Your guide to NYC's public proceedings.
PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Tania Mattos, Executive Director of Unlocal
4:20:46
·
3 min
Video Player is loading.
Current Time 0:00
/
Duration 0:00
Loaded: 0%
0:00
Stream Type LIVE
Remaining Time -0:00
Â
1x
- Chapters
- descriptions off, selected
- captions settings, opens captions settings dialog
- captions off, selected
This is a modal window.
Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window.
End of dialog window.
Tania Mattos, Executive Director of Unlocal, emphasized the importance of New York City remaining a sanctuary city and highlighted the challenges faced by immigrants, including fear and uncertainty in shelters. She called for continued support for legal services and funding for projects assisting immigrants facing deportation and detention.
- Stressed the need for timely payments to organizations providing legal services
- Reported on rumors and fears spreading in shelters about impending changes
- Highlighted the psychological toll on immigrants facing the threat of deportation
- Recommended support for Intro 214 and continued funding for legal services projects
Tania Mattos
4:20:46
Okay.
4:20:46
Yeah.
4:20:49
Greetings, council member.
4:20:52
My name is Tanya Matos.
4:20:53
I'm the executive director of Unlocal.
4:20:54
We're an immigration, legal nonprofit that provides community education outreach and legal representation to immigrants across New York City.
4:21:03
So everything that has been said today, I would repeat.
4:21:06
But quite simply, New York City must do everything to remain a sanctuary city.
4:21:12
It's just not a matter of fairness, but a public safety necessity, as you understand.
4:21:17
And we're part of, the ProSate Plus project, which, by the way, I know the mayor's office of immigrant affairs were was working on payments, but we're actually still waiting for payment for work that we've done in 2023.
4:21:31
So, you know, that that that that is a huge issue for us that we continue to face.
4:21:36
And so we cannot do the work if we're not being paid for the work, of representing New Yorkers across New York City.
4:21:44
So the people that we help with the Prostate Plus Project, they face, right now there's a lot of, uncertain and fear.
4:21:51
And there's actually a lot of extreme rumors that are being spread in the shelters right now on what's going to happen on Monday, starting Monday.
4:21:57
So I wanted to let the council know that this is what we're hearing from clients.
4:22:02
And I think it is very imminent that, the shelter staff and Moya, and the city council know that, you know, the the the rhetoric that currently is happening right now is, from from the mayor, from other entities is not helping, people in the shelters with their fears and calming their anxieties.
4:22:25
We're also part of the Rapid Response Legal Collaborative alongside Move the Road and NILAG.
4:22:29
And we provide urgent advice and counsel for immigrants facing imminent deep deportation and detention.
4:22:35
And so every day we hear about devastating cycle, the psychological toll that right now people are experiencing because of the threat of deportation and their families.
4:22:44
And these group of individuals face heightened level of threat of deportation and detention.
4:22:51
So we've seen, witnessed extreme bouts of depression, psychosis, and even suicide suicide attempts.
4:22:58
And so that this is why it's important for the council and the city to continue to be a sanctuary city.
4:23:05
And I'll skip to our recommendations, which basically are asking you to support the city council to support intro 214.
4:23:15
And, we thank you for your historical, support of legislate legislation such as Dignity Not Detention, New York for All Access to Representation.
4:23:25
We ask that you continue to, to to fund legal services committees.
4:23:32
Because just because the pro say plus project, for example, we have less people applying for asylum, but it doesn't mean that these individuals, don't need continued support for their legal services.
4:23:45
So there's still thousands of people that need continued support on their asylum asylum cases.
4:23:50
And, as the mayor's office of immigrant affairs, defunded the rapid response legal collaborative, we thank the city council for supplementing that funding as we need it right now.
4:23:59
We've seen thousands of more people need that, are reaching out to us for, support.
4:24:04
I'm sorry.
4:24:04
Not thousands.
4:24:05
Hundreds of, of people reaching out to us for support for, their deportation cases.
4:24:10
So thank you.