NEW YORK, United States (CMC) — Caribbean immigration advocates, the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC), allied organisations, and lawmakers have rallied at the New York State Capitol, urging the immediate passage of the New York For All Act before the end of the current legislative session.

The proposed legislation would bar state and local agencies, including law enforcement, from collaborating with the United States (US) Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). It would prohibit the sharing of personal data and prevent the use of personnel and resources to assist federal immigration enforcement efforts.

According to the NYIC, an umbrella body representing over 2,000 immigrant advocacy groups, the legislation would safeguard access to public services and participation in community life without fear for all New Yorkers, regardless of immigration status, while reinforcing the boundary between local governance and federal immigration policy.

Additionally, NYIC said the legislation preserves critical state and local resources for their intended use within New York’s diverse communities and blocks the use of taxpayer dollars to support President Donald Trump’s “punitive, politically-driven immigration agenda”.

NYIC said the New York For All Act is critical for maintaining public safety.

“When neighbourhoods fear contact with law enforcement, crimes go unreported and actual criminals operate with impunity,” NYIC said. “New York For All would restore that essential trust by creating clear boundaries between local authorities and federal immigration enforcement, so that police could focus on their primary mission of keeping communities safe, rather than serving as immigration agents.”

NYIC President and CEO Murad Awawdeh told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) on Saturday, “As we quickly approach the end of the legislative session, we demand that our elected officials take urgent action to protect our immigrant neighbours and community members from ICE.”

“We demand that New York state not be complicit in Trump’s campaign of terror against our communities as ICE seizes our neighbours at court hearings, dropping their kids off at school, at their places of work or driving to a doctor’s office — separating families, gutting our communities and damaging our economy,” he said.

“Our communities cannot wait any longer for action from Albany (New York State Capital),” Awawdeh added. “Now is the time to pass New York For All.”

Mayor of Hudson, New York, Kamal Johnson said, “It’s time for the New York State Legislature and governor to do the same by passing New York for All.”

“I have witnessed first-hand collusion between local and state law enforcement and ICE: New York State Troopers calling ICE on a victim of domestic violence; troopers, the DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles) and Albany County Sheriffs and Cohoes Police Department setting up a seatbelt checkpoint with ICE in Cohoes just weeks ago; and myself being pulled over multiple times by ICE and local law enforcement without reason or charge,” he said.

“These rampant attacks on the lives and rights of our community must end,” Johnson urged.

Linda Flor Brito, senior policy and campaigns organiser, Immigrant Defence Project, said that ICE’s “entanglement with state and local agencies enables the separation of families, irreparably harming our communities for generations to come”.

“New York must stop being complicit – whether by colluding with ICE for all to see or by doing it behind closed doors, like New Yorkers who are funnelled from state prison sentences to ICE, in an act of cruel double punishment,” she said.

“The Legislature must intervene now by passing NY4All to protect New York families; anything less would be a failure,” Brito added.

Zach Ahmad, senior policy counsel, New York Civil Liberties Union, said New York state lawmakers should not sit idly by as “the Trump administration wreaks havoc on New York’s immigrant communities — they must pass the New York For All Act now”.

“Between raiding workplaces, detaining children and busting down people’s doors without a warrant, this anti-immigrant administration is hellbent on terrorising New York’s immigrant communities,” he said. “New Yorkers deserve to feel safe and protected — not watch the very people who are elected to keep them safe prioritise political interests over their wellbeing.”

With only one week left in the legislative session, Rosie Wang, programme manager for the Advancing Universal Representation initiative, Vera Institute of Justice, said: “New York cannot delay passage of the New for All Act to defend immigrant communities against federal attacks.”

“President Trump’s mass anti-immigrant agenda is tearing families and communities apart, as his administration increasingly detains and deports people in violation of their rights.

“New York for All prevents our state’s resources from supporting these cruel policies and instead ensures that families remain together, communities continue to grow, and everyone is safer,” she added. “The Legislature must act now and pass New York for All.”

Awawdeh said municipalities that limit ICE collusion are proven to have economic benefits for all and to be safer than those that divert their local resources to ICE’s anti-immigrant agenda.

“Over 60 per cent of home healthcare workers and aides for the elderly are immigrants, and some of the most likely first jobs for asylum seekers include nursing assistants, child care workers and construction workers — some of the most critical, hard-to-fill jobs,” he said.

“The New York For All Act will support and protect our neighbours, colleagues, friends, and family by quelling the fear that simply going to work or seeking help in an emergency could result in them being torn from family,” Awawdeh added. “The time is now for Albany to pass New York for All.”