PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Taina Wagnac, Senior Manager of State and Local Policy at New York Immigration Coalition
5:15:49
ยท
145 sec
Taina Wagnac from the New York Immigration Coalition urges the City Council to act decisively to protect immigrant New Yorkers in the face of potential threats from the right wing. She emphasizes the importance of trust between immigrant communities and city agencies, and calls for strong local policies and state legislation to ensure immigrant rights and safety.
- Advocates for the passage of Intro 214 to create a private right of action and hold local agencies accountable
- Calls for continued investment in programs like Promise NYC, Access Health, and the language justice worker-owned cooperative
- Urges Governor Hochul to pass legislation like the Access to Representation Act and New York for All Act, and invest $165 million in legal services and capacity building for immigrant support
Taina Wagnac
5:15:49
Chair Avilis, thank you so much for your commitment and dedication to immigrant New Yorkers.
5:15:54
My name is Taina Wagnak.
5:15:56
I am the senior, manager of state and local policy at the New York Immigration Coalition, which is an umbrella policy and advocacy organization for more than 200 groups serving immigrants and refugees.
5:16:07
Thank you for the opportunity to, testify today.
5:16:09
Myself, along with my colleagues and everyday New Yorkers are here to urge this council to act decisively and boldly in the face of hatred and to not be intimidated by any scare tactics from the right wing.
5:16:20
You are not alone.
5:16:21
We stand here with you.
5:16:22
Simply put, when immigrant New Yorkers, especially those from communities of colors, cannot trust city that city agencies will act in their best interest, then no community is safe.
5:16:31
And we've seen this before with the black, African, and Caribbean communities who go through constant surveillance and harassment from NYPD as well as the LGBTQIA community who face constant erasure and denial of the basic human rights.
5:16:45
And so we know this story.
5:16:46
We know when one community is denied their right, then we are all impacted.
5:16:50
Impacted.
5:16:50
Governor Hochul talks about building a New York that is livable, but how can we have public security when immigrant families fear interaction with city agencies because the staff could share the case to ICE or the landlord could report them to ICE.
5:17:02
That's not a way to live.
5:17:03
So in moments like these where people may feel emboldened to hate and tear down their neighbors, we need strong protection in place.
5:17:09
We need strong local policies like intro 214 to create a private right of action, hold local agencies and law enforce accountable, but also empower New Yorkers to be able to come forward, when who were armed by these violations to seek justice and not hide.
5:17:25
And also continue key investment for programs like Promise NYC, Access Health, and also the language justice worker owned cooperative in the interpreter bank.
5:17:34
We also call on governor Hochul to pass key legislation like the access to representation in New York for All to ensure universal access to legal representation for immigrants includes critical gaps in safety to ensure support for all New Yorkers, and also invest a 165,000,000 in the state budget, not only for legal service, but also to provide, capacity building for legal service providers and also bring much needed financial relief for our immigrant legal attorneys and create an accreditation program to recruit and hire additional legal team to make sure that everyone has access to legal inter legal representation.
5:18:11
Thank you again for your time and the work that you do.