Justin Srey
3:38:55
Thank you to the New York Council for the opportunity to testify today.
3:38:58
My name is Justin Saray, and I'm the Southeast Asian defense coordinator for Mekong NYC.
3:39:03
Mekong NYC is a social justice organization dedicated to uplifting the Southeast Asian community in the Bronx and across New York.
3:39:09
Our community is made of Cambodian and Vietnamese refugees who first arrived here in the 1980s as part of the largest refugee resettlement program in this country's history.
3:39:19
This migration was fueled by war, genocide, and mass carpet bombing in Southeast Asia due to, due to what many of us know as the Vietnam War.
3:39:28
Once in the US, the the resettlement process here was far from easy.
3:39:32
Our community faced ongoing struggles from survival in neglected areas like the Bronx and Brooklyn where tens of thousands of our community members resettled.
3:39:40
They dealt with systematic poverty, over policing, lack of access to living wage jobs, overreliance on government benefits, underfunded schools, and high rates of mental health issues.
3:39:51
Contrary to what some believe, migration is a Asian American Pacific Islander issue.
3:39:56
For the past 20 years, the Southeast Asian community has faced deportation a deportation crisis.
3:40:01
Across the US, including here in New York, almost 20,000 Southeast Asian refugees face the threat of deportation due to past criminal convictions even though somebody read some already have served their time, rebuilt their lives, and have no connection to Southeast Asia.
3:40:16
During the 1st Trump administration, deportations within the Cambodian community surged by 279% from 2017 to 2018.
3:40:25
Given this history, we fear that Trump 2.0 will accelerate this trend with Trump carrying out deportations even more aggressively starting January 20th.
3:40:34
In addition to separating families, deportation will also lead to many harmful effects.
3:40:39
Many of our community members are living already live on the margins of society.
3:40:43
Their thought of deportation will push them further into the services, programs, and institutions they rely on.
3:40:48
This includes schools, hospitals, housing courts, and Social Security's offices.
3:40:54
Fear of interacting with the government will deepen a family's economic instability, threaten their housing status, harm the education and well-being of children, and trigger preexisting trauma related to war, violence, and displacement of our community.
3:41:07
This lack of trust and fear of government agencies creates an atmosphere of anxiety that undermines our community's ability to heal and thrive.
3:41:14
We urge the city council to take decisive action and do the following.
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1, ensure that New York City remains a sanctuary state.
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Specifically, we urge you to pass intro 214 which allow immigrant New Yorkers harmed by violations of detainer laws to seek justice.
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2, invest in long term safety and well-being of immigrant and refugee communities by supporting the 18% and growing initiative which advocates for increased funding to AAPI organizations.
3:41:41
B, supporting the Access Health NYC initiative which invest in community based organizations such as NYC, and expanding language justice to reach communities like ours.
3:41:52
In closing, I urge this committee to not only protect our community from deportation, but also ensure that our communities are supported with the resources and opportunities to thrive.
3:42:01
Our work is far from done, and we need your leadership now more than ever.
