Caribbean immigrant advocates urge swift passage of ‘New York For All Act’

Caribbean immigration advocates, lawmakers, and allies of the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC) gathered at the New York State Capitol this week to call for the urgent passage of the New York For All Act before the legislative session ends.

The proposed legislation aims to prohibit state and local agencies—including law enforcement—from collaborating with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). It would also ban the sharing of personal data and restrict the use of state resources to support federal immigration enforcement.

The NYIC, which represents over 2,000 immigrant advocacy groups, said the act is critical to ensuring that all New Yorkers, regardless of immigration status, can access public services and participate in their communities without fear. The organization added that the law would reinforce the separation between state and federal immigration policy, while preserving local resources and protecting immigrant families from what it described as former President Donald Trump’s “punitive, politically-driven immigration agenda.”

“When neighbourhoods fear contact with law enforcement, crimes go unreported and actual criminals operate with impunity,” NYIC stated. “New York For All would restore that essential trust by creating clear boundaries between local authorities and federal immigration enforcement, so that police could focus on their primary mission of keeping communities safe, rather than serving as immigration agents.”

NYIC President and CEO Murad Awawdeh emphasized the urgency of passing the act. “As we quickly approach the end of the legislative session, we demand that our elected officials take urgent action to protect our immigrant neighbours and community members from ICE,” he told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC).

“We demand that New York state not be complicit in Trump’s campaign of terror against our communities as ICE seizes our neighbours at court hearings, dropping their kids off at school, at their places of work or driving to a doctor’s office — separating families, gutting our communities and damaging our economy,” he added. “Now is the time to pass New York For All.”

Hudson Mayor Kamal Johnson echoed those concerns. “It’s time for the New York State Legislature and governor to do the same by passing New York for All,” he said. Johnson recounted personal experiences with what he described as unlawful coordination between local law enforcement and ICE, including a recent seatbelt checkpoint in Cohoes set up with ICE involvement. “These rampant attacks on the lives and rights of our community must end,” he said.

Linda Flor Brito, senior policy and campaigns organiser with the Immigrant Defence Project, also pointed to ICE’s collaboration with local agencies as a key factor in family separations and long-term community trauma. “New York must stop being complicit – whether by colluding with ICE for all to see or by doing it behind closed doors,” she said. “The Legislature must intervene now by passing NY4All to protect New York families; anything less would be a failure.”

Zach Ahmad of the New York Civil Liberties Union said lawmakers must act decisively. “New York state lawmakers should not sit idly by as the Trump administration wreaks havoc on New York’s immigrant communities — they must pass the New York For All Act now,” he said.

With just one week remaining in the session, Rosie Wang of the Vera Institute of Justice warned that further delay would harm families. “President Trump’s mass anti-immigrant agenda is tearing families and communities apart,” she said. “The Legislature must act now and pass New York for All.”

Awawdeh also highlighted the broader societal benefits of reducing ICE’s footprint in local governance. “Municipalities that limit ICE collusion are proven to have economic benefits for all and to be safer than those that divert their local resources to ICE’s anti-immigrant agenda,” he said.

He noted that immigrants hold essential jobs across sectors such as healthcare, elder care, and construction—roles often filled by asylum seekers and newly arrived workers. “The New York For All Act will support and protect our neighbours, colleagues, friends, and family by quelling the fear that simply going to work or seeking help in an emergency could result in them being torn from family,” he said. “The time is now for Albany to pass New York for All.”