The Manhattan Times

Advocates start fight to change immigration law

by Adam Garrett-Clark

For legal immigrants without citizenship even the smallest crime can lead to deportation.

Northern Manhattan Coalition for Immigrant Rights is hoping for a change in the law to keep families with deep roots in the community from deportation proceedings.

A Sat., Nov. 14 town hall meeting at S.T.A.R. Senior Center on W. 187th Street attended by Congressman Charles Rangel and Council Member-elect Ydanis Rodriguez discussed immigration law and its particular effect on Northern Manhattan.

“There are many legal permanent residents, who have lived here for more than 20 years, built productive lives and have U.S. citizen spouses and children, and because of minor convictions, such as two turnstile jumping charges from many years ago, find themselves in mandatory deportation proceedings,” Angela Fernandez, Executive Director of NMCIR said in a statement to the press before the event.

In 2008 the Department of Homeland Security estimated there were almost half a million legal permanent residents from the Dominican Republic living in the U.S. A large number of them have settled in Northern Manhattan. That year the department deported 1,934 people back to the poverty-stricken island country.

Shannon Mckinnon, an attorney from the Immigration Unit of the Legal Aid Society, said changes to immigration law made in 1996 expanded the number of offenses for which a non-citizen could be deported, and made it much harder for those non-citizens to argue their case before a judge. The number of permanent residents who are deported without seeing a judge has increased, she said.

Advocates for change argue that the current law essentially forces a judge to deport even when the circumstances don’t warrant it. 

In his remarks to the audience, Rangel criticized the recent House health bill, which bans the inclusion of illegal immigrants, commenting that the country’s stance on immigration is hypocritical.

“We tell people you can’t come in but then we leave the door open and pay them,” he said. Indicating that a new immigration bill will be introduced after Thanksgiving that would address some of these issues, Rangel challenged the audience to create the political will to get these changes through Congress.

“Otherwise what would you have me do?” he asked.

In his remarks, Udi Ofer, advocacy director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, reminded the audience that immigration issues, such as being permitted to have your case heard by a judge, are nonpartisan.

“Both Democrats and Republicans tend not to be very good at these issues,” he said, reminding the audience that the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act in question was passed during Bill Clinton’s tenure.

Ofer argued that the current law is unconstitutional.

“The U.S. Constitution says that every person, not just citizens, has the right to go before a judge to make their case,” he said.

The next step in the campaign, according to Fernandez, is to continue to educate the public and policy makers on immigration issues. NMCIR is working with the NYU Law School to write a bill that would expand the opportunity for immigrants to fight their cases before a judge, which the organization hopes to eventually present to lawmakers.