\u201cThis is an unsustainable degree of impunity, cruelty, and recklessness that cannot be reformed,\u201d they added. <\/p>\n
Queens State Senator Julia Salazar and Queens Assemblymember Diana Moreno are the lead signers of the letter alongside Brooklyn Councilmember Shahana Hanif. <\/p>\n
They were joined by 14 other Queens lawmakers; State Senators Michael Gianaris, Jessica Ramos and Kristen Gonzalez; Assemblymembers Jessica Gonz\u00e1lez-Rojas, Steven Raga, Khaleel Anderson, Claire Valdez, Catalina Cruz and Ron Kim; and Councilmembers Nantasha Williams, Tiffany Cab\u00e1n, Shekar Krishnan, Julie Won and Jennifer Gutierrez. <\/p>\n
In total 113 elected officials signed the letter as of Tuesday afternoon, according to Moreno. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the moment for New York elected officials to really take a stand and let our constituents know which side they are on,\u201d Moreno told the Eagle on Tuesday. \u201cIt’s time for people of conscience to step up against the deep corruption and abuse of power of the Trump administration, and I think ICE is a very clear example of that abuse of power and its human cost.\u201d <\/p>\n
The recently elected democratic socialist lawmaker, who succeeded Mayor Zohran Mamdani in his Astoria Assembly district, is herself an immigrant and said the letter was motivated by the recent killings by ICE agents. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe in our communities are living in deep fear to the point where you have children that are not going to school, they’re being held back from going outside,\u201d she said. \u201cYou have parents who are afraid to go purchase groceries, who are afraid to go to see a doctor, and this is completely inhumane.\u201d <\/p>\n
ICE activity has increased in June and July nationwide, with the agency arresting more than 43,000 people in June, averaging more than 1,500 arrests a day, according to the agency\u2019s data. <\/p>\n
In New York City, many of the arrests are made after court hearings. <\/p>\n
In June, 4,447 people were ordered removed by immigration judges in the city, doubling from the month prior, according to a report cited in The City Reporter. <\/p>\n
ICE agents have reportedly made arrests in a number of Queens neighborhoods, including Ridgewood, Corona and Jackson Heights. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt is really the responsibility of Jeffries and Schumer, as the leaders, to rein in this abuse,\u201d Moreno said. \u201cThere is no reforming this agency.\u201d <\/p>\n
Previously, Democratic leadership has pushed for reforms to ICE. They also held the line on not funding the Department of Homeland Security for several months earlier this year. But they have stopped short of calling for the abolition of ICE. <\/p>\n
At a rally in January, two of Queens’ senior representatives, Grace Meng and Greg Meeks, both declined to say they would abolish ICE. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf ICE goes by the mission that it has had previously, where you’re looking to get individuals who are illegal and have committed a crime, especially violent crimes, then those individuals are who ICE should be targeting,” Meeks said when asked if he was in favor of abolishing the enforcement agency. <\/p>\n
In response to the letter, a spokesperson for Schumer\u2019s office said, \u201cDemocrats will not let up until the killings, cruelty, and impunity,\u201d of ICE come to an end. <\/p>\n
“Senator Schumer led the longest shutdown in history to stop ICE’s abuses, and that fight is not over,\u201d the spokesperson said. \u201cDemocrats stand united in refusing to fund ICE until fundamental reforms are put in place: masks off, cameras on, no more warrantless arrests, full cooperation with localities, and real accountability.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jeffries did not respond to requests for comment. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThis is an unsustainable degree of impunity, cruelty, and recklessness that cannot be reformed,\u201d they added. Queens State…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":303009,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":["post-303008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=303008"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303008\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/303009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=303008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=303008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=303008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}