For our communities to thrive, we need the New York for All Act

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I never imagined I’d be writing about immigration policy. I’m a small-business owner in Kingston’s Stockade District. I opened FØLK Refillery & Supply because I care deeply about how we live together. How our everyday choices can nurture something more sustainable and more humane.

In my shop, I sell nontoxic household goods and pantry staples without plastic waste. But more than that, I try to create a space that reflects care for our homes, for our health and for the people behind the products we bring into our lives. The farmers, the makers, the artisans. The stories on my shelves.

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So many of these stories are immigrant stories. And without the New York for All Act, we risk losing these stories — with devastating consequences for our state.

The importance of immigrants — to my business, to the Kingston community — is foundational. The farms that grow the food I carry. The people working in our health care systems. The hands building homes, starting businesses, raising families. Immigrants aren’t a side note in Kingston’s economy; they’re part of its melody, and they help make this place feel vibrant and alive.

I hear this reflected back to me all the time, in quiet conversations with other small-business owners across the Hudson Valley. Folks running restaurants, farms, construction crews, retail shops like mine. Most of us aren’t activists. We’re just trying to keep our doors open and do right by our communities.

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But lately, we see the fear. We feel it ripple outward. And we know how fragile a local economy can be when fear takes hold.

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When someone is afraid to drive to a doctor’s appointment, pick up groceries or take their child to school, that fear moves through the community. Workers disappear. Customers stay home. Our economy feels the strain.

For small businesses like mine, where margins are already tight and relationships matter, that kind of instability isn’t theoretical. It’s something you feel in your wallet.

And beyond business, it’s simply not the kind of community I want to live in.

I believe Kingston can be a place where people feel safe participating in everyday life. Where local resources are used to support the well-being of our neighbors, not to create fear for families who are contributing, caring and belonging here.

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The New York for All Act would help move us in that direction. It would set clear boundaries so that local police can focus on local safety, rather than being pulled into federal immigration enforcement that targets people who are not harming anyone and in fact are helping hold our communities together.

The measure has broad support in the Legislature, but what it still lacks is the full backing of leaders such as Gov. Kathy Hochul, who is offering a narrower, temporary half-measure instead of the full protection of New York for All.

Half-measures aren’t what New York’s families, businesses and communities need. Other states have already taken similar steps. New York, a place that prides itself on being welcoming, has the opportunity to do the same.

I’m not writing this as a policy expert. I’m writing as someone who stands behind a shop counter every day, who talks to neighbors, who sees firsthand how interconnected we all are.

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Care isn’t abstract. It shows up in the choices we make as individuals, as business owners and as a state. I’ve made a choice by writing this piece; now we need our governor to make the right choice for all New Yorkers by supporting the New York for All Act. Governor, we’re counting on you. 

Leah Watkins is the owner of FØLK Refillery & Supply in Kingston.