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Q&A
Concerns about immigration enforcement impact on street vendors
2:02:03
·
123 sec
Council Member Sanchez inquires about concerns related to federal immigration enforcement affecting street vendors. Carina Kaufman-Gutierrez from the Street Vendor Project explains the heightened risks and fear vendors face due to potential interactions with law enforcement.
- Kaufman-Gutierrez highlights that 96% of street vendors are immigrants.
- She explains how encounters with local law enforcement can increase deportation risks for immigrant vendors.
- The response emphasizes that even civil summonses can negatively impact immigration relief applications.
Pierina Sanchez
2:02:03
Thank you.
2:02:03
It does.
2:02:04
Thank you.
2:02:05
And have you heard concerns around the new federal immigration enforcement with respect to vendors on our streets?
Mohamed Attia
2:02:13
Of course.
2:02:13
You wanna take
UKNOWN
2:02:14
that?
2:02:14
Yes, I
Carina Kaufman-Gutierrez
2:02:14
can answer that.
2:02:16
In our current political climate there has absolutely, and frankly at the city level as well, there being the heightened criminalization and intimidation of street vendors has become all the more alarming.
2:02:27
I want to show a few photos.
2:02:30
This is what immigration enforcement looks like.
2:02:32
You can see it says police, police, police.
2:02:36
Department of Sanitation uniforms say police, police, police.
2:02:41
If you're a street vendor and you're outside operating and you don't know which agency, one of the seven that do street vendor enforcement could be approaching you, meanwhile you're also potentially fearful of an ICE agent approaching you as well, there's extreme concern and fear that just stepping outside could result in something more dangerous.
2:03:04
And as long as the current outdated vending system is in place, this council is putting street vendors at risk of interactions with local law enforcement.
2:03:12
Because when immigrants who are at risk for deportation have encounters with the police for any reason, their risk of getting funneled into detention and deportation increases regardless of the outcome of this case.
2:03:24
And the reason why is because any encounter with NYPD can result in fingerprint sharing even if that person is not actually charged.
2:03:32
In particular, any case where fingerprints are taken, they're sent via the FBI to ICE to determine whether the person is a target.
2:03:39
Additionally, there is an impact in the discretionary element.
2:03:43
Many applications for immigration relief and defense to deportation include a discretionary element.
2:03:49
So any arrest or ticket, even just a summons, right, a civil summons, even when a case is dismissed does have the potential to be used as a negative factor.
2:03:59
So again, there is a lot of concern within the community.
2:04:02
96% of street vendors are immigrants.
Pierina Sanchez
2:04:05
Thank you.