, a social media organization that has for three years advocated to pass the DREAM Act. Juan, who is the network’s communications director in Florida, said that the more time it takes to pass the DREAM Act, the more the United States will lose talented students.
However, good news came for Curiel just after Thanksgiving. His activism paid off. Though the DREAM Act remains a dream, Curiel was granted a full scholarship to the four-year university of his choice by the Civic Opportunities Initiative Network, a component of The New World Foundation, a global organization that helps community activists. The initiative aims to provide resources to young leaders, so that they may serve their communities on deeper levels.
“If there’s something about our society that we don’t like, we can change it because we are young people,” said Curiel, who took to the street in Jackson Heights on Tuesday to continue pushing for reform. Despite the challenges he may face upon graduation, Curiel is excited about going to college. He said his ideal career would be in accounting, business management or finance. But he would especially like to pursue a liberal arts degree because he wants a job where he can do, “a little bit of everything.”
Immigrants, Advocates Saddened By DREAM Act's Senate Defeat
By NY1 Staff
December 18, 2010
Immigration advocates and undocumented residents in Queens were disappointed when "I'm very, very angry and sad," said the Senate blocked on Saturday a path to Natalia Aristizabal, a youth organizer for citizenship for illegal immigrants who came to Make the Road New York. "We were the United States as children short five votes, and it's not just the Republicans, it's also the Democrats." The Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act, which was Supporters said the bill would have helped defeated in the Senate by a 55-41 vote, would thousands of undocumented students, who have provided a path to legal status for illegal would have eventually been allowed to help immigrants brought to the United States as other family members become citizens. children, if they enrolled in college or joined the military. "It takes 12 years for that person to be able to even start that petitioning process to get The bill would have needed 60 votes to pass. their family members to become a citizen, so that's 12 long years people would have Many students and advocates who watched to wait," said Javier Valdes, the deputy the Senate vote live at the Jackson Heights director of Make the Road New York. "But headquarters of Make the Road New I think in those 12 long years people would York, the city's largest participatory immigrant be integrated into our economy and help organization, quickly turned sour as their move it forward." hopes for a path to citizenship were crushed. Critics, however, called the bill a form of "I am one of the dreamers, and we have amnesty that would encourage illegal been fighting a lot of time for this and this immigration. is just so sad that it didn't pass. It was a huge opportunity," said student Nevertheless, members of Make the Road Guadalupe Gracita.** New York said they plan to continue fighting for comprehensive immigration reform to aid "I'm upset, I was crying, I was mad and I'm the roughly 12 million undocumented disappointed," said student Olga Reyes.** residents in the United States. "This is my first year in college and I really was expecting for this to pass, so by the **Guadalupe Gracita and Olga Reyes end of college I would actually have a job, are members of Make the Road New actually have the job that I wanted and the York (MRNY). career that I picked."
Fleecing the Immigrants is a Big, Safe Business in New York
By Tom Robbins
December 1, 2010
In the summer of 2009, Vicente Martinez Ávila, originally of Puebla, Mexico, was hired for one of the most patriotic jobs his adopted country could offer: tending the grounds at the national cemetery in Cypress Hills in east Brooklyn.
Thousands of war dead, dating from the Civil War to Vietnam, are buried there, including two dozen Medal of Honor winners. They lie under row upon row of simple white headstones rising along a grassy slope topped by a monument.
Martinez's job was to water the new turf being laid down by a California-based company that won a $1.6 million federal contract to re-sod this national landmark. He was glad to have the work. It paid well: $16 an hour. It was also just a few blocks' walk from his home on Jamaica Avenue. The company asked him to arrive early, and that was fine with him. They also asked him to stay late. This was fine, too, because he knew that he was entitled to wages of time and a half for every extra hour worked.
"They asked me to work more and more hours," Martinez said last week via a translator. "I would get there at 5 in the morning and be there until after 6 at night." His watering was so important to the job that the company told him they needed him there on weekends and holidays as well. The grass didn't care what day of the week it was. "It had to be watered," he said. Again, this was all good. He was 60 years old, but he had family in Mexico and three children right here in New York to support. More hours meant more money, and what could be wrong with that?
The problems started, he said, when he looked at his paycheck and saw that none of the hours of overtime were listed. There were some 15 workers in his crew. Each noticed the same thing missing from their paychecks: many hours worked. They asked the bosses why this was. "The answer we always got," said Martinez, "was that the company was not in a position to pay right at that moment. They said they would pay us the next week. Then they said the following week. Every time we asked, they kept saying, 'Next week.'"
It wasn't as if the groundskeepers didn't stand up for themselves. "We tried," Martinez said. "We'd ask, 'Why are we not getting paid for these hours?' They told all of us the same thing: If we weren't happy with the job, we could leave. You know how it is. We had to keep the job."
Martinez suffered the biggest hit in this wage shortfall since his watering job required the most hours. "The others were doing the planting. I was the only one on a regular basis working every week that much time. There wasn't enough rain. They said we had to water the grass all the time."
Martinez's work was indispensable to the re-sodding of this important landmark until it wasn't anymore. "We had a week that it rained every day. They said they didn't need me to water. I said, 'What's up? When do I go back to work?' They said they would call me." The call never came. The company left town, and that was the last Martinez heard of the job and the many hours that never showed up in his pay envelope.
This alleged robbery would most certainly have gone unaddressed if not for the fact that Martinez knew someone who was a member of the group that calls itself Make the Road. He promptly went there and reported the theft. When it first started in 1997 in Bushwick, Brooklyn, the organization called itself Make the Road by Walking. The name comes from the poem by the great poet of the Spanish Civil War, Antonio Machado: "Searcher, there is no road. We make the road by walking."
The group has since logged so many miles walking and marching that it has now joined with other organizations and calls itself Make the Road New York. One of its many campaigns is to go after employers who walk the low road by stealing hours and wages from the city's immigrant workers. The complaint about Martinez's missing wages was filed with the Department of Labor by the group's lawyers. "We are waiting to hear from them," said Julia Dietz, an attorney for the group.
A phone call last week to the California company that hired Martinez, Veterans of the Land Inc., brought this response to charges that it had shortchanged its employee: "That is impossible," said an official there. "We are audited. Nothing has ever come up."
It should not be a shock to New Yorkers that stealing wages is a growth industry right now. Take a look around you at who is emptying the office trash baskets, clearing the restaurant tables, working on construction sites, painting fingernails in salons, and cleaning and stacking the vegetables in the markets. Overwhelmingly, it is immigrants with strong backs and little English. This makes them easy marks.
A couple of years ago, the National Employment Law Project did a big study, asking 1,400 low-wage workers in the city how things were going. The answer was that they risked being robbed blind every time they showed up at the job: One out of five weren't being paid the minimum wage. They had a good laugh when asked if they always got proper overtime: 77 percent said no; 69 percent said they didn't get paid at all when they put in extra hours. A majority reported that employers kept them in the dark about their earnings by not providing the paystubs that workers routinely scrutinize closer than lottery-ticket numbers. Those surveyed had also learned that it was dangerous to complain about any of these things: 42 percent said their reward for trying to do something about abuse—like join a union or call the authorities—had been either a cut in pay, suspension, or firing.
Part of the reason that this mass law-breaking continues in this allegedly forward-looking, pro-immigrant city is that the laws against it are feeble. For starters, the chances of being caught are slim. And even those found to have picked their employees' pockets end up shelling out not much more than the legal wage they were obligated to provide in the first place.
"There is a perverse incentive to steal your workers' wages," says Andrew Friedman, who helped found Make the Road and is part of a coalition trying to get the state legislature to approve a bill that would increase penalties and tighten the rules. This Wage Theft Prevention Act is already approved—in two different versions—by the Senate and the Assembly. Governor Paterson has agreed to sign the Senate's version. This puts the ball in Sheldon Silver's court. Last week, Silver's people were mum when asked why they weren't moving forward with this simple piece of social justice.
What should embarrass New Yorkers even more is this: Red state Arizona—that backward citadel of official anti-immigrant hostility—already has a much tougher wage-theft law on its books than New York. Yes, the state condemned for its storm trooper tactics on those merely trying to earn a living passed its own law a few years ago that puts our rules to shame. Were those who allegedly fleeced Vicente Martinez Ávila out of his many hours nabbed doing so in the Grand Canyon State, it would cost them far more dearly. Let Shelly Silver explain that one.
Speaker Quinn and HPD Commissioner Cestero Announce Action by the City Council to Expand Law for New Yorkers Living in the City's Worst Buildings
By New York City Official Website Staff
November 30, 2010
City Hall – City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) Commissioner Rafael E. Cestero announce that the New York City Council will take action today by introducing legislation that will greatly expand the criteria for the Alternative Enforcement Program (AEP). The innovative legislation establishing the AEP – the New York City Safe Housing Law – has effectively identified and improved residential housing conditions in some of the city’s worst buildings. Since it was first passed, New York families have benefited from the substantial improvements that resulted from the Safe Housing Law. The proposed expansions will now specifically designate asthma triggers, including mold conditions and vermin infestation, as conditions mandating improvement and will both increase the number of housing units that are captured by the law and will identify new conditions requiring improvement.
“In the past two years, the Council has taken a hard look at how we can help New Yorkers in their current living conditions,” Speaker Christine C. Quinn said. “This is a piece of legislation that I am so proud to stand behind. This legislation has the ability to fight the known asthma triggers that live inside our apartments and homes and can improve the living conditions of thousands of New Yorkers. I want to thank Council Members Rosie Mendez, Leticia James, and Gale Brewer for all their work on this. Also want to thank HPD Commissioner Rafael Cestero for his future work on this, and the advocate groups Make the Road NY, Urban Justice Center and Fifth Avenue Committee for bringing this to our attention.”
In 2007, the City Council passed groundbreaking legislation that took a targeted approach at improving the worst living conditions for New Yorkers throughout the five boroughs. Aimed at increasing the pressure on the owners of some of the City’s most distressed residential buildings to bring the buildings up to code, the AEP focuses on the 200 properties that generate a disproportionate percentage of HPD’s current enforcement activity. Landlords are put on notice that comprehensive repairs must be made. If they are not, HPD is authorized to undertake a thorough cellar to roof review of the building, make the necessary repairs, and to bill the landlord for that work. After repairs are made, ongoing monitoring ensures that buildings do not fall back into disrepair and that necessary maintenance is made by the landlord.
“Through the Alternative Enforcement Program, HPD works to protect tenants and improve neighborhoods by holding landlords directly accountable for hazardous and deplorable conditions. The bill being introduced today by the Council improves the program by allowing us to target resources to the most distressed buildings" said HPD Commissioner Rafael Cestero. “I thank Speaker Quinn and the Council for their leadership and collaboration in crafting legislation that continues to put the best interests of the tenants at the forefront and enhances the efficiency of this valuable program. This program could not be successful without the dedicated inspectors and maintenance crews at HPD who are on the job 24/7 ensuring that the concerns of New York’s tenants are heard and acted upon.”
The current law captures over 1,000 units in the 200 identified buildings every year. Under the expanded legislation, the criteria for selection will be updated to include a greater number of buildings with 20 or more units. These changes will double the number of units identified for improvements, to a total of nearly 3,000. Thousands more New Yorkers will now benefit from the legally mandated housing improvements required by this law.
The legislation amends AEP’s discharge criteria to allow buildings to be discharged from the program where owners have entered into payment agreements and have met the necessary criteria for correction of violations. Previously building owners were required to reimburse all AEP fees in one lump sum payment. This change will prevent the City from accruing extra costs while buildings sit in the program, allow for the collection of fees in a timely manner, and allow owners to focus on maintaining their property rather than paying down mounting fees.
"With this legislation, we acknowledge that mold and rodent infestation, housing violations that make a major contribution to the asthma epidemic in New York City, are just as serious as other major code infractions,” said Council Member Rosie Mendez, Chair of the Public Housing Committee and co-sponsor of the bill. “I am very pleased that we will expand the Safe Housing Act to include these asthma triggers, so we can better understand their real impact on families that live in substandard housing."
"Numerous buildings exist in New York City with dangerous conditions, which house thousands of tenants made up mostly of low-income families,” said Council Member Letitia James, co-sponsor of the bill. “The Safe Housing Act has overhauled how the City handles code enforcement, as well as forces landlords to pay back costs for the upgrades. By expanding this historic legislation that I co-sponsored, the City will not only continue to repair entire building systems in chronically troubled properties, but will also double the number of units in need of repairs from past years. Also, we will gain strength against uncooperative landlords with property issues causing health related problems, improving the quality of housing for many more thousands of New Yorkers.”
“I am very pleased that the proposed legislation will expand the Council's ongoing efforts to strengthen housing code enforcement, which will have a direct impact on the living conditions of thousands of New Yorkers,” Council Member Gale Brewer said. “In 2005, I started the process by negotiating a Memorandum of Understanding between the Council and Mayor, establishing the Building-wide Inspection Program to target serious housing conditions in each Council District. HPD in partnership with not-for-profit community groups, conducted comprehensive building-wide inspections in as many as thirty multiple dwellings containing a maximum of four hundred dwelling units per District. I know how important it is to expand The Safe Housing Act, to bring more buildings up to code and preserve the affordable units.
“This new legislation cracks down on lawless landlords whose dangerously substandard buildings threaten the health of thousands of New York City families’ everyday,” said Andrew Friedman, Co- Executive Director of Make the Road New York. “Asthma is epidemic in low-income communities of color throughout our city, and this bill is an important step toward ending the impunity that is literally taking our children’s breath away.”
“The modification of the Safe Housing Act allows the city to use the best techniques available to reduce incidents of mold and vermin to improve the indoor housing conditions for low income new Yorkers all over the city. We applaud the city in its groundbreaking efforts,” said Harvey Epstein, Director of Community Development at the Urban Justice Center.
“Our tenant advocates assist hundreds of families each year who face poor housing conditions and we have long been aware that mold, mice, and roach infestations can make people with Asthma very sick,” said Michelle de la Uz, Fifth Avenue Committee’s Executive Director. “This legislation is a step in the right direction to fight the asthma epidemic that disproportionally impacts low-income African-Americans and Latinos.”
Undocumented Students Want Pols to Green-Light Green Cards so They Can DREAM of Better Future By Erica Pearson November 25, 2010
High school seniors from Queens made dozens of phone calls Wednesday, urging lawmakers to pass a bill that would give them green cards if they go to college or join the military.
The DREAM Act is expected to be re-introduced in Congress next week. Sponsors say it would help countless teens who were brought to the U.S. illegally.
"It's a really important chance that we have right now," said Francisco Curiel,** 18, an undocumented senior at Pan American International High School in Elmhurst. "It's hard for me. All of my friends are asking 'Where are you going? How are your college applications going?'"
Curiel wants to be an accountant or a historian, but fears he won't be able to advance beyond his part-time job as a deliveryman.
"I really like numbers - algebra, functions," said Curiel, who was born in Mexico. "Right now I'm taking pre-calculus."
Advocates say about 10,000 undocumented students graduate from New York City high schools every year.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said he will take the measure to the floor as early as Monday - but the votes may not be there. The bill has been around for a decade and backers see this as a last chance to pass it before lame-duck Democrats leave their seats in January.
"Our hopes are up high in the air. We feel like we have the momentum," said Natalia Aristizabal, from Make the Road New York, a nonprofit group that hosted the teens yesterday and passed out flyers urging others to call. "I feel like this is it."
The uncertainty has 17-year-old Guadalupe Gracida** on edge.
"It makes me feel desperate and distressed not knowing," said Guadalupe, who has a 3.9 GPA at Pan American International High School.
The senior, who came from Mexico when she was 14, wants to be a psychologist. She's afraid her immigration status might put her dreams out of reach.
"Not having papers doesn't mean we don't keep having hopes and dreams," she said.
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) also said he's hopeful that the bill will pass, but acknowledged the need for more Republican support.
"Like we did with providing funding for increased border security this year, we are working to build bipartisan support to get this done in the Senate next week," he said.
The DREAM Act only applies to immigrants who arrive in the U.S. before age 16, spend at least two years in college or the military and have no serious criminal record. But many politicians oppose opening the door to any sort of amnesty for those who come here illegally.
**Members of Make the Road New York (MRNY).
Council Members Introduce Two Resolutions to End Unjust Deportations in New York State
By New York City Official Website Staff
November 17, 2010
New York, NY – Council Members Rodriguez, Dromm, Reyna, Mark-Viverito, and Williams rallied in front of 26 Federal Plaza with immigration advocates, including Make the Road New York and the New York Immigration Coalition, today in support of two resolutions being introduced at the City Council later that day. The first resolution, sponsored by Council Members Ydanis Rodriguez, Daniel Dromm, Julissa Ferreras, Melissa Mark-Viverito, and Diana Reyna, calls on Governor Paterson to immediately rescind the Secure Communities Memorandum of Agreement signed by the Division of Criminal Justice Services earlier this year. This program would require local law enforcement agencies to forward the fingerprints of every arrested person to the Department of Homeland Security’s biometric identification system, and then transfer those suspected of being deported into the detention and deportation system.
The second resolution, also introduced by Rodriguez, calls on Governor-Elect Andrew Cuomo to continue the Immigrant Pardon Board that was first established by Governor Paterson this year. The first of its kind, the Immigrant Pardon Board was established in May 2010, the same month that the Governor’s office also signed the Secure Communities Memorandum of Agreement, in order to review pardon applications of legal permanent residents facing deportation as a result of criminal convictions if they have been fully rehabilitated and are now positive contributors to society. Both of these resolutions are aimed at reducing the record number of unjust deportations of immigrants who have committed minor, non-violent crimes and are positive and constructive members of society.
“Governor Paterson has been a great leader for communities of color and for immigration reform during his time in the office. From the creation of the Immigrant Pardon Board earlier this year to his aggressive stance against the Arizona State Bill 1070, he has demonstrated his commitment to protecting those hard-working, upstanding individuals who are more and more frequently unfairly caught up in the black hole of immigration detention and deportation. We hope that his legacy will not be tarnished by the implementation of Secure Communities in our state, and we also hope that Governor Cuomo will continue to work for those same goals, especially by continuing and expanding the Immigrant Pardon Board,” said Council Member Ydanis Rodriguez.
Ruth Jara, member of Make the Road New York and an immigrant from Ecuador, "New York City is funneling 3,000-4,000 New Yorkers a year from DOC custody into the black hole of immigration detention. With Secure Communities on the horizon, the number of New Yorkers who will be separated from their families will increase. Gov. Patterson has a long history of fighting against racial profiling and we ask him to take one last stand for our communities and rescind the State's agreement with ICE immediately."
“I urge the City Council to pass these resolutions that call for humanitarian and fair policies for immigrant communities. Specifically, the State should immediately withdraw its agreement to implement Secure Communities, a confused and punitive Bush-era program that will inevitably hurt innocent and hard-working New Yorkers. In addition, the State must continue the Immigrant Pardon Board to allow just relief for immigrants who are contributing members of our society. I commend the councilmember co-sponsors for highlighting these critical issues,” said Borough President Scott Stringer.
"Immigration policies such as the Secure Communities program will lead to unjust detentions and deportations that will only make for insecure communities and destabilize our immigrant families," said New York City Council Member and Chair of the Immigration Committee, Daniel Dromm (D-Jackson Heights). "That is why I'm calling on Governor Paterson to renew his commitment to support our immigrant community and immediately rescind the Secure Communities program."
“Deportation is not an administrative remedy, it is a cruel punishment for immigrants who’ve built a life in our Country,” said Council Member Diana Reyna. “No one should have to be sent away from their family, home and community for a minor infraction or misdemeanor. The United States is a tolerant society, one that provides paths for lawful citizenship, however our immigration system is broken and we need comprehensive reform protecting families, not tearing them apart.”
"Secure Communities will have grave consequences for our human and civil rights. By requiring police to send fingerprints to the DHS database, this program will make communities view police as immigration agents. There are currently no safeguards in place to protect our communities from racial profiling, fiscal liabilities, or any other problems from this program. New York needs to stand up for our rights and rescind this agreement with ICE immediately,” said Angela Fernandez, Executive Director of Northern Manhattan Coalition for Immigrant Rights.
“We thank Councilmember Rodriguez for spearheading this resolution urging the continuation and expansion of the Immigrant Pardon Board. For far too long, our immigration system has pursued broad-based enforcement-only policies that have torn apart communities, deporting many hard-working immigrants and family members who pose no threat to public safety. The continuation of the special pardon panel would help ensure that those who deserve to stay here can, and serves as a welcome counterpoint to the trend across the country of increasingly punitive, anti-immigrant measures that ill-serve the interests of our nation,” said Chung-wha Hong, Executive Director of the New York Immigration Coalition
A letter from 13 NYC Council Members was sent to Governor Paterson yesterday urging him to rescind the Memorandum of Agreement establishing the Secure Communities Program.
Time to Come to Aid of City's Most Vulnerable Residents and Wage War on Unpaid Wages By Albor Ruiz November 11, 2010
Wage theft is exploitation at its worst and, Different versions of the bill were approved this unfortunately, in New York it is a veritable crime summer by the state Assembly, where it was wave. sponsored by Carl Heastie (D-Bronx), and in the Senate, where its main sponsor was Diane Savino (D- Not surprisingly, most victims are the city's most S.I.). vulnerable residents: its low-wage and immigrant laborers. The bill would increase penalties and tighten enforcement of the New York laws protecting workers - The story of Luis Olivo, who for seven years such as Olivo - from nonpayment and underpayment. worked at a Bronx supermarket without receiving a It would also encourage employees to report violations salary - is a perfect example of the outrageous and shield them when they blow the whistle. In abuses committed with impunity every day by addition, it provides mechanisms to collect judgments. dishonest employers. "What Fine Fare did is illegal: it's called wage "I worked at Fine Fare supermarket from 7:30a.m. theft," Olivo, a member of Make the Road New until 9 p.m. with half an hour break, six days a York, told the Council members. "The same thing week," said Olivo, 45, a Dominican immigrant who that happened to me happens to a lot of workers, came to New York in 1990. "They never paid me but most people don't want to say anything anything; I only worked for tips. There were five because they're afraid they'll lose their job. We baggers and Fine Fare never paid any of us." need more protection to make it harder for employers to exploit their workers." Make the Road New York, a nonprofit advocacy group, estimates Olivo is owed $200,000 in stolen Another worker, Eudocio Alvarado, also found the wages and damages. courage to testify at the hearing with the help of Make the Road New York. Olivo was one of several victimized workers who told their stories of abuse yesterday at a City Council "I worked for seven years at Village Farm Grocery, hearing on a proposed resolution demanding the a popular, 24-hour grocery store in the East state Legislature pass the Wage Theft Prevention Village," he said. "I worked 12 hours a day for six, Act, and urged Gov. Paterson to sign it as soon as often seven days a week. My starting pay was possible. about $3.33 per hour and I was never given time- and-a-half for the over 40 hours of overtime that I "What this resolution would do is to engage city worked every week." government in telling the state that this is a significant problem for the city," said Andrew Abuses like these are so widespread that the National Friedman, of Make the Road New York. Employment Law Project estimates a whopping $1 billion is stolen from city workers every year. His group is part of the coalition of low-income workers, small businesses, organized labor, non- "New York can't wait any longer for these critical profit and legal services providers working for reforms," said Amy Carroll, legal director of passage of the bill this year. Make the Road New York.
"[The resolution] would tell the state this law is Olivo put it this way: "The government of New York important for the exploited workers and the has the opportunity to do something that would honest employers who want a level playing field, benefit all workers in the state. We need this bill to but also for the economy," added Friedman. be passed and signed into law this year. Working families deserve this support."
Parents in Dark as Dept. of Ed. Leaves it Up to Schools to Tell Parents if Kids Passed State Exams
By Meredith Kolodner
November 3, 2010
Parents at dozens of schools may not know if their children passed state exams, even though the scores have been available for weeks, parents and advocates say.
In a cost-cutting move, the Education Department is leaving it up to schools to notify parents of the scores, officials said.
Although many parents looked up the information online or received reports after the state released scores in late September, more than 50 schools hadn't sent reports home by the middle of last month, the parent group Coalition for Educational Justice said.
As a result, parents didn't know how poorly their children did, didn't request extra help - and, in rare cases, students who were wrongly promoted had to be demoted.
"The exams were in May," said Elisabeth Bikoko, who still has not received scores for her daughter, a seventh-grader at Pelham Academy of Academics and Community Engagement in the Bronx. "It is unacceptable that as parents we don't have the results yet."
Critics say the Education Department should have found a way to inform parents, particularly those without computer access, before last month - especially since more than 100,000 extra students failed state math and English exams after Juan Tavarez with his daughter, Lismayri officials raised the bar for passing them. Guzman, who attended ninth grade for three weeks in September until she learned only then When Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer wrote to the Education that she had failed state exams and had to Department about the issue Oct. 14, an official responded, "Given the city's dire repeat 8th grade. budget situation, I'm sure you agree that limited resources should not be wasted on printing the [reports] centrally."
Stringer wasn't satisfied.
"There's a certain percentage of parents that don't have access to computers," Stringer said.
The department said it has saved $1.5 million over two years by emailing reports to schools instead of printing and shipping them, even though some schools have struggled with the added cost of printing and mailing the five-page color reports.
"We took great care to alert parents when their children's scores were available and how to access them, which worked for the overwhelming majority of our families," said spokesman Jack Zarin-Rosenfeld. "In the small handful of cases where there was an issue, we quickly acted to make sure those reports were delivered to parents."
Juan Tavarez says he didn't know his daughter, Lismayri Guzman, failed the state exams until three weeks into the school year - when she was pulled out of the Academy for Environmental Science in Brooklyn and put back into eighth grade.
"It's been very, very frustrating," Tavarez said through a translator.
Javier Valdes, deputy director of Make the Road New York, said staffers could have opened up schools and libraries to help parents look up the information.
"It becomes a problem that only people with means can get the scores," he said.
Let's Play, "Who's My Landlord?"
By Elizabeth Dwoskin
November 3, 2010
It's the new game sweeping New York, from the high- rises of Manhattan to the crumbling blockhouses of Of course, this wouldn't be a thrilling game without an the Bronx. Any number can play, and while the rules able opponent, and landlords look for every advantage to are somewhat arcane, that hasn't prevented it from stay one step ahead of complaining tenants and city becoming hugely popular—so popular, in fact, that inspectors. A slumlord's best strategy is to do everything you may already be playing without realizing it! It's humanly possible to keep his name off the buildings he the new board-game sensation, Who's My owns! Landlord?™ That's where the real fun of WHO'S MY LANDLORD?™ Here at the Voice, it has become abundantly clear begins—when tenants go looking for slumlords who don't that many of you—even those seasoned players who want to be found. And what a game of cat and mouse! have been enjoying previous versions of the game for years—may still be unclear about the complex Let's take a look at the rules and some actual examples rules, strategic vagaries, and tricky maneuvers that of how this exciting game unfolds. Keep those action separate the winners from the losers of WHO'S MY cards and special dice handy as you follow along at LANDLORD?™, so we've set out to make those home. rules more plain, as well as provide some detailed examples of extended play—updated to the latest Let's play! rule variants. Beginner's Corner: Getting Started New to the game? Even veterans of WHO'S MY LANDLORD?™ will benefit from the advanced play detailed here, which Follow these simple instructions to get started. First, has been extensively researched and verified by a check your rent stub. Write down the name of the panel of top tournament champions. For beginners, company to whom you pay your rent. Keep that with you meanwhile, it's never too late to get swept up in the for future reference. fun. Second, get yourself to a computer and go to the city's Remember, all you need to get started is what comes website (nyc.gov). Look for a pulldown menu on the left in a box of WHO'S MY LANDLORD?™, a few of your rail titled "Jump to City Agency Web sites." Select latest rent stubs, some determination to navigate city "Housing–HPD" and you'll be taken to the page for the bureaucracy, and a winning attitude. city's Department of Housing Preservation & Rule Zero: Your Building Sucks Development. HPD is the agency charged with protecting you from unscrupulous landlords. They're also the people There's an unwritten rule in WHO'S MY who take your 3-1-1 calls on housing and do emergency LANDLORD?™ that binds together all players, from repairs. the Battery to Flushing, from the Rockaways to Inwood: You're playing this game because your On the right rail, you'll find a place to type in your add- apartment happens to be in a building with serious ress and apartment number. When your building comes problems. If it weren't, after all—if your place had hot up, you're going to have a lot of info at your fingertips. water, and a working boiler, and windows without You can find out how many code violations are in your cracks, and solid walls—you really wouldn't care who apartment, or whether any of your neighbors or the city is you wrote your monthly checks to, would you?! bringing a housing court lawsuit against your landlord.
But when things begin to fall apart, and month after Congratulations. You are now playing WHO'S MY month you can't get anyone to fix the hole in your LANDLORD?™ ceiling or provide some warmth to your rooms in the dead of winter, then it's imperative to find out who your rent checks are going to, and hold that person accountable. Beginner Mistakes: A Case History that case, a warrant from a housing court judge is required, and that can take months while tenants suffer. Sometimes, players new to the game can feel overwhelmed. And who's to blame them? After all, if HPD also has a worst-properties list—an enforcement the city itself can't figure out which slumlords own the program that goes after the landlords behind the city's city's worst buildings, how can a frustrated tenant feel 200 worst buildings. The worst properties program is the any confidence at all? biggest stick the city currently has to combat bad landlords. But the stick isn't that big: While some We're talking, of course, of the spectacular example landlords take being on the list seriously, other buildings of inexperienced play by the city's own public have been languishing on the list for years. In the advocate, Bill de Blasio. With much fanfare, de Blasio meantime, the city fixes the biggest emergencies and announced this summer that he was going to shame charges the landlord tens of thousands of dollars in fines. slumlords in an online list of the worst buildings in the city. But as soon as his list hit the Internet, Beginning players can be forgiven for assuming that this experienced players erupted in howls of laughter. De game is tilted in the favor of landlords from the first roll of Blasio had fallen for the oldest trick in the book, the dice. listing not the slumlords who actually owned some of the buildings, but their property managers or other "If you want to go to the Bronx and buy 200 apartments low-level employees—even a person tenants say is a and run them into the ground, and force people to live secretary, in one case! without heat and hot water, well, you don't need a license to do that and you can't be prevented from doing that," As we pointed out in September, two of the city's says Dina Levy, who directs the Urban Homesteading worst slumlords—Frank Palazzolo and Cronus Assistance Board. "There is no mechanism to stop them Capital, controlled by a financier named Steven from taking over housing that affects thousands of Carter—were nowhere named on de Blasio's initial people's lives. You need a license to sell liquor. You need list, even though several of their buildings were a license to operate a crane. When you are in a position highlighted as among the worst of the worst! of power, in a position where your actions could have an adverse impact on others, there is a framework that you De Blasio very publicly received a quick education in need to pass through. But there is nothing analogous for how slumlords operate (by way of a scolding in the owning people's homes." Voice's news blog, Runnin' Scared), but to his credit he has caught on quickly and upped his own game Going Deeper: A Tenant's Next Step considerably. He is now more carefully examining documents to keep a closer eye on the worst Once you've found your building listed at the Department offenders. of Housing site, look on the left rail of the page for the word "Registration." Click on it. A list of names should "Tracking down the landlord for a given building is appear. much harder than it should be," de Blasio spokesman Wiley Norvell tells the Voice. "For our Watch List, we These are the names of registered owners associated have had to sift through leases, mortgages, and LLC with your home. It should give you the name of the incorporation documents to get to the bottom of principal owner, if it's an individual, or the head officer of things—and even then landlords can still manage to the company that owns your building. (That officer may hide themselves." be only one of a group of shareholders whose names don't appear.) There's also a tab for a managing agent. If The main city agency whose business it is to protect you talk to anyone of authority in your building besides you from unscrupulous landlords is HPD. But even the super, it's likely to be that person. You'll also get the though the city claims that it enforces strong housing company name and address. maintenance codes, experienced WHO'S MY LANDLORD?™ players know that much of what the Ask yourself: Are any of these people familiar to you? city does is after-the-fact. The city can sue a Have you met them? Who are they? Do they own any slumlord, or make emergency repairs, but this other buildings in your neighborhood, ones that might be happens only after a building is practically falling in as bad condition as yours? apart and tenants hav e been living in hazardous conditions for a considerable amount of time. Is the listed address the same address to which you pay Officials show up, in other words, only after the your rent? If you live in a slum building, it could very well damage has been done. Even when emergency be that the people listed are not accurate. If there's no repairs are made, basic problems like broken front registered name, then call 3-1-1 and let the city know. locks or faulty hallway lighting can remain neglected Tell HPD who it is you're sending checks to. for years, simply because the city has resources only for the worst cases brought to housing court. Skillful, But the truth is, if your building registration is blank, scheming landlords, meanwhile, can delay repairs you're already in bad shape! simply by denying the city access to a building. In Game Play Example: An Absent Landlord Suddenly Materializes Garrett Wright, the Urban Justice Center attorney who represents the tenants, thinks the whole thing is For years, many of the residents of 2710 Bainbridge suspicious. “It certainly seems very coincidental that the in the Bronx had a vague idea that their landlord was day we file our case, a guy appears out of nowhere and a man named Frank Palazzolo. The name of his says that he just bought up the majority shares that day.” company, Palazzolo Realty, was on property documents, but residents never saw him, and they When asked about why the city was suing him to gain hardly ever saw any of his representatives, either. As access to the building to do repairs, Curry freely admitted the building began to fall apart, tenants became to not letting the city in: “I put in a new roof that costs accustomed to going directly to 3-1-1. "We called 3- around $60,000. HPD’s price for the exact same job was 1-1 because we were never exactly sure who owned $225,000. Why should I pay HPD $225,000 when I could it," says Enriquetta Garcon, a 33-year-old hire a contractor and pay him $60,000 to do the same homemaker who says she has lived in the building job?,” he asks. “And why should HPD care who owns the with her husband and children for seven years. "It building? All they should care about is the violations in was always changing hands. The administration was the apartments.” always changing, and the supers were always changing. We didn't know who to ask for repairs." Wright disagrees. He says there are very good reasons why HPD should know the identity of the landlord. He There was a phone number to call, but the line was says that one of the biggest problems with landlords filing often dead. faulty registration documents is that when it comes time to take the neglected buildings to housing court, the Since 2006, the tenants or the city has brought more tenants end up suing a person who really is not than a dozen court actions against the landlord. responsible. On various occasions, Wright has gone to Those include: eight attempts by the city to obtain a court to find that the person he named in a lawsuit is warrant to gain access to the building to repair lead actually a low-level employee. “We think we’re suing the violations, two heat and hot-water actions, one corporate officers, but it turns out that we are suing the comprehensive city lawsuit against the entire janitors! And that’s a problem,” he says. building, and one attempt by the tenants, this year, to get an independent administrator to oversee the In the Bainbridge case, it appears that Curry does in fact building. own the company that controls the building (but not the building itself). However, it would make sense for the city The building, currently on the city’s worst-properties to be suspicious: In the 1990s, Palazzolo was king of the list, has 244 violations, down from more than 1,000 mysterious corporate entity, a man who managed to violations earlier this year. amass what the city said was nearly 100 buildings, while keeping his name off most of them. He managed to do After passing the entire winter of 2009–2010 without that, a court case from 2009 demonstrated, by loaning heat and hot water, a group representing more than money to acquaintances—sometimes to the tune of 20 apartments went forward with an attempt to get an hundreds of thousands of dollars—and installing them as independent administrator to take over the building. the head officers of his buildings. These acquaintances— one was a house painter; another, a speech teacher— But something strange happened. The day the had no prior real estate experience. tenants were finally going to bring their long-absent landlord into court, a new landlord appeared on the Advanced Play: Going to the Deed Records scene. On April 1, the day the tenants brought their independent administrator suit against Semper Fi Now that you've checked out what the city's housing Realty IV (Palazzolo had changed the name some department knows about your building, it's time to cross- years earlier), Palazzolo sold the company to an check your facts by looking at property deeds. Go back to Irish-American Bronx landlord named Shawn Curry. the city's website (nyc.gov), and this time choose The building still technically belongs to Palazzolo, "Finance" from the list of agencies. About halfway down who holds the mortgage. Curry tells the Voice he is the page, you'll see a link to "ACRIS Property Records." waiting to get a loan from the bank so he can take This will take you to the powerful online city register. over the mortgage from Palazzolo. He says he can’t Launch the system, and click on "Find Addresses and get the mortgage because the building has too many Parcels." After you type in your address, click on "Find violations and tens of thousands of dollars in BBL," and the system will return your property's block and outstanding fines and fees. Reached by phone in lot numbers. Click on the button that says "Document Ireland, Curry says, “I honestly believe they [the city] Search by BBL." This produces a new page, which think Frank Palazzolo is still the landlord, and so they includes a pulldown menu. Choose "Deeds and Other are trying to make it difficult for me,” he said. “There’s Conveyances" and press "Search." a serious agenda going on with HPD. I can’t put my finger on it.” He says he just wants to pay his bills, This should retrieve a lot of information about the get his mortgage, an d get on with running a building. ownership of your building. You'll be able to open a copy of the original property deed. Congratulations: The The top-floor tenants said they spent most of the 2009 person or the company on the deed is your real winter without heat. Najera says she called Berkowitz's landlord! (Of course, in a game like this, there's office 10 times in one month to ask for heat. This year, in always an exception: winter, she called the city every single day for two months. It's not entirely clear why the city didn't come, If your building is in foreclosure, that won't be though it appears that repairmen have caulked the ceiling reflected in ACRIS records. In that case, you should leaks and reported to the city's system that repairs have search for the name of the company in State been done. A few days later, the leaks start again. Supreme Court records.) "We keep fixing it and it keeps on breaking," Berkowitz Game Play Example: Upstairs, Downstairs tells the Voice. He denies that he has ever pretended not to be the building's owner, and he says he was not trying Maria Najera's** landlord is around—at least from to get the top-floor tenants to move out. "They are not time to time—but she and some of her neighbors say cheap tenants. I love them to stay," he added. Regarding that he denies that he is, in fact, the building's owner. the time he offered them $6,000 to leave, he said that When they ask him who the landlord is, Najera was to spare them from inconvenience related to the says, he says he doesn't know. construction he was about to undertake. The P.O. Box, he says, is also for convenience; it's not about hiding Najera's top-floor, two-bedroom apartment at 1498 from tenants. "The tenants know my actual office Dekalb Avenue in Brooklyn has three large water address," he says. He adds that the upstairs tenants are leaks coming from the ceiling—one in the kitchen, no longer paying rent (Whitlow says they are withholding one in the bathroom, and one in the living room. That rent on account of the needed repairs). leaves only one room without a ceiling leak, the bedroom, where the entire family of five sleeps at "Mark is great," says Michael Cosmi, who works in IT and night. The leaks have been listed by the city as open recently moved into a rehabbed apartment below the emergency violations since 2007. Najeras. "He was here last night fixing my stove until 11 p.m. It's funny, isn't it? How—when you pay your rent— For such a small place, Najera's apartment has 12 people help you?" Cosmi said he had only one qualm open violations—three of them hazardous. The with the building: "I was promised that this building would violations include the ceiling leaks, defective have no children," he said. "There are nine children electrical outlets, missing smoke detectors, a faulty running around all over the place. They are so f-ing loud! fire escape, and rodents. Her neighbors, also My girlfriend doesn't want to move in here because of longtime tenants, have six violations in their two- these people!" bedroom walk-through. The conditions are so bad that a judge recently awarded the Najeras a one- Expert Play: Going Gumshoe time $4,000 rent reduction. Still having trouble identifying your slumlord after The city's records indicate that the Bushwick checking HPD and ACRIS? If a faceless company name building's landlord is a man named Mark Berkowitz, is all you've been able to locate, you can look up that who took over with some partners in 2009. The company on the New York State Department's Corporate corporate address is a P.O. Box. (The city outlawed Registry. Other strategies: You can call the building's the use of P.O. Boxes as corporate addresses this previous owner. A simple Internet search on your address summer, but it's going to take a long time—if ever— might turn up transaction information: It's possible your for the law to catch up to reality.) building is for sale even though you've heard nothing about it! It's possible your building is in foreclosure A month after he took over, Berkowitz introduced without your knowing! himself as the building's manager (not owner), Najera says, and offered the family $6,000 to move Or you can go gumshoe: Just show up at some of the addresses that have turned up in your search and start out. They said they didn't want to go. Najera asking questions. showed him the leak, which he said he would fix. When she asked who the new landlord was, she Ask the super who the landlord is. Ask repairmen in the says Berkowitz claimed he didn't know. (In court, building. Ask anyone who looks like they might have Berkowitz has also represented himself as manager, some connection to management. Never give up. Never not owner, of the building.) give in.
Since Berkowitz took over in 2009, the four families You're in this game to win! on the bottom floor have moved out, says tenant attorney John Whitlow.** The newly rehabbed **John Whitlow is the Supervising Attorney at apartments have hipster tenants. The ones the Voice Make the Road New York (MRNY) and Maria spoke with—two out of the four rehabbed apartments—think Berkowitz is doing a great job. Najera is a member.
Growing Signs That Latinos Will Jam Polls on 11/2 By Albor Ruiz October 31, 2010
Will Latinos vote en masse in Tuesday's Latino participation in the upcoming election should midterm election or are they so disillusioned by be substantial. unfulfilled promises and empty rhetoric they will simply stay home instead of exercising their "We feel it is crucial that the candidate elected is right? someone who understands our community needs and is willing to work with our communities," said the The question is relevant because, come Election coalition in a statement. Day, their votes could decide the outcome of several key races. Those needs - jobs, housing and education - Trevers said, are very much the same issues the A recent national poll from the Pew Research rest of the electorate care about. In addition, Latinos Center found that a sizable majority of Latinos are also concerned about Secure Communities," support the Democrats - also the case in New she added. York - but they are unlikely to turn out in huge numbers on Tuesday. Secure Communities, a federal program to check the fingerprints of everyone arrested against However, despite the fact that midterm elections immigration records, has been responsible for historically attract fewer voters than presidential deporting hundreds of innocent people and the cruel contests, local community groups disagree with separation of many immigrant families. Not the Pew finding and cite a new poll supporting surprisingly, Latinos despise it. their contention. "[Latino] votes will help decide the outcomes in Latino Decisions, a research firm, found that the many contests, and elevate the issues that level of enthusiasm among Hispanic voters has matter to Latino families: immigration reform, risen from 40% to 60% in the past month, which affordable housing, access to education and means that, like it or not, Latinos are poised to good schools, and better protections for workers play a significant electoral role. and small businesses," said a statement by Make the Road NY urging Hispanics to volunteer for "Community organizations are working hard to Vote por Respeto (Vote for Respect), a campaign to make sure Latinos understand why this election get out the immigrant vote. is important to them," said Valeria Trevers, executive director of the New Immigrant "Our goal is to knock on 7,000 doors, energize Community Empowerment (NICE), a Jackson people and educate them about the importance Heights-based, nonpartisan group. of this election for their lives," said Ana María Archila, the group's co-executive director. Last Thursday, NICE and eight other groups, including Alianza Ecuatoriana, Desis Rising Up Archila says the campaign's impact cannot be and Moving, the New York Immigration discounted. "Seven thousand people may not be Coalition, and the Queens Community House a huge number, but in the neighborhoods we gathered at the Jewish Center of Jackson work in - Bushwick, Jackson Heights, etc. - Heights. elections for the Senate and the Assembly are
decided by 2,000 or 3,000 votes, and we can Dubbed the Northwest Queens Coalition of make a difference." Immigrant Organizations, the groups held a forum aimed at creating a pro-immigrant Yes, we can - Sí se puede. But only if enough platform for the 39th Assembly District race, in Latinos get up and vote on Election Day. Let's do it. which Democrat José Moya is vying for the seat José Peralta vacated with his election to the state Senate. Judging by the forum attendance,
Cut Deportation Business Ties, Protesters Tell Mayor Bloomberg
By Albor Ruiz
October 21, 2010
New York - few would dispute - is a city of immigrants. Most are not criminals or violent felons. They are asylum seekers, victims of human trafficking, long- That's what makes it so difficult to understand the term permanent residents, juveniles, persons seeking city's collaboration with federal Immigration and protection under the Violence Against Women Act and Customs Enforcement to deport thousands of innocent individuals with no criminal record. people and cruelly divide families. These city residents are often sent thousands of miles More than 1,000 Latino immigrant workers and away to immigration detention centers in Texas, students joined Tuesday with clergy and City Council Louisiana and Alabama, where they are held in members for a massive march over the Brooklyn deplorable conditions without adequate access to Bridge to a rally at City Hall Park. counsel, medical care, family and evidence necessary to defend themselves against deportation orders. The demonstrators had a strong message for Mayor Bloomberg: We want the city out of the deportation The demonstrators demanded the Council and the business. mayor pass new legislation prohibiting the Correction Department from cooperating with ICE unless an "The mayor has spoken forcefully about how individual has been convicted of a violent felony. broken our immigration system is and we wanted to ask him to live up to his words," said Andrew "It is time for the city to end its subsidy of the broken Friedman, executive director of Make the Road federal deportation system. As long as the New York NY, the organizer of the event. City's criminal justice system is the gateway into immigration detention, immigrant victims of crime will The demonstrators were protesting a new federal suffer in silence, and police investigations will be met program to check the fingerprints of everyone arrested with closed doors. The [Correction Department's] against immigration records. current policy makes us all less safe," said Peter Markowitz, professor at Benjamin N. Cardozo School "We wanted to tell the mayor that he has an of Law, Immigration Justice Clinic. opportunity to uphold New York City values by refusing to cooperate with this unjust immigration "The city must exercise greater discretion in its sharing system," said Friedman. of information and granting of access to ICE, to avoid the needless separation of families, not to mention the Thousands of New York families are torn apart each use of city taxpayer dollars in support of our nation's year by an enforcement system that denies people a broken immigration enforcement system," said fair hearing, sending the innocent out of state without Councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viverito (D-East Harlem). access to attorneys or their families, Friedman added. Ecuadoran immigrant Soledad Villacís, 34, a mother of two children, ages 8 and 3, and a member The numbers are alarming. According to Make the of Make the Road NY, put it this way: "People think that there are no deportations in New York, Road NY, every year the city's Department of but that's not true. Right now there are 3,500 Correction transfers between 3,000 and 4,000 New people in Rikers that could be deported," she told Yorkers to ICE's custody - at considerable expense to the crowd at City Hall Park. "We are here to ask the the city - even though the city is under no legal mayor not to let ICE separate our families, we are obligation to do so. here to ask him to get ICE out of Rikers now!"
October Declared LGBTQ Youth Empowerment Month in New York City
By Tara Kyle October 21, 2010
MUNICIPAL DISTRICT — Following weeks of highly Although recent suicides and anti-gay attacks publicized anti-gay hate crimes and suicides by gay including those at the Stonewall Inn, Julius’ Bar and on youth, young LGBTQ New Yorkers got some good a Chelsea intersection have brought LGBTQ issues to news Thursday afternoon. the forefront of local politics, many gay and lesbian New Yorkers say that incidents like these occur Mayor Michael Bloomberg released a proclamation everday, and typically garner little attention. making October LGBTQ Youth Empowerment Month in New York City. Advocacy groups including FIERCE, "We need which serves LGBTQ youth of color, hope this move to be safe will help shift public attention toward creating more in all our preventative resources. neighborh oods," said "Oh my God I’m so overjoyed, I’m so shocked and Karina overjoyed," said Veronica Tirado, an 18-year-old Claudio, a FIERCE member and Harlem resident who read a 26-year-old poem during the celebratory rally, held on the steps of involved City Hall. with Brooklyn- "I feel like a lot of people haven’t been paying attention based to LGBTQ issues… but we all know that this happens organization Make the Road New York. "For me all the time." personally, I feel that it shouldn’t have taken deaths for this to be addressed." In addition to receiving Specific measures that advocacy groups would like to Bloomberg’s see taken include the creation of anti-homophobia support, the school curriculums and more safe havens in the form empowermen of afterschool centers and shelters for teen runaways. t month received Chelsea-based FIERCE is working to set up a 24-hour endorsement LGBTQ youth center, as well as a social space at Pier s from local 40. politicians including One teen at the rally, Michelle Riddle, 19, said she fled Manhattan homophobia in her hometown of Mobile, Ala., for New Borough President Scott Stringer, City Council York in August 2009. Now homeless and living in a Speaker Christine Quinn and State Senator Tom shelt er in Brooklyn, Riddle said she has tried to kill Duane. herself on a dozen different occasions.
"We’re never going to let anybody put us down," City "It just motivates me more to work with FIERCE — Councilman Daniel Dromm (D-Jackson Heights), who we’re trying to create a safe haven where we can be came out as an openly gay teacher in 1992, said at the ourselves," she said. "We’re not a goddamned rally. "It is extremely important today that we take back disease, we’re not perfect, God gives us that. But our lives." we’re still humans."
Council Speaker Christine Quinn kills mandatory sick days bill, sides with businesses despite polls
By Juan Gonzalez
Friday, October 15th 2010
Council Speaker Christine Quinn astounded many of Meanwhile, in the five counties around San Francisco - her liberal supporters Thursday by squashing a bill that all with no sick pay laws - jobs dropped by 3.4% over would require private employers to give their workers the same period. nine paid sick days. Earlier this year, the head of the Golden Gate There will be no vote, Quinn decreed, even though Restaurant Association, who originally opposed the two-thirds of her fellow councilmembers back the bill, San Francisco sick pay law, acknowledged it was "the and even though polls showed more than three- best public policy for the least cost." quarters of city residents favor some kind of sick-pay legislation. Lost in the debate over cost-benefit are the heartrending stories of ordinary low-wage workers who She rejected any kind of bill despite a disturbing report dare not stay home to care for a sick child or to from the Community Service Society that more than a recuperate properly from an illness because they fear million workers in the city have no sick pay - and that losing their jobs. number is growing rapidly. Workers like Adela Valdez,** who toiled for three Instead, Quinn sided with Mayor Bloomberg, who was years in a sweatshop on Canal St., only blocks from threatening a veto, and with the city's business City Hall. leaders, who kept warning such a law would lead to more lost jobs for New York. Valdez, 40, and 15 other immigrant workers assembled lamps in a windowless basement area, "This was a tough decision," Quinn said in an breathing dust and fumes all day from their constant interview. soldering of the metal fixtures.
"I support the goal of expanding benefits to workers, One day, Valdez came down with fever. For three [but] I have to help small businesses stay alive in a days she kept reporting to the factory, she says, until fragile economy." she felt so weak she could barely stand up.
Nonsense, says Dan Morris of the nonprofit Drum "I told my boss, 'I need to go to a doctor,'" she Major Institute. The same dire predictions of job flight recalled. "She got angry and told me, 'Go ahead were heard inSan Francisco back in 2006. That's and go, but from now on, you have no job.'" when the city's voters overwhelmingly approved sick- pay benefits for all private employees. In a country as great as ours, one with such enormous prosperity, you would think every employee would be A 2009 study by the San Francisco Board of accorded the simple dignity of being allowed to get Supervisors concluded that "employers [are] well when they fall sick and not be penalized. experiencing only minor impact on their bottom line." By refusing to allow a simple majority vote on such a By early this year, the number of jobs in San Francisco basic issue, Christine Quinn has revealed exactly had actually increased by 3.5% over 2006, Morris whose side she's on. notes. ** Member of Make the Road New York
Paid Sick Leave Bill is Right Thing to Do, and it’s Good for Business By Albor Ruiz October 14, 2010
Straight from the horse's mouth: Don't believe those who say otherwise, the Paid Sick Days Act is not only the right thing to do but is also good for business.
That was the message a group of small business owners conveyed yesterday in Jackson Heights, Queens.
Gathered in front of Tía Julia - Antojitos Mexicanos, a food truck located at Roosevelt Ave. and Benham St., a dozen owners of restaurants, delis, groceries and law firms from Brooklyn and Queens rallied with more than 40 supporters to demand Council Speaker Christine Quinn support paid sick days legislation stalled in the City Council.
"I understand the public health risks created when workers have no paid sick days," said Julio Hernández,** Tía Julia's owner. "I don't want to serve food that could make my customers sick. If any of my employees is sick, it is better for him, my customers and everybody if he stays home." Community leader Bryan Pu-Folkes (l.) speaks during rally in Queens Wednesday for the Paid Hernández is correct, of course, but without paid sick days, employees Sick Days Act, which supporters say is the right are forced to work even when ill for fear of being fired or losing pay. thing to do for public health and better business. Stories of workers fired for calling in sick are as common in New York as a crowded subway car during rush hour.
Opponents claim this bill is bad for businesses but many immigrant-owned small businesses in neighborhoods like Jackson Heights, Corona and Bushwick support the legislation and have repeatedly urged Quinn to bring it to a vote ASAP.
"Being a small-business owner is not easy and paid sick days will be an added cost," said María de los Santos,** who owns Colombian Jeans Boutique, Mary's Florist and Mary's Jeans in Brooklyn. "But as the federal government found, the cost is very small. I am much more worried about rent, gas, taxes. And considering how much it would benefit my business, my employees and the public, it is very cheap."
As with the living-wage bill, Quinn, who has mayoral ambitions and is doing her best not to rock the big business boat, has refused so far to take a public position on this bill even though it has a veto-proof majority - with 36 out of 51 Council members supporting it.
Forty-eight percent of working New Yorkers - or about 1.65 million people - do not have paid sick leave. A great number of them work in the food service industry. In addition, 39% of those without paid sick leave are public school parents, and not being able to take time off to recover from illness or care for a sick child is a real threat to public health.
This bill would give workers up to five days a year if employed at small businesses - those with fewer than 20 workers - and up to nine days at large firms. Most of the city private employers fall into the small-businesses category.
The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics data helps dispel the myth of this legislation as harmful to businesses. Contrary to what opponents say, paid sick days would cost only 8 cents an hour for workers in private service jobs.
"Experience has taught me that finding reliable employees is no easy task," Hernández said. "The trust between me and my employees is very important and I want to create an environment in which my workers feel safe and can produce more. The Paid Sick Days Act would do that and would strengthen my business."
It's telling - and important - that most of these business people support the paid sick days bill as much out of a desire to improve their businesses as of a profound sense of civic responsibility.
"As a businessman I support the Paid Sick Days Act because it is good for my business," Hernández said. "But I also support it because I feel that I want to do the right thing for my employees and the community."
**Members of Make the Road New York (MRNY).
Libs 'Employ' New Bill Tactic
By Sally Goldenberg
October 13, 2010
As small businesses across the city fight a proposal to mandate paid sick days for their employees, a group that works closely with the union-backed Working Families Party is showcasing several mom- and-pop outfits in favor of the legislation.
Make the Road New York, a liberal nonprofit group in favor of the City Council's contentious bill, is countering the onslaught of opposition to the legislation -- leaving business owners questioning why any company would want the council to dictate how to run its business.
"If my workers are healthy and have the protection of paid sick days when they need it, they can stay working with me for a longer time and I save money from not having to retrain workers all the time," said Maria de los Santos,** who owns three small businesses in Brooklyn.
She will speak at today's rally in Queens.
Jack Friedman, executive director of the Queens Chamber of Commerce, was stunned by the support.
"I'm not sure why any business owner, why any employer, would want government to mandate what their benefit package should be and how to spend their money. It doesn't make any sense," Friedman said.
"If an employer is concerned about paid sick leave, they should offer paid sick time, but not because government tells them to.
"Other than the unions, I'm not seeing a lot of businesses who are in favor of this."
The Five Borough Chamber of Commerce, along with the Partnership for New York City -- which represents larger companies -- opposes the legislation.
The bill would require companies with fewer than 20 employees to provide five paid sick days annually and larger firms to offer nine days.
Part-time workers would accrue fewer days, based on hours worked.
Council Speaker Christine Quinn has yet to take a position on the bill as she privately negotiates a compromise that would appease unions and businesses.
**Member of Make the Road New York (MRNY).
Paterson Firma Ley Para Evitar Robo de Salarios By El Diario Staff December 14, 2010
NUEVA YORK — Adela Valdez dejó a sus cuatro hijos en México en búsqueda de una mejor vida para ellos—una casita, un terreno en su país nativo.
Sin embargo, en Nueva York, la madre soltera se enfrentó a la dura realidad que atraviesan los trabajadores indocumentados que son explotados por sus empleadores.
“Yo tuve que acercarme a los mercados y pedir las manzanas que estaban botando”, dijo Valdez, que trabajó cociendo pantallas de El gobernador David Paterson al momento lámpara para la compañía trans.LUXE Lighting en de poner su firma en la nueva ley. Manhattan hasta que este empleador dejó de pagarle. “Trabajando yo tuve que comer basura. Eso es muy fuerte lo que sufrí”, ley “el estado finalmente ha hecho un contó la madre mexicana en una entrevista compromiso a defender a los trabajadores, telefónica con EL DIARIO/LA PRENSA. castigar a los malos empleadores y usar el poder del estado para garantizar La amargura de miles de trabajadores como tratamiento justo para los trabajadores Valdez se convirtió en felicidad ayer cuando el vulnerables de bajos sueldos”. gobernador David Paterson firmó legislación que ayudará a prevenir el robo de salarios y Los empleadores fallan en pagar un total mil penalizará a los malos empleadores, el Acta de millones de dólares a sus empleados anualmente Ley para Prevenir el Robo de Salarios (Wage en la ciudad de Nueva York, según datos del Theft Prevention Act). National Employment Law Project dados a conocer por el Concejo Municipal.
Valdez, quien acudió a la organización Make Un empleado de bajos ingresos típicamente the Road New York para luchar por sus pierde alrededor de 3.000 dólares anualmente sueldos, y que eventualmente los recuperó, lloró por robo de salarios, o el 15% de sus ingresos. de la emoción ayer. Ella dijo: “Es algo muy bueno. Es como ser niño y ver que mamá Además, las consecuencias para empleadores viene corriendo”. que no cumplen con la ley son menores.
El gobernador Paterson firmó la ley ayer en su Además de aumentar las penalidades para los oficina en Manhattan en una reunión a la que malos empleadores, la ley protegerá a las asistieron trabajadores y organizadores de Make personas que denuncian los malos empleadores the Road Nueva York, la senadora estatal Diane y ayudará al Departamento de Trabajo y las Savino, el asambeísta Carl Heastie y Stuart cortes a investigar denuncias de robo de salaries. Appelbaum, además de dos líderes de sindicatos.
Adela Valdez, la trabajadora mexicana, El gobernador Paterson dijo: “En un momento agregó: “Estando en este país, uno es en la cuando tantos neoyorquinos están viviendo de calle como una pelota. Uno lo patea y otro cheque a cheque, es sumamente importante que lo para y vuelve hacer lo mismo. Cuando ya protegamos su derecho de recibir el dinero por no sirve, la botan por allí… Ahora podemos que han trabajado”. decir que hay alguien que nos defienda”.
La sub directora de Make the Road New York, Deborah Axt, señaló que firmando esta
Frustración y Tristeza por La Decisión Senatorial
By El Diario Staff
December 19, 2010
NUEVA YORK – Luego de horas, días y semanas de nerviosismo e intenso trabajo, los jóvenes soñadores que luchaban por la aprobación del DREAM Act tuvieron una respuesta del Senado: el DREAM Act seguiría siendo un sueño.
Cientos de jóvenes en Nueva York estaban atentos ayer al voto del Senado. Algunos se reunieron desde temprano en la mañana en Se Hace Camino Nueva York en su sede de Queens o New York State Youth Leadership Council (YLC) en Manhattan. Todos terminaron con el corazón roto, pero con ganas de seguir luchando.
"Es una mezcla de frustración, con enojo y tristeza, porque una vez más el Senado Sin documentos y sin temor, los jóvenes nos falló a nosotros y a la comunidad lucharon hasta el final. inmigrante. Muchos de nosotros arriesgamos nuestras vidas y la seguridad de nuestras familias saliendo públicamente a la calle, pero el Senado no reconoció eso", explicó Jaqueline Cinto, de YLC.
"Que el DREAM Act no haya pasado no significa que agarramos las maletas y nos vamos a otro país. La lucha sigue, no queda otra", explicó Natalia Aristizábal de Se Hace Camino.
El DREAM Act no logró los 60 votos que necesitaba. Solo tres republicanos votaron a favor y cinco demócratas votaron en contra: Max Baucus de Montana, Kay Hagan de North Carolina, Ben Nelson de Nebraska, Mark Pryor de Arkansas y Jon Tester de Montana.
"Definitivamente no vamos a olvidar a quienes no nos apoyaron en las siguientes elecciones", aclaró Daniela Alulema de YCL.
Muchos jóvenes comentaron con frustración que sentían que a los senadores no les importaban sus necesidades y les importaban más los juegos políticos.
"Este voto nos deja muy claro que los demócratas y republicanos que votaron en contra del DREAM Act votaron en contra los jóvenes latinos y sus familias", dijo Aristizábal.
Sin embargo, los jóvenes no se fueron al suelo. A solo pocos minutos de conocerse el resultado aparecían mensajes alentadores en Twitter llamando a los soñadores a seguir luchando.
"Perdimos una batalla, pero no perdimos la guerra. Vamos a seguir luchando por una reforma migratoria para todos. Sigo creyendo que este país es adonde pertenezco… Pero no Decenas de jóvenes indocumentados que sé qué va a ser de mí. Yo quiero ser presenciaron con desencanto el bloqueo en el alguien en la vida y no importa qué Senado de Estados Unidos contra el proyecto Dream Act, afirmaron ayer que continuarán la tan difícil sea, lo voy a lograr", dijo lucha por su legalización. Guadalupe Gracida, de 18 años.
Diversos funcionarios públicos de la ciudad enviaron mensajes rechazando la votación del Senado y dando ánimo a los jóvenes indocumentados.
"El fracaso del Senado en pasar el DREAM Act es la última señal de que nuestro gobierno no puede siquiera tomar un primer paso adelante para arreglar nuestro sistema roto de inmigración. El voto muestra que tanto los demócratas y republicanos conservadores se niegan a poner primero los intereses del país y después los juegos políticos", dijo en un comunicado Héctor Figueroa, tesorero del sindicato 32BJ.
Piden en NY que Farmacias ayuden a Inmigrantes Con Sus Medicinas
By Univision Staff
December 14, 2010
NUEVA YORK (AP) - Políticos y activistas exhortaron el martes a que el estado de Nueva York imponga una ley que obligue a las farmacias a traducir al español y otros idiomas las etiquetas de sus medicamentos y a ofrecer servicios de interpretación para ayudarles a entender los instructivos.
La ley ya se aprobó en la ciudad de Nueva York, y algunos senadores, asambleistas, y activistas pidieron ahora que se expanda a todo el estado para ayudar a ancianos que no pueden leer bien e inmigrantes con dificultades para entender el inglés.
Unos 90 millones de consumidores en Estados Unidos tienen dificultades a la hora de entender las etiquetas de sus medicinas debido a que en ocasiones están redactadas en lenguaje confuso, dijeron representantes de la organización Abogados de Nueva York para el Interés Público (NYLPI, por sus siglas en inglés).
"No sabía como tomar las medicinas. No entendía las indicaciones, así que no las tomé", dijo la puertorriqueña Aida Torres, de 60 años, quien sufre dolores musculares. "Mi enfermedad empeoró. Es por eso que me he unido a ayudar en esta campaña".
Torres habló en una sala en Manhattan llena de inmigrantes hispanos que sostenían carteles con mensajes como "La medicina es un asunto de vida o muerte" o "Albany: ¡Necesitamos una receta para proteger nuestras vidas!"
Los partidarios del proyecto de ley aseguraron que la medida es clave para evitar que inmigrantes y ancianos llenen las salas de emergencia de los hospitales por haber entendido mal las indicaciones sobre cómo tomar sus medicamentos. Hablaron de casos en que inmigrantes han entendido la palabra "once" en lugar de "one" (uno), en inglés, tomándose así 11 pastillas en lugar de una al día.
"Esto es algo que nuestra comunidad necesita urgentemente", dijo el senador estatal José Peralta. "Yo soy hijo de inmigrantes pero también represento a una zona donde se hablan muchos idiomas. Usted puede tomar una medicación de forma inapropiada y acabar en el hospital".
El proyecto de ley aseguraría que farmacias de cadenas estadounidenses ofrecieran servicios de traducción e interpretación, y que además la Junta Estatal de Farmacias del estado creara un mecanismo para crear etiquetas basadas en un modelo estándard que todo el mundo pudiera entender de forma más clara.
Según un sondeo del grupo Se Hace Camino Nueva York y NYLPI realizado a más de 250 farmacias de todo el estado, casi un 50% de éstas no dijeron ser capaces de ofrecer etiquetas de medicinas traducidas a otros idiomas. Y casi un 30% no pudieron reportar que ofrecen servicios de interpretación.
Los autores del estudio concluyeron que las farmacias que no están sujetas a la ley de la ciudad de Nueva York ofrecen el peor servicio a los consumidores que no dominan bien el inglés.
Recuerdan a ecuatoriano asesinado por odio
By Catalina Jaramillo
December 12, 2010
NUEVA YORK – La familia de José Sucuzhañay, ecuatoriano que murió el 12 de diciembre de 2008 tras una golpiza en Bushwick, miembros de la comunidad y funcionarios públicos se reunieron ayer para recordar al inmigrante que se ha transformado en símbolo de la lucha contra los crímenes de odio en la ciudad.
A la ceremonia realizada por la organización Se Hace Camino Nueva York en su sede de Bushwick, asistieron la congresista Nydia Velázquez, el fiscal de Brooklyn Charles Hynes, la presidente del Concejo de la Ciudad Christine Familiares y amigos de José Sucuzhañay, Quinn, la concejal Diana Reyna, Joselo Lucero – asesinado hace dos años en Brooklyn, realizaron un evento de recordación con la hermano de Marcelo Lucero, otra víctima de participación de varios políticos. De der. a izq, crimen de odio- y otros líderes comunitarios. Romel y Diego Sucuzhañay, hermanos de la víctima; la Concejal Diana Reyna (3ra de izq. a "Este día, hace dos años, nuestra familia der.), la Congresita Nydia Velázquez (c.), la portavoz del Concejo Municipal Christine preparaba la navidad sin siquiera imaginar lo que Quinn, el fiscal Charles Hynes. Humberto venía por delante", dijo Diego Sucuzhañay, Arellano/EDLP hermano de José. "Desde su muerte, nada ha sido igual para nosotros", agregó.
José, de 31 años, y su hermano Romel, de 36, fueron atacados por Keith Phoenix y Hakim Scott por venir caminando abrazados la noche del 7 de diciembre. José fue golpeado hasta la muerte porque los atacantes creyeron que era gay y por ser inmigrante. En agosto de este año los dos criminales fueron sentenciados a 37 años de cárcel.
Diego anunció que su familia creó la Fundación Sucuzhañay desde donde quieren ayudar a otras familias que pasen por situaciones similares y reunir fondos para aumentar las recompensas para encontrar a los agresores.
"Ustedes me inspiran a seguir luchando por lo que es correcto", les dijo la congresista Velázquez a los Sucuzhañay, ya que han transformado su pérdida personal en una causa comunitaria.
La presidenta del Concejo agregó que para ella también es una inspiración ver la gracia y la dignidad con que esta familia ha enfrentado su tragedia, incluyendo a la comunidad inmigrante y la comunidad gay en una lucha contra la discriminación y el odio.
Quinn anunció que esta semana el alcalde Michael Bloomberg lanzó la campaña "Ama el amor, odia el odio" para educar a la comunidad a ser tolerantes y aceptar la diversidad. Este fin de semana, informó, habrá más de 50 eventos en los cinco condados con líderes comunidades y religiosos contra los crímenes de odio.
La semana pasada dos personas atacaron a un religioso musulmán en una estación de metro en Chinatown y en otro episodio miembros de la comunidad judía de Williamsburg, Brooklyn, también fueron atacados.
"No vamos a tolerar los crímenes de odio en Nueva York", dijo Quinn. "No sé por qué existen en Nueva York pero la mejor herramienta que tenemos para combatirlos es que la gente de buena voluntad no los acepte", agregó.
Walter Sinche pidió un minuto de silencio durante la ceremonia y todos los asistentes encendieron una vela en recuerdo de Sucuzhañay.
Ana María Archila, co-directora de Se hace Camino Nueva York, evalúa bien el trabajo de la ciudad en la lucha contra los crímenes de odio, pero cree que todavía hay mucho por hacer, sobre todo en la educación por la tolerancia en las escuelas.
"La vocera del concejo logró hace un año que el Departamento de Educación hiciera el programa Respeto para Todos, donde cada escuela debe hacer un plan de trabajo que promueva la tolerancia, sin embargo el programa no ha recibido suficientes recursos", dijo Archila.
Iniciativa a Favor de Inquilinos de NY
By El Diario Staff
December 1, 2010
NUEVA YORK – La presidenta del Concejo de la Teresa Pérez Ciudad anunció una propuesta para ampliar los [Miembra de Se criterios del Acta de Vivienda Segura, una ley que Hace Camino castiga a los caseros de los 200 edificios con más Neuva York] y su multas la ciudad y que este año incluye seis edificios hijo Kevin, de 3 en Manhattan, seis en Queens, 60 en El Bronx y 120 años, que sufre de en Brooklyn. asma.
Desde el 2007, el Acta (AEP, por sus siglas en inglés) Javier Valdés, co-director de Se hace Camino obliga por ley a los caseros a hacer los arreglos Nueva York, explicó que realizaron estudios donde necesarios para que la vivienda sea segura para los se comprobaba que en las zonas con peores inquilinos. Si no cumplen, el mismo Departamento de condiciones de vivienda había más asma, y en todas Vivienda de la Ciudad (HPD) hace las reparaciones y había una gran cantidad de hispanos como en le cobra al casero el costo más un 50% del costo Bushwick. como multa.
Teresa Pérez, de 26 años, vive con sus tres hijos y La novedad es que desde ahora se considerará una su esposo en el 1136 de la avenida Willoughby. Su violación la presencia de roedores, cucarachas, edificio tiene ratones, cucarachas, hongos y plomo. hongos y moho, ya que se ha comprobado que producen asma. “Trato de estar limpiando y estar moviendo, tirar cosas
que no deben estar ahí. Pero cuando las condiciones “Si usted cree que vive en estas condiciones, llame al no son buenas, por más que tú limpies y trates, no se 311… Si no llama, no podemos pasar las violaciones y puede controlar eso”, explicó Pérez. incluirlo en el Programa de Vivienda Segura”, aconsejó Christine Quinn, presidenta del Concejo. Su hijo Kevin, de 3 años, tiene asma. De a poco le fue
faltando la respiración, cuenta su madre, y hoy tiene La nueva propuesta también amplía en número de que usar inhaladores y tomar medicinas. unidades en el programa de mil a tres mil. Seguirán siendo 200 edificios cada año, pero serán edificios con Pérez agregó que el casero no le contesta o le da más departamentos. pretextos para no hacer las reparaciones por lo que se
alegra de saber de esta ley y de que se pueden hacer “Esta ley es absolutamente necesaria. Más para la denuncias llamando al 311. gente de poco ingreso porque la gente no tiene cómo “Esto va a presionar más a los caseros. No puede ser mudarse y no saben cómo defenderse”, comentó que él esté tranquilo en su oficina mientras yo estoy Víctor Santiago de 63 años, que perdió a su esposa corriendo al hospital”, dijo Pérez. Priscilla hace 25 años por un ataque de asma.
Quinn expresó que esta ley debiera ser emulada por Santiago vivía con su esposa y dos hijos en un edificio todas las otras ciudades ya que no puede ser que el en Bushwick que tenía ratones, cucarachas y hongos. propio hogar de las personas sea lo que las enferma. Según dijo, muchas veces amanecía con los niños sin poder respirar y los llevaba al hospital. Su esposa El comisionado del Departamento de Vivienda, Rafael murió a los 44. Cestero, dijo que esta medida no aumentará el
presupuesto de HPD. “El landlord no hacía caso, me decía ‘si no te gusta, pues múdate’. Esta ley les da cómo defenderse”, La propuesta está respaldada por las concejales repitió Santiago, que reconoce que la medida es tardía Rosie Méndez, Leticia James y Gale Brewer. Quinn para él, pero ayudara a otras personas. dijo que no tenía ninguna duda de que el Concejo la
aprobaría a fines de diciembre.
Dueño de Restaurante Acusado de Robo de Sueldos
By Aisha Al-Muslim November 26, 2010
El salvadoreño Dimas Pineda, 48, trabajó 12 horas La Ley Nacional de Protección de Empleados estima diarias, seis días a la semana por 14 años en el que más de $1 billón es robado anualmente de los Restaurante Plaza Garibaldi en Jackson Heights. empleados de Nueva York por sus empleadores. Los defensores de proyectos como lo son WTPA podrían Pineda dijo que cocinó, limpió e hizo entregas para el traer aproximadamente $50 millones en aumentos de restaurante Mexicano. Eso es, hasta que renunció a ahorros e ingresos para ayudar al gobierno estatal a principios de este octubre porque allegadamente le ahorrar en programas valorables que son actualmente debían dinero. Él dijo que los problemas salariales amenazados por la crisis fiscal. comenzaron después de que el n uevo dueño, el cual es mexicano, se encargó del restaurante el año pasado. Según el proyecto, los trabajadores recibirían indemnización automática de hasta $10,000, cuando un “Muchas veces le pregunté por mi pago”, dijo empresario toma represalias contra ellos. El WTPA Pineda, quien vive en Corona. “Mi jefe me decía también aumenta la cantidad del resultado de un juicio ‘mañana,’ pero mañana nunca llegó”. por el 15 por ciento si un empleador se niega a pagar durante 90 días después de ser encontrado a deber A Pineda se le suponía que se le pagaran $600 dinero por los salarios robados. semanalmente, pero solo recibió $300. Él reclamó que se le debía un total de cinco semanas. Él dijo que él y “Durante 15 años, MRNY ha apoyado las obras de otros cuatros empleados se fueron después de no bajos ingresos quien defienden sus derechos a ser haberles pagado, pero solo otros dos demandaron su pagados lo que se han ganado a través de la presión dinero. de los litigios y de la comunidad”, dijo Deborah Axt, subdirectora de MRNY, una organización sin Trabajadores inmigrantes como Pineda se juntaron fines de lucro de inmigrantes, durante su testimonio con Make the Road New York (MRNY) y la delante del Comité del Trabajo. portavoz del Consejo Municipal Christine Quinn en las escalinatas de la alcaldía el miércoles 17 de noviembre Ese es el tipo de presión que Noel García, gerente de para anunciar aprobación del Consejo Municipal de una Plaza Garibaldi, y el dueño sintieron cuando protestaron resolución que le pide a Albany que pase el Acto de fuera de su restaurante el jueves 11 de noviembre. Prevención de Robo de Salarios (WTPA, por sus siglas García dijo que ellos se atrasaron con los pagos porque en inglés) este año. Diferentes versiones del acto han el restaurante estaba pasando por una mal temporada, pasado por la asamblea (A.10163) y el senado (S.8380) pero les prometieron a los trabajadores que se les iba a este verano, que deben ser conciliados, y firmado por el pagar. García dijo que se le ofreció de nuevo el trabajo gobernador para convertirse en ley. a Pineda, pero el se rehusó.
“Esto es una cuestión importante en cualquier “Esas personas abandonaron sus trabajos”, dijo García. momento, particularmente ahora en estos difíciles “Ellos nunca volvieron a recoger su dinero”. tiempos económicos”, dijo Quinn. “Tiempo en Nueva York sin esta ley significa robo de tiempo y dinero de De acuerdo con Elizabeth Wagoner, abogada para los empleados”. MRNY, recientemente a Pineda y otros dos empleados se les otorgaron el salario que se les debía. La ley aumentará penalidades y reforzará las leyes de Nueva York protegiendo aquellos empleados como los “Es maravilloso que este empleador reaccionó a la de Plaza Garibaldi de no pagarles o pagarles presión de la comunidad para pagarle a sus incompletamente sus salarios. empleados, pero no todos los empleados tienen a alguien luchando por ellos”. dijo Wagoner. “Por eso se debe de aprobar el Acto de Prevención de Robo de Salarios”.
Cuestionan a la ‘Migra’ en Rikers
By Catalina Jaramillo 11 Nov, 2010
NUEVA YORK — El Concejo de la Ciudad sostuvo en Rikers Island, no tiene obligación de compartir ayer una audiencia cuestionando la colaboración toda la información con ICE y no tiene obligación de del Departamento de Prisiones de la Ciudad retener a los prisioneros que violen leyes federales. (DOC) con la Agencia de Inmigración y Control de Aduanas (ICE) mediante la presencia de “Nuestra pregunta ahora es por qué diablos la agentes de inmigración en la cárcel de Rikers ciudad está gastando $50 millones de dólares Island y la participación del Estado en el al año para subsidiar a los agentes federales”, programa Comunidades Seguras. comentó Friedman.
La Comisionada del Departamento de Prisiones Friedman agregó que la ciudad debiera mirar los de la Ciudad (DOC) Dora B. Schriro dio casos en particular y sólo colaborar con ICE cuando testimonio frente a la presidenta del Concejo, el caso lo amerite. Christine Quinn, y fue interrogada por cerca de diez concejales, en una sala llena de activistas, “Es difícil para mí reconciliar las acciones que ha abogados, prensa y público. tomado el alcalde en temas de inmigración a nivel local y a nivel nacional”, afirmó la concejal Melissa Quinn comenzó diciendo que el concejo entiende Mark Viverito, apelando a los intentos de Michael que el objetivo de la relación entre ICE y el Bloomberg por lograr una reforma migratoria, pero Departamento de Prisiones es la seguridad a la vez ejercer políticas como ésta en la ciudad. pública y estableció que ellos no pretenden poner a los ciudadanos en peligro, pero que En su testimonio, la comisionada de DOC explicó están muy preocupados por la forma en que que, desde hace un año, los agentes de ICE sólo esta relación se está llevando a cabo, pueden entrevistar a los prisioneros que accedan a especialmente porque está yendo más allá de lo hacerlo y hayan firmado un formulario que está debido. disponible en ocho idiomas. Schriro dijo que el 36% de los prisioneros accede. “Por veinte años [agentes de ICE] han estado en Rikers. ¿Están ahí porque hay una ley federal El concejal Jumaane D. Williams hizo leer a la que dice que tienen que estar ahí o porque la comisionada el formulario y luego estableció que, ciudad de Nueva York los invitó a Rikers? ¿Cómo para él, el formulario no dejaba en claro que llegaron ahí?”, preguntó Quinn. participar en las entrevistas podría terminar en una deportación. “No tengo registro de por qué están ahí”, contestó la comisionada Schriro. Friedman declaró a este diario que no todos leen el formulario antes de firmarlo y que incluso En las siguientes preguntas Quinn estableció muchos prisioneros no saben leer. Además, dijo, es que la relación entre DOC y ICE es voluntaria, y un momento donde la persona está muy vulnerable no obligatoria, como la ciudad les había dicho. y se le piden que firme, lo más probable es que La comisionada estuvo de acuerdo. firme cualquier documento. La audiencia duró más de cinco horas y estuvo moderada por el jefe del Para el co-director de “Se Hace Camino comité de Inmigración Daniel Dromm y del comité Nueva York”, Andrew Friedman, fue de Justicia Criminal, Elizabeth Crowley. También crucial que Quinn haya hecho este punto y que dieron testimonio organizaciones de activistas y a la vez haya enfatizado que nadie duda que es personas afectadas por la relación entre DOC y el importante que se colabore con ICE en casos de ICE. ICE, que fue invitado a la audiencia, no envió a crímenes serios. Según Friedman, la ningún representante. Se le pidió un comentario a comisionada explicó que la ciudad no tiene la ciudad, pero no se recibió respuesta antes del obligación de darle espacio a los agentes de ICE cierre.
Lanzan Campaña ‘Vota por Respeto’
By Jose Acosta
October 26, 2010
NUEVA YORK — Patricia Suárez y César Palomeque salieron en pareja por las calles de Queens con el propósito de llamar a las puertas de votantes registrados, para convencerlos de que salgan a ejercer su derecho al voto en las elecciones del próximo 2 de noviembre, en las que se elegirán gobernador, fiscal general y legisladores federales, estatales y locales de Nueva York.
Suárez y Palomeque integran un grupo de cerca de 50 voluntarios de una campaña llamada "Vota por respeto", lanzada por la organización sin fines de lucro Se Hace Camino Nueva York, la cual incluirá, además de Queens, los condados de Brooklyn, Staten Island y llegará hasta Long Island.
"Vamos a salir a pedirle a la gente que salga a votar, porque queremos que se escojan a representantes en el gobierno que velen por nuestros intereses", dijo Palomeque.
"Que voten por un fiscal general que haga cumplir las leyes laborales, que haga justicia por los trabajadores y pare el robo de salarios; y por senadores que favorezcan una reforma migratoria justa", señaló.
Por su parte, Suárez dijo que se unía a la campaña para ir a tocar puertas y concientizar a las personas de que los votos latinos cuentan mucho.
Ana María Archila, codirectora de "Se Hace Camino Nueva York", dijo que la campaña busca que los latinos salgan a votar "para que nos respeten, nos escuchen y nos tomen en cuenta".
"Hay una campaña a nivel nacional que le dice a los latinos que no voten, pero nosotros estamos aquí para decir- les a los latinos que sí voten, y que voten para que nos respeten", dijo Archila.
Uno de los motivos de la campaña es la poca importancia que le da el votante latino a las elecciones, y como ejemplo Archila mencionó al Distrito 39, que incluye los barrios de Jackson Heights, Corona y Elmhurst, en los cuales en las elecciones de 2006, de 20,764 votantes latinos registrados, sólo fueron a las urnas 5,294, apenas un 25%. Sin embargo, de los 5,999 votantes anglosajones registrados, salieron a votar 2,164, casi un 40%.
"Los voluntarios, además de motivar a los votantes registrados a salir a votar el 2 de noviembre, les van pedir que llenen todas las casillas de la boleta electoral, y la importancia de votar por un fiscal general, un senador y un gobernador", dijo Archila.
Exigen un Alto a las Deportaciones
By Annie Correal
October 20, 2010
NEW YORK —Una mujer marchó por su hijo, quien lleva siete meses detenido en la prisión de Rikers Island tras ser denunciado, según ella, por las mismas personas que lo atacaron, golpeándolo con un bate y una correa. Si retiran los cargos, su madre teme que quedará en manos de las autoridades de Inmigración por ser indocumentado.
Otra mujer marchó por su marido, quien fue detenido por conducir su vehículo con una luz rota y fue detenido por su estatus migratorio. Lo pasaron de la prisión de Riker s a New Jersey, Pensilvania, y luego a Texas. Él no puede pagar la fianza porque no tiene dinero.
También marcharon los amigos de un padre quien fue detenido en Brooklyn porque conducía sin licencia. Él hombre, que es quien sostiene el hogar, tiene un hijo con impedimento físico y está sufriendo en la cárcel porque no puede hacer nada. Poco más de mil personas cruzaron el Estas personas estaban entre cientos de neoyorquinos que puente de Brooklyn para congregarse en marcharon sobre el puente Brooklyn Bridge ayer para pedir la Alcaldía y exigir al gobierno local y que la ciudad pase una ley que prohibiría que las federal que detengan las deportaciones. autoridades de inmigración, o ICE, tengan acceso a información sobre el estatus migratorio de las personas en las cárceles antes de que han sido condenadas. El Consejo Municipal piensa introducir legislación que limita el alcance de ICE en las cárceles.
“¡Migra, pa’ fuera!” y “¡Justicia!”, eran algunas de las frases que los manifestantes gritaban mientras alzaban sus afiches y caminaban en solidaridad con los detenidos y sus familiares.
Específicamente, ellos quieren que la cuidad no entregue información sobre los detenidos a las autoridades de inmigración hasta que estos sean condenados por algún delito grave.
Según ellos, el Departamento de Correcciones sistemáticamente entrega información sobre prisioneros antes de que sean condenados, lo cual resulta en la detención de personas inocentes, o culpables de crímenes menores.
Un vocero del Departamento de Correcciones dijo que ellos cumplen las leyes federales y que ICE es responsable de determinar quien es transferido al sistema de detención.
Javier Valdés, de la organización comunitaria Make the Road New York, sostuvo: “Estamos aquí para decirle al Alcalde Michael Bloomberg y el presidente Barack Obama que New York tiene que salir del negocio de deportaciones”.
Se dijo que esta situación pone en peligro las relaciones entre la comunidad y la policía.