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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Kulsoom Tapal, Education Policy Coordinator at Coalition for Asian American Children & Families (CACF)
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Kulsoom Tapal from the Coalition for Asian American Children & Families (CACF) urged the New York City Council to strengthen protections for immigrant communities in light of rising anti-immigrant sentiment. She emphasized the need for accountability, transparency, and expanded services to support immigrant rights and safety.
- Called for passing Intro 214-A to ensure accountability for city agencies collaborating with federal immigration enforcement
- Requested public reporting of cooperation with federal immigration enforcement and empowering MOIA to investigate violations of sanctuary city laws
- Advocated for increased resources for legal services, mental health support, and public education campaigns about immigrant rights
Kulsoom Tapal
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Good afternoon.
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My name is Khulsim Tepal, and I'm the education policy coordinator at the Coalition for Asian American Children and Families.
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Amid rising anti immigrant sentiment, it's crucial for MOIA and other city agencies to strengthen protections and ensure immigrants can safely access services and seek justice.
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When local while local laws limiting city agencies' cooperation with federal immigration enforcement are vital, weak enforcement and accountability leaves immigrants, especially AAPI individuals, facing language barriers and limited legal access vulnerable to rights violations, unwarranted dem detainment, and even deportation.
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To prepare for these challenges, CACF urges the council to 1, pass intro 214 and ensure accountability for city agencies that collaborate with federal immigration enforcement and engage in rights violations that lead to unlawful detention and deportation.
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2, require city agencies to publicly report any instances of cooperation
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the federal immigration enforcement and detail steps taken to rectify violations.
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Empower Moya to investigate and address violations of sanctuary city laws, 4, reinforce existing sanctuary city laws by explicitly prohibiting the use of city resources to facilitate federal immigration enforcement and expanding protections to cover the gaps in current legislation 5, allocate additional resources to provide free or low cost legal services, mental health support, and other essential services to our immigrant communities 6, invest in public education campaigns to inform to inform immigrant New Yorkers of their rights under sanctuary city legislation and how to report violations.
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And 7, develop a citywide emergency response plan to address potential escalations in the current landscape.
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Additionally, we also request that MOIA should lead efforts to address mischaracterizations of Sanctuary City policies and agencies at large should collaborate with trusted community based organizations such as Coalition for Asian American Children and Families, CACF, to properly serve immigrant communities, amplify accurate information about sanctuary city protections, and combat harmful stereotypes.
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All of this must be done with language access in mind.
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Our organization has a community review of translations and there's many other resources available that should be utilized to support this effort.
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Now more than ever, it's imperative that we dedicate our efforts together to protect immigrant communities.
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Thank you.