The executive director of the Hudson Valley Community Coalition and two New York City council members were among 16 people arrested in a civil disobedience action today at 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan, to press federal officials on immigration reform. It’s the first of three actions planned on consecutive Mondays. NY1 has a video report.

Here is a statement on behalf of those arrested, according to the New York Immigration Coalition. Betsy Palmieri, of the community coalition, is one of the 16 who signed the joint statement.

“Being conscientiously of opinion that our current immigration laws betray our core principles of democracy, inclusiveness and justice; that they allow for Arizona’s immoral and unconstitutional SB1070; and that their continued enforcement through detention and deportation separates families and destroys communities; we are compelled to escalate our call for Comprehensive Immigration Reform in the face of inaction from our nation’s elected representatives.

“Today we stand in solidarity with the millions who contribute to our communities and economy while being denied full access to them.  Our act of civil disobedience is performed with the belief that our laws can—and should—be better, and that our nation’s leaders cannot stand on the sidelines as our society’s core values are betrayed by a broken and immoral immigration system.

“We invite the enforcement of the law upon ourselves in the hope that our arrest today will be the catalyst for principled leadership from the President and Congress and for meaningful Comprehensive Immigration Reform that will put an end to the arrests and other mistreatments faced by our friends, families, congregations, and communities.”

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The two candidates for Putnam County sheriff spoke to the Journal News editorial board today, and spent time debating which of them would work more closely with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Neither one believes that the much publicized 287(g) training — provided by ICE to local officers — is the answer. But both made clear they wanted to work closely with ICE to help identify criminal suspects with a questionable immigration status.

You can see a video of the discussion here by clicking the “on demand” button at the bottom of the Editorial Spotlight video screen.

Before they got onto this issue, Republican Sheriff Don Smith was asked what his department had done to overcome language barriers in Putnam, particularly on the topic of DWI. He responded that the department has worked with a county liaison — Community Affairs Director Patricia Perez — to communicate with Spanish speakers. But that position was eliminated in the recent budget passed by the county legislature. (Unless the position is restored, she will be out by the end of the calendar year.) Smith went on to talk about immigration enforcement.

Democratic challenger Kevin McConville faulted the department for not doing  further outreach to the immigrant population. He said there was not even a single sign in the immigrant enclave of Brewster/Southeast that addressed DWI or other issues, and promised to reach out through church and civic organizations to develop trust between the sheriff’s office and the community.

Neither candidate mentioned, as we reported in July, that the Putnam Sheriff’s Office, an agency with 141 officers, has only two Spanish-speaking deputies. Four Spanish-speakers serve as correction officers.

On the immigration-enforcement question, McConville said he would provide ICE with an office in the Sheriff’s department, so that an ICE agent would be available to work with any law enforcement agency in the county.

Smith said he’d welcome an ICE agent working in the Putnam jail, as in Westchester and Suffolk, but said the volume of work in Putnam wouldn’t justify it.

Smith had been blasted by Republican opponents who favored the 287(g) program. By contrast, McConville noted that the program was faulted by the GAO and others for its lack of standard procedures. The program, now being revamped, is still opposed by advocates out of concern over racial profiling and damaged community relations.

Smith seemed  pleased to agree with McConville on something, saying, “You’re probably my first opponent to recognize that 287(g) was not an effective program.”

(Photos: Sheriff Donald Smith, top, and challenger Kevin McConville. By Robert F. Rodriguez/The Journal News)

Rep. Luis Gutierrez is scheduled to outline his forthcoming immigration-reform bill tomorrow as part of a rally and vigil tomorrow in D.C.  The Illinois Democrat will be joined by New York Dems including Reps. Nydia Velazquez, Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chair, and Yvette Clarke, according to the National Immigration Forum.

Locally, pro-reform advocates are holding a vigil at 5 p.m. in Carmel, Putnam County. It’s sponsored by the Hudson Valley Community Coalition, joined by the New York Civil
Liberties Union, and will be held at the Old County Courthouse, 40 Gleneida Ave.

Part of the message is intended for Democratic Rep. John Hall, whose office is at that site. Families will demonstrate “to show the President and our leaders in Congress such as John Hall that they need to listen and respect our communities, and show us progress on immigration reform,” according the press release from the coalition.

The timing is considered key. Advocates want Congress to take action before the mid-term election cycle. Sarah Thomas Maldonado, an immigration attorney in Scarsdale, NYC and Stamford, Conn., writes, “It is time to stand up for the values of our nation and demand a humane workable immigration system from Congress and the President.”

More from the coalition’s announcement:

Our families and communities are suffering because of the inaction of politicians. Our communities are being demonized and victimized by politicians and talk-show hosts.  The need and moral imperative is urgent. The President and Congressional leaders repeatedly stated that America should not be tearing families apart but should be solving problems. They need to be reminded of their promises.

We’ve got some new data on how many people registered to vote this year in Westchester County, and Hispanic enrollment appears to be surging.

Hispanics are about 8 percent of the voter rolls in Westchester, but they account for 14 percent of registrations this year, says Tim Henderson of our Journal News data desk. (He’s making estimates based on Hispanic surnames — not an official tally, but a common means of estimating the number.)

Latinos account for about 18 percent the the overall Westchester population, so their share of the voter rolls still lags, relative to others.

In Port Chester, about 24 percent of registered voters are Hispanic. But Hispanics appear to account for 40 percent of new registrations, more than 300 out of 755.

Similar trend in Carmel, Putnam County: Latinos account for 7 percent of enrolled voters, but 13 percent of the newly enrolled.

And the Hispanics are trending Democratic. The big picture: More than 8,000 Hispanics have registered to vote this year in the Lower Hudson Valley, and that will bolster the Democrats’ edge in Tuesday’s election. Hispanics registered Democratic at a 4 to 1 rate in Westchester and Rockland counties, and 2-1 in Putnam. The estimates are based on an analysis of Hispanic names on the voter rolls in October.

Under an order announced by Mayor Michael Bloomberg today, New York City agencies will provide assistance in the six languages most commonly spoken by residents with limited English. And what are those languages? Spanish, Chinese, Russian, Korean, Italian and French Creole.

I was curious to see what languages are the most common here in the burbs, and Tim Henderson from our data desk checked census data from 2006.

Obviously Spanish is the dominant one, but the others vary from one county to another. Here are the next-most-common languages spoken by those with limited English, in order:

WESTCHESTER

Italian

Portuguese

Hindi

Korean

Japanese

Others: Russian, Chinese, French, Thai/Siamese/Lao, Polish, Persian/Farsi, Albanian, Dravidian, Arabic, Filipino/Tagalog, Magyar/Hungarian.

ROCKLAND

Yiddish

French (including Haitian creole)

Hebrew

Hindi

Chinese

Others: Dravidian, Korean, Russian, Albanian, German, Persian, Turkish, Polish, Greek, Magyar/Hungarian.

PUTNAM

Polish

Czech

Italian

(Photo of the telephone translation system at Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern: Vincent DiSalvio/The Journal News)

There’s still no plan in place to reopen the Jornaleros Project in Spring Valley, which has been closed since October. The project, a humanitarian-assistance program for day laborers, received a tiny grant but may have lost its home. Organizers have not heard from St. Paul’s Episcopal Church on whether or not it can reopen there, and apparently the church leaders have not responded to our inquiries. (See Susan Clarke’s story below.)

Day labor assistance programs are often tenuous operations, and around here they’ve had vastly different degrees of success. In Brewster, plans for a hiring site have long been stalled by controversy and the lack of an agreed-upon location. Spring Valley’s program was small-scale, assisting workers with some basic necessities, some English lessons and referrals for help.

By contrast, Mount Kisco has a full-fledged community center that helps integrate Latino immigrants with job placement, multi-level English instruction, family programs and social activities. Many volunteers from the community get involved, and northern Westchester neighbors contribute to the budget. To give you an idea: The center, Neighbors Link, held a spring fund-raising gala in May with tickets starting a $175 apiece, and sponsorships of up to $10,000 for a table.

Anyway, read on for the update from Rockland.

(Spring Valley photo: Kathy Gardner/The Journal News) Read more of this entry »

Two local sheriffs — Don Smith of Putnam County and James Kralik of Rockland — organized a meeting in Albany yesterday to help others in New York law enforcement become better informed about immigration matters. Cara Matthews has a story here.

I spoke to Sheriff Smith this afternoon, and he said 120 people turned out from across the state, including the top officials from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement offices in New York City and Buffalo.

It sounds like the meeting was much needed because of the level of rhetoric and misinformation over the training program called 287(g). Villages in the two counties are pursuing the program, and Assemblyman Greg Ball, R-Carmel, is pushing it statewide.

Police are under increasing pressure from both sides in the immigration debate to take a position on the program, which trains local law enforcement officers to take on some deportation duties themselves. Proponents of an immigration crackdown are latching onto the idea as a concrete step toward dealing with the numbers of illegal immigrants. Advocates for immigrants reject it just as vehemently as a form of racial profiling.

Smith wanted to make a point that, I very much agree, gets lost in the rhetoric. Which is: The training program is only one example of the cooperation that takes place between local police and ICE. The other forms of cooperation are less known and little understood.

“It (287g) is one program that works in some places, especially areas with large urban or large suburban populations, but there are other successful programs that are out there,” Smith said. “Some people think 287(g) is a magic wand that just will solve all the immigration issues in the United States. And many of these issues are still waiting for public policy at the national level, and for resourcing.”

Whether you are for or against training local police in immigration enforcement, are you aware of what kind of cooperation your local department already has with ICE?

The Appleseed organization came out this week with an updated report that argues against the enlistment of local police in immigration enforcement. “Forcing Our Blues Into Gray Areas,’ available here, includes a detailed description of the training program and how it fits into the bigger picture.

As part of his argument for having state law enforcement personnel take on immigration duties, Assemblyman Greg Ball has said that “30 percent” of inmates in state prisons are illegal aliens. But according to the New York Department of Correctional Services, the figure is actually 4 percent.

Given the level of interest in this issue, I thought I’d provide more statistics here. The 2007 Criminal Justice Crimestat Report, available on this page, details DOCS’ existing efforts to see that prisoners who are subject to deportation are not released back into the community after completing their sentences. The information is in a section titled “Criminal Alien Improvements.”

Here are two charts also provided by the department. The first shows that the number of foreign-born inmates has decreased substantially over the last five years. The second breaks down the number of foreign-born inmates by immigration status:

These figures do not include inmates held at county or city jails. Note that under immigration law, it’s not just illegal immigrants who can be deported. Green-card holders convicted of certain crimes may also be placed in deportation proceedings.

Ball says his legislation targets criminals who fall through the cracks and evade deportation after their sentences are complete. I asked DOCS whether they had any idea how many inmates might be missed by their efforts, and they had no information on that. They did call Ball’s plan a waste of taxpayer money, saying they already work extensively with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. My story is attached below.

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