FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
12/8/25
 

Council Members Avilés, Cabán, Hanif Rally for Bills Protecting NY’s Immigrant Communities; MOIA Refuses to Testify

City Hall, Manhattan – This morning, on the steps of City Hall, a bustling crowd of advocates gathered to rally in support of a slate of four bills aimed at protecting immigrant New Yorkers. This rally was led by Council Member Alexa Avilés, who chairs the Council’s Committee on Immigration, alongside Council Members Cabán and Hanif, who authored the bills (INT 214, INT 1268, INT 1272, & INT 1412). This event was held in advance of a committee hearing to review the legislation and hear from dozens of constituents about its potential impacts. The Adams administration refused to testify at the hearing, once again making a show of abandoning immigrant New Yorkers.

The Council members spoke about NYC’s history as an immigrant city. Immigrant populations making up nearly 40% of the city’s current population have been responsible for innumerable cultural and economic contributions. The existing sanctuary protections, developed over the course of decades, are a direct result of that historical and present importance.

The City Council has long been united in ensuring our city’s resources are used for the well-being of New Yorkers, not to further any deportation agenda for the federal administration. Earlier this year, the City Council provided historic levels of funding for immigration legal services, but legislative action is needed to protect immigrant New Yorkers in the face of increasingly violent abductions by ICE. Council Members Avilés, Cabán, and Hanif are fighting together to defend our existing laws through 4 pieces of key legislation:

INT 214 (Hanif) (NYC Trust Act) - NYC has sanctuary laws that limit city agencies from sharing information with ICE, but these laws are frequently violated. The NYC Trust Act would hold the NYPD, DOC, and DOP accountable to the laws already on our books by creating a private right of action–empowering those whose rights have been violated to bring suit and seek justice.

INT 1268 (Avilés) - Requires our city government to create and hang signage on city property telling people about their rights when engaging with federal authorities. That way, New Yorkers know what’s covered by our legal sanctuary protections.

INT 1272 (Hanif) -  The PEMDAS Act establishes an order of operations for how E-Verify can be used during the hiring process—ensuring that E-Verify can’t be misused by bad faith employers. That way, E-Verify can only be used to properly confirm the work authorization status of new hires, not to wrongfully intimidate or sideline workers.

INT 1412 (Cabán) (Safer Sanctuary Act) - Prohibits any federal agency acting out federal immigration enforcement from setting up an office on NYC Department of Corrections property. Ensures that all federal agencies acting out immigration enforcement are included under our sanctuary city policies. 

“Sanctuary protections only work when they are enforceable. We’ve already seen ICE rely on false gang allegations to justify arrests and deportations”, said Talia Kamran, Attorney with Brooklyn Defenders’ Seizure and Surveillance Defense Project. “The NYC Trust Act creates real accountability to NYC's sanctuary laws, but a true sanctuary city cannot allow discriminatory databases to become a backdoor to ICE enforcement. We must pass the NYC Trust Act to enforce sanctuary protections and pass Intro. 798 to abolish the NYPD gang database to protect immigrant New Yorkers.”

Read the full press release here.