Immigrants Know Your Rights: Office of Manhattan Borough President Releases Handbook

Immigrants Know Your
Rights: Office of Manhattan
Borough President
Releases Handbook
By Pamela Appea
Amandla Newspaper
Volume 9, Issue 11
November 16-December 15, 2010

Over the past few years and well into the Obama administration, African and other New York City undocumented or out of status New York City residents continue to see high deportation numbers, including mothers and fathers of American-born children.

Many of these thousands of New York City immigrants, often sign away their rights after being placed in detention by the Department of Homeland Security, and provide information that dooms their chances to stay in the U.S., placing them on an automatic course for deportation proceedings. And legal immigrant African individuals
who possess decades old drug or criminal arrests or non-arrest criminal citations are
finding admitting such records on their U.S. citizenship application and/or interview can mean the difference between successfully becoming an U.S. citizen or getting deported.

In light of these recent deportations and legal issues that many immigrants face, the Office of the Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer recently released a
handbook, “Immigrant Rights and Services Manual: Important Information you need to know to participate in the life of New York City” The booklet is geared towards newcomer immigrants, low-income immigrants and individuals with immigration status
issues and legal immigrants with criminal or drug histories.

“We’re very excited to release this manual that comes from taskforce work that started in 2006,” said Jimmy Yan, general counsel of the Office of the Manhattan
Borough President. “We believe this is something that has never been done before,” he said, noting that a few years ago The New York Times published a Guide for New York City Immigrants. The Office of the Manhattan Borough President’s booklet is free and focuses on legal rights, accessibility and low-income immigrants.

As a child of East Asian immigrants, Yan is a passionate supporter of immigrants and
immigrant rights—including undocumented immigrants.

“Critics ignore how much our economy relies on immigrants, including undocumented immigrants. Our goal is to prosper and the hard work of all immigrants gets us to a stronger, more vibrant economy,” Yan said.

The report urges legal immigrants with drug and/or criminal backgrounds (including those who served no time in jail) services of an immigrant lawyer who
specializes in these cases and can provide skilled professional counsel.

COMMUNITY NEWS
(continued from page 1, front page)
Immigrants Know Your Rights: Office of Manhattan
Borough President Releases Handbook

“If you are detained in immigration custody, you should not say anything
about your immigration status or sign anything giving up your right to an immigration hearing or any other rights. Do not lie. Do not admit to any charges and do not go into detail about your case. If you are arrested for a criminal charge unrelated to your immigration status and are detained in Riker’s Island, you should also follow the rules above for people in immigration custody. Immigration enforcement agents work at Riker’s Island and will interview people being detained there about their immigration status. You have the right not to respond to questions about your status. You should also not sign anything giving up any rights.”

As the report continues, “A recent 2010 Supreme Court decision, Padilla v. Kentucky, now requires criminal defense attorneys to advise their clients about the potential
adverse immigration consequences of their criminal charges. This means that a criminal defense attorney must advise the client whether a guilty plea could result in deportation [now or in the future].If a defense lawyer does not provide this advice and the lack of advice affects the outcome of the case, the client might be able to challenge the conviction.”

Additionally, immigrant individuals and their children who are entitled to food stamps, social security disability benefits, health insurance or worker’s compensation disability claims should feel free to apply to these services for themselves (if they are eligible due to low-income, need for services or disability) or their children without providing specific immigration related status information or enduring immigration related questioning.

Additionally, all children are entitled to attend public or private schools in New York without ‘proving’ immigration status or parent’s immigrant status.

Mr. Yan, counsel for the Office of the Borough President, said there
are immediate plans in place to translate the brochure into French,
Creole, Chinese, Spanish and several other languages but due to current
funding limitations these translations may not be available until 2011 or later.

“If you know of any African immigrant groups who would benefit from the translation of the “Immigrant Rights and Services Manual: Important Information you need to know to participate in the life of New York City.” in their native language (including French) please do not hesitate to contact the Office of the Manhattan Borough President and we would do our best to assess if this translation might be possible,” he noted to Amandla.

Mr. Yan also continued that any Manhattan or non-Manhattan community organization who is interested in a group presentation outlining the handbook should contact the contact the Office of the Manhattan Borough President and ask for a copy of the
“Immigrant Rights and Services Manual: Important Information you need to know how to participate in the life of New York City.”

Individual copies are available free of charge and larger quantities for nonprofit and community organizations can be requested. The booklet is also available online
as a free download at:

http://www.mbpo.org/uploads/irm2010.pdf