
With President-elect Donald Trump poised to retake the White House, New York City's leaders are bracing for what could mark a seismic shift in immigration policy. The New York City Council is convening to discuss defensive steps against Trump's pledged deportation campaign. Council Member Alexa Avilés, chair of the council’s Committee on Immigration expressed the city's stance, "We want no part in taking part in Trump's extremist, xenophobic agenda and we want to use no resources to aid and abet that," according to a City & State New York report.
Prior to the inauguration, advocates and immigrant New Yorkers are set to forthright attempt to express their experiences and concerns during a hearing. Meanwhile, agencies like the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs and the Office of Asylum Seeker Operations are expected to detail their strategies to confront any new policies from Trump's administration. Trump's campaign rhetoric surrounding the implementation of "the largest domestic deportation operation in American history" has put cities with high immigrant populations, such as New York City—home to approximately 412,000 undocumented immigrants as of 2022—on edge as reported by City & State New York.
Amidst these policy crosswinds, Veronica Cardenas, with a career spanning immigration law from ICE prosecutor to defense attorney, shared her insights into the President-elect's potential strategies with ABC7 New York. "Under Trump, as a trial attorney, I didn't even have to say anything, I just needed to be in that spot to show a presence of the government, the law was already written and their cases were already decided before they even sat before the judge and made their pleas," Cardenas told ABC7 New York. Her concern is that for noncitizens to get fair hearings, the system has to substantively change—a system that presently aligns judges too closely with the whims of the attorney general and the president. The policies experienced under the Trump administration extended to a one-size-fits-all approach that did not discriminate between criminal cases and those involving families seeking a better life.
New York City is preparing to safeguard its immigrant population, with resolutions including the New York for All Act and the Access to Representation Act, which aim to limit local cooperation with ICE and ensure the right to counsel for immigrants, respectively. However, this looming threat has once again reverberated fear through the communities, leading to potential dire outcomes. Manuel Castro, Commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Immigration Affairs stated, "Fear and panic that our communities are experiencing could have unintended consequences, which can be serious," as he pointed out the risks of misinformation causing immigrant families to forego essential services, reported by City & State New York.
Alongside the Council's efforts, civic groups such as Make the Road NY, New York Immigration Coalition, and Immigrant Defense Project are also actively rallying at City Hall to amplify their voices and to seek solidarity.