On June 7th, amid protests for racial justice for the murder of George Floyd and the movement for defunding police departments across the country, video surfaced of agents from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), a branch of Immigration and Customs Enforcement guarding the 88th precinct in Brooklyn; there is also evidence of HSI/ICE agents occupying the 40th precinct in the Bronx. The next day, when questioned by reporters, Mayor Bill de Blasio commented that he had no knowledge of these agents and stated that “these agents are not welcome in our public buildings.” Indeed, the mayor and his administration has postured itself as standing against ICE and their illegal occupation of cities around the country. 

While we know that ICE has historically ignored sanctuary cities, even during COVID-19 lockdowns, and is a rogue agency, there is a long history of Mayor de Blasio aiding ICE in their activities. Just one year ago, he defended his plan to expand the list of crimes for which he would allow the NYPD to hand over undocumented people over the ICE agents. It is clear that ICE agents are operating within our communities, as well as currently detaining Black Lives Matter protestors during the current Black Uprising For Black Lives and Against police and state brutality, with unregulated impunity, working shoulder to shoulder with the NYPD, while the mayor actively aids ICE’s expansion of power.

Furthermore, despite the 2019 court order that forbids ICE to make arrests inside courthouses, there is plenty of evidence that NYC is not functioning as the sanctuary city officials had promised. Hundreds of NYC families’ loved ones have been either deported or detained; many neighbors have had to seek physical sanctuary to avoid deportation. What happened last week is just the latest example of this failure to be a sanctuary city or provide sanctuary. Having ICE agents openly cooperating with NYPD throws even the pretense of being a sanctuary city out the window.

This issue deeply affects our communities in general and CUNY students in particular. In 2017, when the Trump administration first began its war against undocumented communities, former CUNY Chancellor James Milliken stated in a memo that CUNY would unequivocally protect its DACA and other undocumented students from ICE raids and that CUNY would function as a sanctuary institution. Current Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez echoed those sentiments stating, “CUNY has a longstanding record of supporting its students who are immigrants, regardless of their immigration status. This University stands with you.”

We now ask, how can CUNY protect its most vulnerable students while the city allows a federal  agency to occupy our streets with no government oversight when our stated mission, in the face of these immoral and unconscionable raids and arrests, is to protect our students at all costs?

Toward this end, we dictate that the PSC adopt the following demands:

• An immediate end to all cooperation between Homeland Security Investigations (HSI)/Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and the New York Police Department.All Homeland Security Investigations (HSI)/Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents be expelled from New York City immediately.

• Mayor Bill de Blasio resign for his reckless oversight and dangerous neglect of vulnerable communities throughout the city.

• Police commissioner Dermot Shea and Police Chief Terence Monahan resign for illegal collusion with  Homeland Security Investigations/Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. 

• That CUNY end all cooperation, arrangements and contracts with the New York Police Department over their cooperation with Homeland Security Investigations/Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents which endangers DACA and other undocumented students across CUNY and the city at large. 

We believe that in order for CUNY to achieve its stated goals and mission, the university must operate to protect its students from all kinds of detainment, including by federal organizations in collusion with the NYPD. It is vital that we demand an end to both the cooperation between the NYPD and ICE and the NYPD and CUNY. This is a critical fight for equality and justice, and we demand that the PSC take up this fight by issuing these demands and standing up for both our students and fellow workers and indeed all students and workers across New York City.