Tuesday, February 21, 2017

Errol Louis: This Problem Warrants Action

 
In a city where 40% of the population was born overseas, it’s not surprising to see progressive politicians make a big show of refusing to use law enforcement resources or share the personal data of New Yorkers with federal authorities who might move to deport the undocumented.

“We are not going to allow our police officers to be used as immigrant enforcement agents,” Mayor de Blasio said in January.

City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito made an extended riff on the topic part of her State of the City speech last week.

“We will not waste city resources to help immigration authorities locate otherwise law-abiding New Yorkers who pose no threat to public safety. We will not be a pawn in that game,” she said, and vowed: “we will not allow officers of the Department of Probation, the NYPD and the Department of Correction to act as ICE agents and enforce immigration law. They have better things to do.”

So far, so good. But after the applause from the big speeches and rallies fade, the mayor and the speaker should attend to the politically much less sexy task of making city agencies better — much better — at sharing criminal justice data among themselves. 

Click here for the full article.

Source: The New York Daily News (via The Empire Report)

No comments: