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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Scott Foletta, Managing Attorney of Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem on Street Vendor Reform for Immigrant New Yorkers
2:39:42
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114 sec
Scott Foletta, Managing Attorney for the immigration defense team at the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem, emphasizes the critical importance of street vendor reform for immigrant New Yorkers. He highlights how street vending provides economic opportunities for immigrants facing employment challenges, but warns that over-policing risks placing these individuals into the deportation pipeline.
- Foletta supports Intro 47, which addresses deportation risks by requiring civil summonses instead of criminal ones for street vending violations.
- He criticizes the Trump administration's targeting of immigrants and the mayor's collaboration with the deportation agenda.
- Foletta urges the council to decriminalize street vending and increase access to this opportunity for stability in immigrant communities.
Scott Foletta
2:39:42
Thank you.
2:39:42
My name is Scott Foletta and I'm the managing attorney for the immigration defense team at the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem, the public defender office for Upper Manhattan, and I just wanted to speak to you today about the critical importance of street vendor reform for immigrant New Yorkers.
2:39:56
Newcomers to New York City often face many challenges finding employment from lack of work authorization to limited English proficiency to employment discrimination, and street vendor businesses offer a way around these challenges by starting your own small business and becoming your own employer.
2:40:12
And in this way street vending enables many immigrants to provide for their families, but over policing risks placing these same individuals into the deportation pipeline.
2:40:23
Newcomers are often unaware of the laws around street vending, and enforcement can be arbitrary and punitive.
2:40:29
When somebody is arrested or even given a criminal summons, they're fingerprinted, and that fingerprint automatically triggers ICE to become aware of their case.
2:40:37
If the person is arrested by ICE, any conviction they get through this process can result in them being denied benefits like asylum by an immigration judge.
2:40:46
So introduction 47 addresses these risks by requiring civil as opposed to criminal summonses and ensuring that these violations are no longer treated as misdemeanors.
2:40:57
The Trump administration is targeting all immigrants in our city, not just those who are undocumented, and they aim to spread fear in immigrant communities and use criminalization as a tool to deport more of our neighbors.
2:41:11
And unfortunately, our mayor has taken dangerous steps to collaborate with this deportation agenda.
2:41:17
New Yorkers should not have to fear being placed into the deportation pipeline simply to provide for their families.
2:41:23
So while ICE is trying to tear communities down, let us instead build them This council should decriminalize street vending and provide New Yorkers increased access to this critical stepping stone to stability.
2:41:35
Thank you.