BROOKLYN, New York (CMC) – The Brooklyn-based immigrant advocacy group Make the Road New York has called on New York Governor Kathy Hochul to denounce United States President-elect Donald Trump’s plans to use the military for mass deportations of Caribbean and other immigrants.

“Over and over again Donald Trump has shown that his administration will make it a priority to cause devastating damage to immigrant communities,” Theo Oshiro, co-executive director of Make the Road New York (MRNY), told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC). “It is now up to state and city leaders to take a stand against this agenda, and refuse to work with agencies that violate the rights of immigrant New Yorkers and instil fear in our communities.

“There is no more time for platitudes: Governor Hochul must state publicly and unequivocally that she will not deploy the New York National Guard to support Trump’s deportation agenda,” added Oshiro, whose organization boats over 25,000 members and operates five community centres in Bushwick, Brooklyn; Jackson Heights, Queens; Port Richmond, Staten Island; Brentwood, Long Island; and White Plains, Westchester County – all in New York.

“New York must be a safe haven for immigrants and it must not fall complicit to Trump’s heinous plans,” continued Oshiro, stating that “MRNY builds the power of immigrant and working-class communities to achieve dignity and justice through organizing, policy innovation, transformative education and survival services.”

On Monday, Trump confirmed that he plans to declare a national emergency and use the military to aid in the mass deportations of undocumented Caribbean and other immigrants.

Tom Fitton, leader of the conservative group Judicial Watch, said that Trump would “declare a national emergency and will use military assets through a mass deportation program.”

The US President-elect also said that deporting immigrants will be his top priority, when he assumes the presidency, on Inauguration Day, on January 20, 2025.

But the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC), an umbrella policy and advocacy organization that represents over 200 immigrant and refugee rights groups throughout New York, is fighting back, with allies and Caribbean and other immigrant New Yorkers, in standing up for immigrants and against the threat posed by a second Trump presidency and his proposed Project 2025 agenda.

Murad Awawdeh, NYIC’s president and chief executive officer, told CMC that Project 2025 “seeks to create a nationwide deportation system that will have devastating consequences for many vulnerable communities.

“Donald Trump has explicitly threatened to deploy local law enforcement to deport all undocumented immigrants in the US – an estimated 11 million people – including around 4,500,000 people residing in New York,” Awawdeh said. “These policies undermine the rights and dignity of immigrants but also aim to dismantle the principles of inclusion and justice that define our country.

“Mass deportations would cost New York City alone billions of dollars in economic activity, reducing the workforce by hundreds of thousands of people and destroying countless small businesses,” he warned.

“Trump’s victory won’t stop our movement from standing up to his racist and fascist agenda,” Awawdeh affirmed. “New York would not be the same without the 4.5 million immigrants who have helped shape our culture and fueled our economy for generations.

Erik Crew, staff attorney with the Haitian Bridge Alliance (HBA), also known as ‘the Bridge’, said: “It’s sad to think that the people of the United States elected a candidate who demonized immigrants and Black people in migration, who lied about Haitians in Springfield to inflame hatred and fear, and incite intimidation and violence; who promotes racist and xenophobic narratives; who is willing to put an entire town in a state of emergency for weeks just to score political points; who has threatened to deport people in Springfield and across the country; and who has said the Haitians in Springfield were not legal in his mind.

“But Haitian Bridge Alliance was made for this moment, and we are dedicated to protecting the communities we serve and fighting for human rights, using all the tools – humanitarian, legal and social – that we have built over the last near decade,” Crew added. “We are committed to working together with every partnership we have, and to building more whenever possible, to protect our community and promote a just world – now, as much as ever (adding in Haitian creole ‘anpil men chay pa lou’).”

The Bridge is a grassroots non-profit community organization that advocates for fair and humane immigration policies and provides migrants and immigrants with humanitarian, legal, and social services, with a particular focus on Black people, the Haitian community, women and girls, LGBTQIA+ individuals, and survivors of torture and other human rights abuses.

New York State Assembly Member Michaelle Solages – the daughter of Haitian immigrants, who represents District 22 in Nassau County, Long Island – said the outcomes of the US Presidential Elections “Have instilled a wave of uncertainty in marginalized communities across New York, particularly within our Haitian community, who are grappling with the looming threat of deportation under the new administration.”

Manuel Castro, Commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs (MOIA), said, “New York City will continue to stand firmly by the values that have made it a thriving city of immigrants, where all residents—no matter their immigration status—should feel able to trust their local government and seek a better future for themselves and their families.”

“We understand that our immigrant communities are facing heightened fear and uncertainty,” said Castro, who, at the age of five, crossed the southern border of the United States with his mother and grew up undocumented in Sunset Park and Flatbush, Brooklyn, home to some of the largest immigrant communities in New York City, including Caribbean immigrants.

“It is important they know that New York City is fully committed to following our Sanctuary City laws,” added Castro, who was part of the early generation of undocumented youth activists known as DREAMers, fighting for the right to an education and legal status. “These laws clearly define the boundary between our role as a city government and federal immigration enforcement, protecting the privacy and identity of immigrant New Yorkers.”

“This respect for privacy enables immigrant New Yorkers to access critical, often life-saving, city services without fear,” continued Castro, stating that MOIA is dedicated to serving New York City’s 3.3 million immigrants, who come from over 160 countries.