Driver’s Licenses

CLA supports expanding driver’s license access to all New Yorkers, regardless of their immigration status.

The passage of the Driver’s License Access and Privacy Act—also known as Green Light NY—in June is a huge victory for all New Yorkers that CLA is so proud to stand behind. Nearly two decades of hard-fought advocacy finally led to the passage of this law, which allows everyone, regardless of their immigration status, apply for a driver’s license.

Applications for new driver’s licenses for undocumented New Yorkers are set to become available in December 2019.

Get more information about driver’s licenses here.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Proposal of New Fee Schedule

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, or USCIS, announced its new proposed fee schedule on Nov. 8, 2019, with an official publication date of Nov. 14, 2019. The proposed changes include new and/or increased fees for adjustment of status, asylum, DACA renewals and naturalization. The proposed rule also seeks to eliminate critical fee waivers that allow vulnerable immigrants to maintain their status and progress in their immigration journey. CLA strongly opposes this proposal as it makes applying for vital immigration application harder for lower-income immigrants and vulnerable populations. CLA submitted a public comment through the Federal Register opposing the new proposed fee schedule. Read CLA’s full comment here.

Coverage 4 All Campaign

CLA supports the expansion of healthcare coverage to ALL New Yorkers, regardless of their immigration status. CLA believes that access to affordable healthcare should be a right—not something that’s exclusively reserved for citizens or people with financial means.

CLA’s Executive Director, Ann E. Dibble, demonstrated CLA’s support of and advocacy for the Coverage 4 All campaign by sending a letter of support to the New York State Assembly Health Committee on March 1, 2019. The letter detailed CLA’s support of expanded healthcare coverage and encouraged the Committee to resolve to expand coverage.
The Coverage 4 All campaign is headed by the New York Immigration Coalition and Make the Road New York. CLA is proud to collaborate with these immigration-focused nonprofits on this important issue.

To learn more about the Coverage 4 All campaign and its mission, click here.

Reauthorizing VAWA

The Violence Against Women Act--VAWA--was originally introduced as legislation in 1994. The Act expired in February of 2019 and is thus up for a re-authorization from Congress. The new Act includes a provision that closes the “boyfriend loophole:” as it currently stands, firearm provisions do not apply to dating partners who were convicted of abuse or stalking. The provision would close this loophole, ensuring that people convicted of domestic abuse don’t have access to guns. Closing the “boyfriend loophole” is very important: in the United States, a woman is shot and killed by her romantic partner every 16 hours.

The House of Representatives voted to reauthorize VAWA and close the “boyfriend” loophole on April 4. The legislation has yet to be voted on by the Senate.

CLA is proud to support the re-authorization of VAWA, including its provision to close the dangerous “boyfriend loophole.” In early April, CLA signed on to an advocacy letter in support of reauthorizing VAWA. The letter was produced by The National Taskforce to End Sexual and Domestic Violence, and signed by a large number of allied organizations in addition to CLA. Read the full letter here.

ICE’s Presence on Long Island

Over the past year, revelations of ICE on Long Island came to fruition through a series of events involving their presence and influence in public high schools and the East Meadow jail. According to the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU), who has been fronting much of the research on this phenomenon, a student’s school district can sometimes facilitate a deportation: “Some [school] districts have even made flimsy allegations of gang involvement to local police that have ensnared students in the Trump administration’s deportation dragnet.”

Throughout the month of January, the topic gained significant press due to a rebuke from  President Trump against Nassau County Executive Laura Curran, when she ordered that a trailer housing ICE agents be removed from the East Meadow jail. After a political back and forth--which involved a nonsensical proposal to move the ICE trailer to the Nassau University Medical Center--the trailer found itself back at the jail, in part thanks to CLA and other local organizations that rallied against its placement on a hospital campus. On January 24, 2019, CLA joined NYCLU and other local organizations in holding a press conference regarding the ICE trailer at the Nassau County Legislature. CLA’s Attorney-In-Charge, Keiko Cervantes-Ospina, addressed the press. She condemned the presence of an ICE trailer at the Nassau University Medical Center and responded to questions from the press afterward.

CLA’s advocacy, along with our #VacateICE campaign, helped to ensure that the ICE trailer remained away from the hospital. Moreover, we strongly believe that such a trailer should not exist in Nassau County facilities, period. It is not Nassau County’s (or New York City’s, or New York State’s) job to coordinate with ICE and carry out their bidding.