Gotham Gazette

The Place for New York Policy and politics

New York Immigration Coalition

New York Immigration Coalition

  • As Senate Approves ‘Coverage for All,’ Focus Shifts to Assembly on Health Coverage for Undocumented New Yorkers

    Inside the State Senate (photo: NYS Senate Media Services)


    In the final days of the legislative session in Albany last week, the State Senate passed a bill that would expand healthcare access to hundreds of thousands of low-income New Yorkers regardless of their immigration status. But the State Assembly ran out of time and adjourned without taking up the bill and now faces pressure to approve it when it returns to address unfinished business on June 20 and 21. 

    On Thursday, the Senate approved the “Coverage for All”

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  • Max Politics Podcast: How New York City is Handling an Influx of Asylum Seekers

    Asylum seekers arrive in New York City (photo: @NYCImmigrants)


    September 16, 2022 - Max Politics Podcast: How New York City is Handling an Influx of Asylum Seekers

    Murad Awawdeh, Executive Director of the New York Immigration Coalition, joined the show to discuss the influx of asylum seekers to New York City, how government and nonprofits have responded, as well as ongoing City Council redistricting.

    Listen to the conversation and let us know what you think, on Twitter @TweetBenMax. You can listen to the show through the

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  • 'Everything's On The Table' as Redistricting Commission Draws Next Version of City Council Map

     

    Commissioners hold a public hearing of the NYC Districting Commission (photo: @DistrictingNYC)


    This month, the commission tasked with redrawing the 51 New York City Council districts is set to unveil a second and potentially final map following a process that has unfolded behind closed doors to a significant degree.

    The New York City Districting Commission has been working since March on the new map, which must be redrawn each decade after the U.S. Census to account for population shifts. Those lines must be finalized by the end of this year and will be in place for the 2023 elections, where all 51 City

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  • Asian Advocates, Elected Officials Call on Redistricting Commission to Redo City Council Map

    A portion of the Unity Map proposal for new City Council districts


    Last month, the New York City Districting Commission released a preliminary map of new City Council district lines, redrawing boundaries across the city based on population changes enumerated in the 2020 Census. Uproar quickly ensued over several of the major changes in the draft maps for the 51 City Council districts across the five boroughs.

    In Brooklyn, the commission proposed a new Asian American majority district that could award political power to a growing constituency — what the commission itself deemed an “Asian opportunity district”

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  • Adams Leaves $25 Million City Council Request for Implementing Noncitizen Voting Out of Updated Budget

    A rally for Our City Our Vote (photo: William Alatriste/NYC Council)


    The New York City Council called on Mayor Eric Adams to provide $25 million in his latest budget plan to implement the city’s noncitizen voting law, which went into effect in January. But the mayor’s $99.7 billion executive budget for the 2023 fiscal year, released last month, did not include that

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  • Max Politics Podcast: What's Next for New York City's Immigrant Communities

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    Immigrant advocacy (photo: Jeff Reed/City Council)


    July 22, 2021 - Max Politics Podcast: What's Next for New York City's Immigrant Communities

    Murad Awawdeh, executive director of New York Immigration Coalition and New York Immigration Coalition Action, joined the show to discuss key issues facing the city's immigrant communities, NYIC's advocacy agenda at the city, state and federal levels of government, the recent city primary elections, his hopes for a likely Mayor Eric Adams, and more.

    Listen to the

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  • Democratic Mayoral Candidates Talk Issues of Importance to Immigrant Communities

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    (l-r) Shaun Donovan, Maya Wiley, Andrew Yang, Dianne Morales, Scott Stringer


    At a virtual forum on Thursday night, four of the leading Democratic candidates for mayor in the June primary weighed in on issues affecting New York City’s large immigrant population, including housing, education, employment, and participation in the political process.

    Hosted by the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC), one of the largest immigrant advocacy groups in the state, the forum was the first one focused solely on immigrants and was simultaneously

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  • New York's Activist Left and Organized Labor Begin Choosing Their Next City Council Class

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    The City Council chambers (photo: William Alatriste)


    With 31 members facing term-limits and with special elections slated to fill five recent vacancies, it is set to be a transformative year for the New York City Council. City politics have undergone a dynamic shift since the last class of Council members was seated after the 2017 municipal election, and activists and organized labor are hoping to take advantage of that fact in announcing their support for a new crop of Council contenders.

    Almost every “open” City Council seat where no

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  • New York Advocates Launch $1 Million Campaign for Federal Immigration Reform

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    A march to end family separation at the border (photo: John McCarten/City Council)


    After four years of the Trump administration’s cruel and hard-line policies intended to slow immigration to a crawl, immigration advocates in New York and beyond were overjoyed that Democrat Joe Biden will become the next President of the United States. Biden and his running mate, Kamala Harris, ran on a promise to immediately overturn Donald Trump’s many punitive and limiting administrative actions on immigration and to pursue comprehensive

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  • New Yorkers Celebrate Biden Victory, Defeat of Trump

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    Brooklynites celebrate Biden's win, Trump's loss (photo: Ethan Geringer-Sameth/Gotham Gazette)


    It was a great day for the Doppler effect Saturday in Brooklyn as a near constant stream of car horns trumpeted elation after it became clear Joe Biden had won Pennsylvania and clinched the 2020 presidential election. Throngs of New Yorkers took to the streets, plazas, and parks to breathe a collective, mostly masked, sigh of relief.

    In New York, that sigh took the form of spontaneous dancing on sidewalks and in streets, clanging pots and pans, and uncorking

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  • As 2020 Count Proceeds, New York State Census Plans Haven't Launched

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    Gov. Cuomo at the NY Census Conference (photo: governor's office)


    According to plans, New York state government would have spent the equivalent of $70 million this year on its effort to ensure that all New Yorkers are counted in the 2020 Census. But as the state has experienced a devastating coronavirus outbreak, that effort has, for all appearances, never gotten off the ground, and Governor Andrew Cuomo’s administration has done little to inform residents that it is in their best interest and that of the entire state to fill out the Census.

    The

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  • New York City Now Has Its Own Legal Parameters for ‘Disorderly Conduct’

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    Council Member Vanessa Gibson (photo: John McCarten/City Council)


    A City Council bill that creates an alternative to the state’s “disorderly conduct” statute, and mandates lower punishment for the infraction, became law on Friday along with numerous other bills relating to protecting undocumented immigrant New Yorkers. The bill, sponsored by City Council Member Vanessa Gibson, chair of the public safety committee, also adds another plank to the Council’s broad agendas of criminal justice reform and

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  • A Good Investment: Supporting New York's Immigrant Communities

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    Steven Choi, the author (photo via NYC DOE)


    New York prides itself on being a gateway of opportunity, a place where people from across the world come to build their businesses, send their children to school, and provide for their families. With more than four million immigrants in New York, these newcomers make tremendous, vital economic, social, and cultural contributions to the Empire State.

    And yet there is an enormous amount that our state - led by our elected officials - can do to support our newest New Yorkers move up the economic ladder.

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  • DOE Language Access Expansion Builds Bridges to City Families

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    Steven Choi, the author 


    For years, advocates and community based organizations have urged the New York City Department of Education to increase translation and interpretation services to public school parents and guardians with limited English proficiency. Last week, I was honored to join schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña, a true champion for the immigrant community to announce a series of initiatives aimed at easing language access for parents in schools.

    Immigrant families face tremendous obstacles – speaking to their child's teacher or principal should not

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  • In New De Blasio Heath Care Plan, Limited Coverage for Undocumented Immigrants

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    Mayor de Blasio holds his IDNYC (photo: William Alatriste)


    According to a recent report from Mayor Bill de Blasio's office, there are 345,507 undocumented immigrants in New York City who do not have health insurance. The Mayor's Task Force on Immigrant Health Care Access seeks to provide coverage next year to 1,000 of those individuals.

    Inaugural Student Voter Registration Day Kicks Off at 25 City Schools

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    CM Rosenthal addresses students (photo: Cici Chen)


    NEW YORK - The 2013 New York City mayoral election’s record low 24 percent voter turnout rate is largely reflective of and dragged down by 11 percent youth voter participation. This especially paltry turnout among voters 18- to 29-years-old has spurred advocates and policy-makers to act. Friday saw the city’s first Student Voter Registration Day (...