New York state lawmakers are moving forward on a package of immigration bills with new urgency following the death last week of a blind refugee who was left outside a closed coffee shop by federal agents in Buffalo.
Nurul Amin Shah Alam, a 56-year-old Rohingya man, was arrested last year and had taken a plea deal that secured his release from the Erie County Holding Center. Even though he was a refugee with legal status, he was released to U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents.
Shah Alam was almost completely blind and spoke little English. Agents dropped him at a closed coffee shop. His death near a downtown arena remains under investigation. Buffalo Mayor Sean Ryan called the incident “bad policing, but it’s also bad human beings” and reinforced his city’s decision not to cooperate with federal immigration authorities.
The Border Patrol said in a statement that Shah Alam received a “courtesy ride” from agents to the shop and upon release “showed no signs of distress, mobility issues, or disabilities requiring special assistance.”
The case rippled through state politics, where lawmakers are discussing legislation that would prevent any local police agencies from assisting in civil immigration enforcement. State Sen. Andrew Gounardes, a Brooklyn Democrat, said it should spur action.
“If it doesn't, then shame on us,” Gounardes said. “There's no reason why any lever or any office in state or local government should be participating in these horrific actions.”
Senators privately discussed a package of proposals on Wednesday that would restrict formal and informal cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other agencies, ban agents from wearing masks and give New Yorkers more avenues to sue immigration agents, according to five people familiar with the package but not authorized to discuss it publicly.
The private briefing capped a weekslong period during which several senators honed a legislative package in response to Gov. Kathy Hochul’s most recent immigration proposals.
Hochul, a Democrat, released a bill to ban formal 287(g) agreements between ICE and state or local entities. She’s also advanced, as part of her $262.7 billion budget proposal, language to prohibit civil immigration enforcement in sensitive locations like schools and hospitals.
Gounardes sponsors the New York for All Act, which would accomplish the things Hochul proposed and also prohibit informal collaboration between police and federal agents. The legislation would block federal authorities from using state or local resources for civil immigration enforcement, prevent federal agents from entering nonpublic areas of state and local property and prohibit the sharing of sensitive information with ICE without a judicial warrant, its sponsors said.
The Senate’s planned package would include “a version” of the New York for All Act, the people said, but the exact details remain in flux. Some lawmakers in both the Senate and Assembly said they don’t want to pass a law that restricts immigration collaboration in instances where someone has been convicted of a serious crime.
State Sen. James Skoufis, an Orange County Democrat, said a California state law that offered sanctuary protections included hundreds of exceptions for various offenses.
“I want to protect immigrants who are here and they live as good neighbors and they pay taxes and their kids go to school and they just want to live their lives peaceably with everybody else,” he said. “I am not interested in protecting undocumented immigrants who commit serious crimes from deportation.”
The Senate’s response package would also include a bill to prohibit local jails from being used for immigration detention. State Sen. Gustavo Rivera, a Bronx Democrat, rallied last week for the Dignity Not Detention Act with around two dozen supporters.
Rivera said he wants the legislation to be stringent — and go much further than Hochul proposed.
“I think the governor took a first step that was a positive one,” he said. “We should, in the state, go as far as humanly possible. We should test every boundary as far as where the state's power is.”
Republicans have consistently opposed the bills, and said the state should cooperate with federal immigration agents.
Hochul said Thursday that Shah Alam’s death and a Columbia University student’s brief detention by immigration agents require “real accountability.” She called for quick passage of her legislative proposals.
Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said Tuesday that she wanted to have a formal proposal released “in the next week or so.” Democratic lawmakers in the state Assembly said their house is waiting to evaluate what the Senate coalesces around.
Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie said that there were private talks with both the Senate and governor.
“We're trying to get to a three-way agreement,” he said.
Rivera said he hopes things start moving quickly.
“We should have done this already,” he said. “We are kind of behind the eight ball here.”
Samuel King contributed reporting.
