Q&A
Impact of New York City's sanctuary city status on CCHR's work
1:39:48
·
110 sec
Council Member Williams inquires about the impact of New York City's sanctuary city status on CCHR's work protecting immigrants. Deputy Commissioner JoAnn Kamuf Ward explains the commission's stance and responsibilities.
- CCHR's work to protect the rights of all individuals, regardless of national origin or citizenship status, will continue
- The commission's protection of rights is not dependent on the city's sanctuary status
- Sanctuary city status primarily relates to information sharing between city and federal authorities
- CCHR affirms its commitment to protecting all New Yorkers from discrimination
Nantasha M. Williams
1:39:48
And I know the mayor's office is probably gonna flip out, and you probably cannot answer this question, but, I'm I'm just my brain is just going, and I'm thinking about, like, a lot of the reports that have come out about the mayor potentially, like, revisiting New York City's sanctuary city status.
1:40:06
And, like, you mentioned, like, some of the work that you do to essentially protect people's status and not have it exposed to various authorities, are you able to do that because we are a sanctuary city, or is that just, like, what you do, period?
1:40:21
Like, is it is there special protections amongst many and I know we have, like, a briefing on Friday to learn more.
1:40:27
But I'm just wondering, yeah.
1:40:30
Like, are you able to protect status and to really provide robust support for immigrants in New York City because we're we are a sanctuary city?
1:40:41
Or, again, is it just kind of, like, par for the course what you do regardless of whether or not we were a sanctuary city?
JoAnn Kamuf Ward
1:40:47
So I think there's a lot there's a lot of layers to that question.
1:40:51
I think, you know, we live in a federalist country where federal law, is often, supersedes local law.
1:41:01
The work that we do and the rights that you have as, a virtue of human rights law are not going anywhere.
1:41:08
Right?
1:41:08
We are protect the rights of everyone to be free from discrimination regardless of national origin or citizenship status.
1:41:15
That is going to continue to be true.
1:41:17
The sanctuary status, is more related to information sharing between city authorities and federal authorities, and I am not an expert on on those mechanisms or or what they are.
1:41:30
But I think I can say firmly, that the commission will continue to protect all New Yorkers.
Nantasha M. Williams
1:41:37
Thank you.
