Former NYS Meeting Member Michael Blake (79th District).
Photograph by Milette Millington
Candidates operating for NYC Mayor highlighted their plans for immigration coverage and its proposed results on these communities on April 16 through the hybrid discussion board hosted by the CUNY College of Labor and City Research (CUNY SLU), which was co-sponsored by the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC).
The discussion board was held from 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. The Democratic candidates in attendance had been NYC Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, NYC Comptroller Brad Lander, Former NYC Comptroller Scott Stringer, NYS Senator Zellnor Myrie (twentieth District), Zohran Mamdani, and Michael Blake. NYC Mayor Eric Adams, former NYS Governor Andrew Cuomo, NYS Senator Jessica Ramos (thirteenth District), Whitney Tilson, Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa, and Unbiased candidate Jim Walden didn’t present up.
The candidates first mentioned how they might consider the present state of the town’s sanctuary legal guidelines given the Trump administration’s nature and whether or not they would make any modifications to them.
Former NYS Meeting Member Michael Blake (79th District), who’s the son of Jamaican immigrants, stated, “ICE has no enterprise right here, whether or not or not it’s at Rikers, whether or not our locations of worship, whether or not now we have colleges. We’re a sanctuary metropolis; we are going to proceed to be a sanctuary metropolis. We’ll guarantee that our communities are protected in each potential manner. All of us are intertwined at this second.”
Blake added that the modifications he’d make to the present sanctuary legal guidelines would come with growing authorized protections for the 180,000 immigrants who don’t constantly have them and ensuring that each time Donald Trump and the federal authorities come for them, the State is severe in its assaults in opposition to the administration.
The candidates additionally mentioned the Metropolis Council invoice Native Regulation 18 of 2021, which will likely be reintroduced on April 24 as T2025-3413, which might require supply employees to have e-bike licenses, and whether or not they’d assist it.
Council Speaker Adams responded, “Our focus once more must be on the livelihood of those that try to make a dwelling, and that’s the place the center of my work is. I all the time say I legislate the best way that I reside. If I can’t signify my neighbor, then I don’t know what my neighbor goes by way of, struggling by way of, or coping with.”
She added that her focus as mayor will likely be on making certain that immigrants who’ve come and people who will come to New York have quite a lot of job alternatives accessible, regardless of President Trump’s efforts to make it difficult for these dwelling within the state working exhausting to make a dwelling.
As well as, the candidates additionally shared what they might do to guard immigrant employees in New York Metropolis from wage theft. Comptroller Lander shared that the Comptroller’s workplace has been engaged on this, saying that the workplace has recovered over $9 million for employees, largely immigrants, who had their wages stolen.
“We created an employer violations dashboard for the primary time that tracks metropolis, state, and federal office violations. So, you’ll be able to join the dots as a result of it’s usually the identical employer who has finished wage theft, that has additionally had an unfair labor observe, that additionally violated OSHA tips, that additionally denied their employee paid sick days,” Lander defined.
Lander additionally proposes creating the first-ever Mayor’s Workplace of Employees Rights. If he turns into mayor, he stated he would set up an workplace that may do exactly this: discover the patterns, add enforcement capability, and join the dots relating to immigrant employee safety from wage theft.
State Senator Myrie additionally shared his assist for preventing in opposition to this concern, highlighting that he has supported laws that may improve the penalties for wage theft.
“I believe that’s one thing that I’d proceed to advocate for as the following mayor. We now have a Supreme Courtroom in america that’s hostile to labor rights, that’s hostile to the NLRB, and it’s going to be extra necessary than ever that now we have a sturdy Division of Shopper and Employee Safety,” Myrie acknowledged.
Myrie strongly believes that New York Metropolis will likely be a frontrunner for the remainder of the nation in defending susceptible employees through the Trump administration.
“I believe now we have to do extra Know Your Rights outreach to make sure that individuals know that the Metropolis has their again, and with the regulation division, I believe now we have a possibility to be using each authorized software at our disposal to make sure that we’re defending ourselves, increasing our Fee on Human Rights, making certain that folks have the protections that they want,” he continued.
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