Racial Profiling in New York City

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The Full Protection of the Law

Just as New Jersey is announcing that immigrant arrests have doubled, a NYC prosecutor is taking a different approach. D.A. Robert Morgenthau is creating a unit that deals specifically with immigrants... a unit that will not check resident status.

Let's hope it doesn't get shot down like the driver's license thing in NY.

He mentions that everyone in the U.S. should have the "full protection of the law." I wish he was right.

December 5, 2007
NYC Prosecutor Creates Immigrant Unit

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 9:29 a.m. ET

NEW YORK (AP) -- Illegal immigrants living in Manhattan who have been victimized by crimes or who are aware of crimes can now report the incidents without fearing arrest and deportation, officials said.

District Attorney Robert Morgenthau announced Tuesday that he has created a unit to address issues that confront immigrants, regardless of their status, and to prosecute people who prey on them without reporting their immigration status.

''New York is a city of immigrants, and the United States is a country of immigrants,'' he said. ''Everyone who comes here is entitled to the full protection of the law.''

Morgenthau said his office handles 110,000 cases a year and one-third of them involve people who don't speak English.

Mayor Edward Koch issued ordered city employees not to report immigrants' legal status to federal officials in 1989, and Mayor Rudy Giuliani continued that policy, but the federal Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 voided cities' rules against their workers reporting anyone's immigration status to federal authorities.

Giuliani challenged the law and lost, and New York has since adopted what amounts to a don't-ask-don't-tell policy.

Giuliani has had to defend his stand in the current race for the GOP presidential nomination. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney said sanctuary cities encourage illegal immigration and should be denied federal money. Romney called New York ''the poster child for sanctuary cities.''

Morgenthau's new unit is the only one in the city's five boroughs.

Morgenthau's position on immigrants' legal status is consistent with stances taken by several other cities, including San Francisco and Miami, that have adopted sanctuary policies for immigrants, but not with recent federal law.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Immigrants-Criminal-Justice.html

Driving With a License in New York

September 29, 2007
Editorial
New York Times
Political License in New York

When Gov. Eliot Spitzer decided this month to make it easier for immigrants to drive legally, his critics predicted the sky would fall on anyone with a New York State driver’s license. Even Mayor Michael Bloomberg, normally a measured voice, warned that New Yorkers might not be able to use their licenses to get on airplanes if the governor has his way.

That is not so as it turns out. Or certainly, it will not be so for some time yet. If Congress fails to change the Real ID Act — a clunker of a law passed two years ago — state driver’s licenses will have to be re-engineered by 2013 to be accepted as federal identification. Until then, New York’s licenses will be as good in the security lines at the airports as those from the eight other states that do not require proof of immigration status to drive.

So far, no state licenses comply with the tough Real ID standards. The list of requirements includes a special paper stock with secret markers, laser engraving, mandatory re-licensing in person and not by mail, proof of residence and, in most cases, a Social Security card.

Some states have already opted out of Real ID, citing costs that should be — but are not — borne by Washington, privacy concerns and questions about whether Real ID would actually be more secure. If the law goes into effect as written and passenger regulations stay the same, residents of many of these states would need another form of identification, such as a passport, to board a plane.

Governor Spitzer has not said whether he wants New York to opt out of the Real ID law. He is expected to ask for more time from the federal authorities to figure out whether and how to offer a New York driver’s license that complies with the law. One possibility would be a two-tiered system in which residents who want the more elaborate Real ID pay extra for it after 2013. Among the problems with such an approach is that the creation of a lesser license could mean more harassment of anyone who tries to use it.

Republican opposition to Mr. Spitzer’s move has taken a strident anti-immigrant tone that is unwelcome in this discussion. State Senator Joseph Bruno, New York’s top elected Republican, got it right initially when he said he could “understand the merits” of Mr. Spitzer’s proposal. Too bad he soon joined other Republicans and accused the governor of trying to give illegal immigrants the right to vote. It is a baseless claim since New Yorkers do not need a driver’s license to vote, and the criminal laws against vote fraud provide ample deterrent to any illegal immigrant thinking of casting a ballot.

Mr. Spitzer has made the right decision. New York State driver’s licenses should go to residents who have proved their identity — and their ability to drive safely. There will be plenty of time between now and 2013 to figure out whether and how New York State should integrate its driver’s license with federal standards.

for link to article click title to this post

The DREAM ACT's Advocates Who Can Vote

Helping friends her age who came here illegally is important to Estrellita Montiel, 22. (from NY TIMES 7 16 07, photo by Oscar Hidalgo)



Perhaps the nation is unaware of the millions of advocates ready to help with the DREAM ACT and other legislative issues. The current immigration debate has mobilized Latino voters. There will probably be a big surprise in November - when the nation realizes that the Latino population has decided to use its political clout.

Remember that every undocumented immigrant (or DREAM ACT student) has a relative, friend, colleague, neighbor or employer who knows and respects him/her and will be willing to go to bat for his/her rights. If you start multiplying the numbers, the total is much more than anyone has realized.

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Raising Young Voices for Illegal Mexican Immigrants
New York Times
By DAVID GONZALEZ
Published: July 16, 2007


Who knew a civics lesson awaited every time Daisy and Moises Mendoza looked around their neighborhood in East Harlem? Their parents came to New York from Mexico and raised them the hard way, earning pennies at a time handing out fliers on street corners and selling shaved ice snacks in parks. Other teenagers gave up on school to deliver food or bake pizzas. Their neighbors often slipped into the dreary low-profile routine of the illegal immigrant, sweating in gardens or construction sites and not complaining.

That is where the civics lesson kicked in. Lucky enough to be born in New York, Daisy and Moises are citizens, for whom voting and civic participation are a birthright and duty. They grew up as pint-size bilingual guides helping their parents understand what was happening at school meetings and visits to the doctor’s office. They are active in a youth group at Esperanza del Barrio, a local advocacy group that started out helping street vendors. And while they have to wait to cast their first ballots — Daisy is 17 and Moises 15 — they already feel a special responsibility to help their neighbors...

...Robert C. Smith, a professor of public affairs at Baruch College who has extensively studied New York’s Mexican population, estimated that the city’s half-million Mexicans could have as many as 150,000 children born in the United States. Another big chunk of children came to New York in the early 1990s, when they were reunited with parents who benefited from a 1986 amnesty law that made them legal residents, allowed them to bring their children here and put them on the path to citizenship. And many more are on the way right here, thanks to a rising birthrate.

“We’re beginning to see people coming of voting age,” Dr. Smith said. “Already Mexicans have surpassed Dominicans in terms of birth. For the next 20 years, Mexicans have the tremendous potential to become a political force.”

The image of the Mexican community for years was one of an illegal and politically apathetic group. But in recent years there have been signs that the younger generation is willing to speak out, starting with issues that most directly affect it, especially education.

In 2002, immigrants successfully pushed for the City University system to preserve in-state tuition rates for students here illegally. Currently, they are seeking to keep alive the Dream Act, federal legislation that proposes to offer tuition help and a path to citizenship to immigrant high school graduates....

for complete article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/16/nyregion/16citywide.html