In New York City, ICE says that it has arrested at least 40 people over the last week. The raids in New York City come despite the fact that Mayor Bill de Blasio has insisted New York City is a sanctuary city. On Saturday, hundreds protested the New York Police Department’s “broken windows” policing strategy, under which the police target and arrest people for low-level offenses, funneling people into a process that can result in deportation. Under President Trump’s public safety executive order, immigrants face deportation if charged with a crime, even if they are never convicted. This is Albert Saint Jean, a Haitian-American fellow with the Black Alliance for Just Immigration, addressing Mayor Bill de Blasio at the protest Saturday.
Albert Saint Jean: “He has to get his house in order, if he really wants a sanctuary city, a freedom city, where we can feel free to walk around in our own communities without feeling like I did something wrong just for existing, where little mistakes won’t ruin the rest of our lives.”
At a march after the protest, police arrested five protesters, charging four with “crossing against a steady red light” and one with “resisting arrest” and “obstructing governmental administration”—one of 170 offenses the NYPD cooperates with federal immigration authorities on. We’ll have more on the immigration raids nationwide later in the broadcast.