Your guide to NYC's public proceedings.
PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Yasmine Farhang, Director of Advocacy at Immigrant Defense Project
3:41:46
ยท
3 min
Yasmine Farhang, representing the Immigrant Defense Project, testifies in support of Intro 798 to abolish the NYPD's criminal group database. She highlights the database's harmful impact on immigrant communities and its potential for facilitating ICE's deportation efforts.
- Farhang criticizes the use of "joint task forces" as a justification for NYPD sharing information with ICE
- She emphasizes the disproportionate impact of the database and ICE actions on Black immigrants
- Farhang calls for the passage of both Intro 798 and the New York City Trust Act (Intro 214) to protect against NYPD's collaboration with ICE
Yasmine Farhang
3:41:46
How's that?
3:41:47
Okay.
3:41:48
Great.
3:41:49
Thank you, council member Salam.
3:41:52
I also have a testimony that I want to share, but also I think needed to respond to one thing that was said earlier when we heard from the administration, from NYPD, which is that the use of joint task forces as this kind of catch all rationale for NYPD to be enabled to share information from the database and otherwise collude with ICE is one that we have to scrutinize very carefully.
3:42:22
Because when we take a closer look, we'll see that a joint task force, that language, is used as an explanation for any time they work with federal immigration enforcement.
3:42:36
And in many, many instances where we see, in fact, afterwards absolutely zero evidence of any federal criminal investigation took place.
3:42:44
So I just wanted to note that before continuing.
3:42:49
My name is Yasmin Fairhang.
3:42:51
I'm the director of advocacy at the Immigrant Defense Project.
3:42:53
We were founded twenty seven years ago to fight for justice for immigrants targeted by the criminal and immigration legal systems and combat mass deportation.
3:43:02
We joined the call from so many people today already to pass Intro seven ninety eight and abolish the criminal group database, which is actively harming so many New Yorkers, including so many immigrant New Yorkers.
3:43:13
As we have already heard, this secret list is nothing less than racial discrimination and abuse of power for reasons as arbitrary as scars, tattoos, clothing, and social media posts, often innocuous factors that sentence those on the list to perpetual punishment without due process.
3:43:33
We need only to listen to those who have already testified today to understand the deep harms that flow from that database.
3:43:40
In New York City, we simply cannot talk about these harms without also talking about the way that these same categories have long been used by ICE to profile, surveil, detain, and deport immigrant New Yorkers, using confirmed or suspected gang members, that category, as a justification for harming young people and separating families.
3:43:58
And in New York City, any encounter with the NYPD that results in fingerprint sharing is then shared with FBI and then with ICE, increasing risk of detention and deportation, whether or not that person is ever charged with a crime and even where a case is dismissed.
3:44:15
With ICE raids increasing in volume and aggression in our city daily, including in a number of instances where the NYPD was actively facilitating, it is unconscionable to allow this database to be used as an additional weapon against immigrant communities.
3:44:31
Under the reign of Trump, the gang member label is being further exploited, classifying many tagged as gang member as gang members as foreign terrorists.
3:44:40
At least eight gangs so far have been classified as foreign terrorist organizations by Trump executive order.
3:44:47
Not only triggering detention and deportation, but putting immigrants in the unconscionable position of having to prove a negative.
3:44:54
That the terrorism bar should not apply to them while any evidence is happily taken as proof including inclusion in any gang database.
3:45:03
And just as we have heard today about the overwhelmingly disproportionate impact to black New Yorkers of this database, it is also black immigrants who are disproportionately impacted by detention and deportation.
3:45:14
Passing Intro seven ninety eight is ultimately about racial justice and we further employ this council to support it to guardrail against participation in ICE's cruelty.
3:45:25
Just as we call for passage of this bill, we also call for passage of the New York City Trust Act, intro two fourteen which will protect against the NYPD continuing to unlawfully collude with ICE.
3:45:37
Thank you.