{"id":28143,"date":"2016-11-21T03:41:16","date_gmt":"2016-11-21T03:41:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/en.bornomalanews.com\/?p=28143"},"modified":"2016-11-21T03:42:28","modified_gmt":"2016-11-21T03:42:28","slug":"new-york-to-remain-a-sanctuary-city-for-immigrants-de-blasio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/en.bornomalanews.com\/?p=28143","title":{"rendered":"New York to remain a \u2018sanctuary city\u2019 for immigrants: de Blasio"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"37c25f6cb2706abbeaf1cf99920cdde3\"<\/p>\n

New York, 19 November, 2016: New York will remain a \u201csanctuary city\u201d for undocumented immigrants, Mayor de Blasio promised on Friday \u2014 even if Donald Trump makes good on his threats to yank federal funding in retaliation.<\/p>\n

In fact, the city will reject federal aid that comes with objectionable \u201cstrings attached,\u201d such as requiring local cops to turn over people they learn are here illegally, an action that, as a sanctuary city, New York won\u2019t allow, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat may be a choice we have to make,\u201d de Blasio told WNYC\u2019s Brian Lehrer.<\/p>\n

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\u201cSanctuary\u201d is a hot-button issue in a city where 40 percent of residents were born outside the US.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Under New York\u2019s policy, if cops learn that a suspect may be undocumented, they won\u2019t report him to immigration officials.<\/p>\n

The feds will be told of a suspect\u2019s immigration status only after a criminal conviction, experts said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe NYPD leaves immigration enforcement to the federal government, and there are really strong public health and safety reasons for doing so,\u201d said Donna Lieberman, head of the New York Civil Liberties Union.<\/p>\n

Asking cops to turn in or hold people who may be here illegally makes immigrants less likely to report crimes or fires, she said.<\/p>\n

As mayor, Rudy Giuliani was a staunch defender of the policy, she noted, as was Mayor Mike Bloomberg.<\/p>\n

New York has one of the most immigrant-protective policies of the dozens of sanctuary cities in the country \u2014 although not as extreme as in San Francisco, where last year local cops refused to turn over an undocumented migrant the feds had asked for.<\/p>\n

San Francisco cops instead released him \u2014 and he randomly murdered a young woman walking along the waterfront.<\/p>\n

Experts here doubt that Trump would have much success pulling funding from sanctuary cities \u2014 at least not quickly, or in significant amounts.<\/p>\n

Most of New York\u2019s federal funding comes via massive programs like Housing and Urban Development grants, or an $8 billion Medicaid program for the disabled, said Charles Brecher, research director for the Citizens Budget Commission.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost of the big-ticket items are set by state and federal statute and are distributed by the state,\u201d he said, explaining that they are tough to dismantle unilaterally.<\/p>\n

But at risk could be hundreds of millions of dollars the NYPD gets in federal anti-terrorism grants and UN protection reimbursements \u2014 or federal aid for any disaster or emergency.<\/p>\n

Last year, de Blasio joined nearly 100 local leaders in successfully opposing a US Senate effort to withhold federal funding for sanctuary cities.<\/p>\n