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Gov. Cuomo signing legislation provinding aid to Long Island communites for gang prevention.

Elected officials on Long Island are trying to cope with Suffolk County being placed in the national spotlight by President Trump over MS-13 gang violence.

In the midst of anti-immigrant policies piping down from the Trump administration, on January 23, Governor Cuomo announced that DACA recipients would remain eligible for the state-funded Medicaid program, regardless of federal policy changes. To better understand the significance of this victory, we sat down with Claudia Calhoun, the NYIC Director of Health Policy.

NYIC VISTA Leader Alejandra Lopez-Cuellar

By Alejandra Lopez-Cuellar

I began my first year as an AmeriCorps VISTA shortly after graduating from college in the Spring of 2016. At the time, and even now, I had no idea what I wanted to do career wise.

Civic Corps Member Wendy Odle-Harvey

By Wendy Odle-Harvey

Let me start by saying, “awesome”,”amazing”,“inspiring”. Here are some of the reasons why serving as an AmeriCorps member at the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC) is all that and more to me.

Suffolk Sheriff Errol Toulon at left. (Photo:Pat Young)

Suffolk County’s new sheriff, Errol Toulon Jr., replaced Vincent DeMarco in January. De Marco, a staunchly conservative supporter of President Trump’s immigration policies, had established a policy of tight cooperation with ICE. He used the Sheriff’s Department to enforce immigration laws in Long Island’s easternmost county and rented detention space in the county jail to ICE.

There were hopes that Sheriff Toulon, a Democrat, would follow his national party’s lead by reconsidering DeMarco’s anti-immigrant program.

Francis Madi, Manager of Advocacy

Q. First, tell us what happened at the rally. How did the December 6th mobilization go?

The December 6th mobilization to Washington DC to protect TPS and pass a clean DREAM Act was very powerful and beautiful.

President Trump called for an end to the family-based immigration system in a speech today. Currently, more than two-thirds of immigration to the United States is based on the immigrant having a close family relationship to an American Citizen or Permanent Resident.

Max Hadler, Senior Health Advocacy Manager

The NYIC's Senior Manager of Health Advocacy Max Hadler sat down with us last week to discuss the impact of the American Health Care Act on immigrants - and all New Yorkers - and the NYIC's advocacy against the bill, as well as how he came to the NYIC and what it means to work on health advocacy for immigrants during this uncertain time.