New York state and its cities have been at the center of President Donald Trump’s efforts to launch his nationwide deportations of immigrants. Jeongyoon Han of the New York Public News Network sat down with Murad Awawdeh the president of the New York Immigration Coalition. They talked about how the fight over immigration rights has played out in the state and about bills that would respond to recent developments.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
HAN: Murad Awawdeh is president of the New York Immigration Coalition. Thanks for being here with me.
AWAWDEH: Thank you for having me.
HAN: Let's just start off first thinking at the national level. Before Donald Trump became president, he had promised the, quote, largest deportation in US history. Now that he's been president, how has that been playing out at a national level, and then to New York, where you and the organization do a lot of work?
AWAWDEH: Well, what we've seen is Donald Trump weaponize every federal law enforcement agency to be part of his mass deportation and family separation agenda. He is going after individuals, like student activists, and stripping away their status. You know, when he ran for office, he said that he was going to go after those who are, quote, unquote, the most violent individuals. And what we are seeing is that he is not, and he is targeting mothers, nursing mothers – here in Watertown, New York, where Border Patrol picked up a mother who just had recently a baby and detained her for deportation. And I can keep going on and on (with) these stories about how the Trump administration continues to weaponize the moment that we're living in, but what we need to really focus on is what the state of New York needs to do to protect all New Yorkers.
HAN: So several cities in the state have sanctuary city policies. It broadly allows the city to not interact or cooperate with federal government when it comes to immigration enforcement. So Rochester is my home station that I report for. That city has a sanctuary city policy, and so does New York City. From your vantage point, how well do you think this system is working?
AWAWDEH: So I think the sanctuary policies that are currently in place right now at the local level are doing what they need to do. For instance, in Rochester, it prohibits the use of local PD from becoming deputized immigration enforcement officers and colluding with ICE without a judicial warrant. And you know, to see the attacks that we've been seeing on sanctuary policy is kind of comical, when people are talking about, “How do we enhance public safety?”
Sanctuary policies are public safety measures. They encourage people to participate within our society so that they're able and comfortable enough to report things that are happening and without them, a lot of people won't do that, because they are fearful, and rightfully fearful, especially in the world that we're living in today, that they may end up entrapped in this ICE enforcement that's happening.
HAN: There's been a push at the state level to implement a law that across the state would provide protections so that local and state enforcement would not have to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement agencies. Can you tell us a little bit about what that law is, what it would do more specifically, and what the movement is behind that right now?
AWAWDEH: Absolutely. The New York for All Act is a bill that would pretty much tell all state agencies and agencies that receive funding from the state that you need to stay focused on what your job is. If you are the local police department and Rochester, your job is to keep Rochester safe. It's not to deputize yourself as a federal agent. It is not for you to separate families. It is not for you to participate in this mass deportation agenda that Donald Trump has. It stops most collusion with ICE and Border Patrol unless there's a judicial warrant. And you know, we already have an executive order from 2018 which prohibits the state police and state agencies from colluding with immigration enforcement without a judicial warrant, and if there were a judicial warrant, the state has been working with the federal agencies. We want to take that and make it across the board, and not just within, you know, the state troopers, but also with local PD. When we separate families, we are gutting our communities and harming our local economy. And that in itself, should be a real red flag for individuals, and that's not what we should be using our state dollars on.
HAN: And so what would be the difference of having this law instead of having several different cities in the state have their separate sanctuary city policies?
AWAWDEH: Sanctuary cities should do their own policies, because those actually end up becoming a little bit more robust. So Rochester has a great policy. New York City has a great policy, I would say, expand those policies. But at the same time, we need the state to take action, because the state action would be statewide, and in areas where we know, you know, there may be some murkiness. This would clear up that murkiness for local officials.
HAN: In New York City immigration courts, we've seen toddlers who don't know anything about the legal system, and some do not have English as their first language, but are still appearing in immigration court hearings without an attorney present. Just with that set of instances, what do you think of the state's response to providing due process for immigrants and people living in this state?
AWAWDEH: No one should ever go up against a government trained judge and prosecutor without representation, which is why we have been fighting for the Access to Representation Act here in the state of New York, which would provide people going in front of immigration courts the right to someone to provide them counsel. While you do have the right to a lawyer in criminal proceedings in the state of New York and across this country, you don't have a right to an attorney if you cannot afford one. So we want to change that here in the states (so) that these kids are represented, mothers are represented, fathers have representation.
HAN: These two bills that you've spoken of, the New York for All Act and the access to representation act in Albany — what has the reception been behind these two bills?
AWAWDEH: I think the New York for All Act, we are red hot on getting it done. You know, we have, I think, as of this morning, 31 or 32 Senate sponsors, we're getting very close and sponsorship on the assembly side for New York for all and we really need to see this bill move forward. We have to provide New Yorkers with the protections that they need. If every other level of government is failing New Yorkers, we need our state to step up and deliver for them, and that's what New York For All would do. It would protect our communities and our families across the state of New York. (The) Access to Representation Act is also moving through the assembly, and I believe the Senate, but we have to continue to fight for those with the Access to Representation Act. We've been successful in securing state dollars for immigration legal services, and this past year, we were able to get $64 million in immigration legal services granted. That's a drop in the bucket of what is actually needed, but it goes a long way in the provision of services.
HAN: Last question, what is your assessment of state level and city level leadership? I'm thinking of Governor Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor Eric Adams. Those two leaders in particular have been at the spotlight in terms of these federal clashes that New York has seen.
AWAWDEH: I think Governor Hochul has stepped up for some of our community members who've been taken by ICE and this federal administration. She, more than not, says the right thing, which is good. We want to see her be Kathy Hochul, who's fighting and protecting congestion pricing for immigrants too, and be that consistent and always show up for our communities. So we really want to see her step into that leadership. And then, you know, Mayor Eric Adams has been compromised since day one of his mayoralty. He's been someone who has not really showed up for any community, so I don't expect them to show up for hours. But the way in which he scapegoated our communities and immigrant communities to shield him from his own leadership failures has been really disingenuous, and he continues to play to the hand of Donald Trump and Trump administration with his own rhetoric. This comes and stems from the agreement that he has with the federal administration on if they dropped his charges that he would be an ally to them, and that's what he's doing.
HAN: That was Murad Awawdeh, the president of the New York Immigration Coalition. Thank you so much.
AWAWDEH: Thank you.
