Black immigrant rally in NYC raises awareness about racial, religious and language inequities

NEW YORK (AP) — Black immigrants turned out in the hundreds on Tuesday across from New York City Hall during a hearing about racial inequities in the city's shelter and immigrant support systems.

Over 1,500 immigrants, mostly from Guinea, assembled in City Hall Park, after it became clear that only around a hundred people would be accommodated inside for the hearing.

The City Council considered relatively minor proposals. One set of bills would require administrators to collect better data on migrants in city services. Another effort, a resolution, called on the federal government to eliminate or to reimburse immigration application fees.

City Council members are asking for better data because they believe, with some evidence acknowledged by city officials, that Black migrants are more often turned away from shelters, denied access to help in their native languages, and less able to find accommodations for religious practices than others.

City officials say African migrants are more likely to arrive to the city without children, meaning they're often less of a priority for limited shelter space. Under a recent legal settlement, the city can evict adult migrants after 30 days in a shelter and 60 days for those under age 23, before forcing them to reapply for another spot. It's unclear how often those migrants end up sleeping on the street or in a subway car.

“The 30-60 day notices disproportionately affect Black immigrants,” said Council Member Alexa Avilés, Chair of the Committee on Immigration, in a gilded hearing room Tuesday. Dozens of immigrants listened to proceedings on headsets with access to simultaneous translations in Wolof, Haitian Creole, Arabic, French, Fula and Bambara.

Rallies in support of City Council proposals are common, but usually draw only a few dozen people, often just the most tuned-in activists. But Guineans cheering and clapping outside Tuesday said that by word of mouth, often on WhatsApp groups with fellow immigrants, they learned about the event and came to support City Council members, or see if they could get information about jobs and housing. Some learned for the first time that they’re eligible for city-run health insurance.

"I’m very impressed that, you know, today there was a call to action and you showed up,” Council Member Mercedes Narcisse said to those inside the hearing room and outside in the park.

“We want support, because we have no shelter, we have nowhere to live. What is more, we also want help in legalizing our situation in this country,” said Ibrahima Barry, from Guinea, of gaining work permission and residency.

While asylum-seekers must wait six months for a possible work permit, some migrant groups are offered a shortcut.

In September, President Joe Biden authorized Venezuelans already in the country to receive indefinite immigration protection, making them eligible for work permits. In December, in response to a surge of violence in Haiti, the administration announced an expansion of the program for Haitians.

Some countries in Africa, such as Sudan and Ethiopia, are also on that relief list, but not Guinea or other common origin countries of New York immigrants such as Senegal and Mauritania. And like the relief for Venezuelans, the protections don't apply to migrants who have arrived since the initial announcement.

Those migrants, many of them Muslim and French-speaking, face unique challenges that are not fully mitigated by the city's most well-funded charities, which tend to be Christian-based and have decades of experience serving Spanish-speaking migrants.

New York City's estimated 275 mosques were among the first to host or counsel Muslim immigrants seeking shelter, halal food and water spigots used in pre-prayer ablutions. But they've had trouble keeping up with demand, even as the city moves to drop some building code requirements to make it easier to convert religious buildings into shelters. New York City is home to thousands of immigrants from African countries whose languages and religions are distinct from the Latin American immigrants who make up the majority of those in the city’s care.

Around 75% of immigrants who are served by the city speak Spanish, followed by French — which is spoken in Guinea, Haiti and other countries — and then Wolof, Arabic and Chinese, according to Molly Schaefer, who leads the city's Office of Asylum Seeker Operations.

“Go look at the other cities. No one is sleeping in airports. No one is sleeping in police precincts. No one is sleeping in hospital, on floors. Children and families are not sleeping on the streets,” Mayor Eric Adams told reporters Tuesday. He spoke at an unrelated news conference that took place at the same time as the City Council hearing, referring to stopgap solutions found in other large cities over the past few years. “And we continue to evolve.”

Outside the hearing room, among blooming trees and the occasional tour group, Guinean video editor and web designer Diogo Diallo said he came to City Hall Park to find information, not necessarily to support a specific bill. His top request is to “accelerate the work permits,” which only federal authorities can do. He plans to submit an asylum application this week, enabling him to possibly receive a work permit in around six months. He'd like to get that sooner. Under a new legal settlement, he only has 2 weeks left before he has to reapply for a spot in a shelter, with the possibility of not getting another one.

“If I work, I can leave the shelter,” Diallo said.

—-

AP journalist Jocelyn Noveck contributed reporting.

Immigrants rally at City Hall Park outside City Hall in New York on Tuesday, April 16, 2024. Over 1,500 Black immigrants turned out across from City Hall during a hearing about racial inequities in the city's shelter and immigrant support systems. (AP Photo/Cedar Attanasio)

Guinean Diogo Diallo poses for a photo as City hall is reflected in his sunglasses in New York on Tuesday, April 16, 2024. Over 1,500 Black immigrants turned out across from City Hall during a hearing about racial inequities in the city's shelter and immigrant support systems. (AP Photo/Cedar Attanasio)

Immigrants line up to attend a city council hearing on disparities in immigration services for Black immigrants at City Hall in New York on Tuesday, April 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Cedar Attanasio)

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A panel of lawmakers dismissed on Monday an ethics complaint against Speaker Dean Plocher, breaking from a Republican who argued that Plocher used his power as the House leader to block an investigation.

Members voted 7-2 to dismiss allegations against Plocher for misuse of taxpayer dollars, using his influence to push a pricey contract with a company with ties to his employer, and retaliating against staffers who raised complaints. One Democrat voted present.

“From the outset of this investigation, I’ve maintained my innocence,” Plocher told reporters after the hearing. “The Ethics Committee has finally reached the very same conclusion that I offered everybody back in November, and they vindicated me.”

Plocher is running as a Republican for Missouri secretary of state.

Republican Ethics Committee Chair Hannah Kelly, appointed to the position by Plocher, sought to dismiss the case “due to the inability of the committee to finish the investigation as a direct result of obstruction of the process and intimidation of witnesses by the respondent.”

“The Speaker’s obstruction of the ethics investigation, coupled with his dishonesty and intimidation tactics, should concern every member of the House,” Kelly said in a statement after the vote. “The attempt to manipulate and cover up an ethics investigation reveals a troubling disregard for accountability and the rule of law.”

Other committee members, led by Republican Rep. John Black, voted to strip Kelly's addendum on alleged obstruction from the official report. Black declined to comment to reporters about his decision.

Asked by reporters Monday, Plocher said he “fully cooperated” with the investigation.

“I adamantly deny that I obstructed anything,” Plocher said.

Another Republican lawmaker in October had filed the wide-ranging ethics complaint against Plocher, alleging that he improperly accepted taxpayer dollars as reimbursement for business trips that he had already paid for with his campaign funding.

Plocher admitted to wrongfully being reimbursed for a business-class flight to Hawaii and other work trip expenses, and records show he repaid the House.

Plocher also faced claims that he used his influence as speaker to push the House to contract with a company connected to the law firm where he worked, and that he retaliated against staffers who raised concerns about the proposal.

Ethics Committee members voted on April 15 against recommending that the House send a letter to Plocher denouncing his conduct and directing him to hire an accountant.

Since then, Plocher's lawyers have pushed the Ethics Committee to close the case against him.

In an unusual move that appears to violate the House's self-imposed ethics rules, Republican Speaker Pro Tem Mike Henderson tried to force the committee last week to meet by scheduling an ethics hearing.

Kelly canceled the hearing but called for Monday's meeting amid mounting pressure.

Only Kelly and Democratic Vice Chair Robert Sauls voted against dismissing the case.

“I am appalled by what I witnessed today as some of my colleagues on the House Ethics Committee decided to turn a blind eye to the obstruction, intimidation, and retaliation we uncovered during our investigation,” Kelly said in a statement.

The draft committee report released earlier this month outlined the speaker's lawyer's refusal to talk to an independent investigator, Plocher's reluctance to sign off on subpoenas for the investigation, and his refusal to approve payment for the independent investigator.

Plocher later recused himself, allowing the speaker pro tem to sign off on subpoenas.

In a report to the committee, the independent investigator wrote that she had never encountered “more unwilling witnesses in any investigation in my career.”

“The level of fear expressed by a number of the potential witnesses is a daunting factor in completing this investigation,” investigator Beth Boggs wrote March 2.

On Monday, Kelly tried to read a letter she said she received from someone documenting retaliation for participation in the ethics investigation but was silenced by an 8-2 vote.

FILE - Missouri Speaker of the House Dean Plocher listens as Gov. Mike Parson delivers the State of the State address, Jan. 24, 2024, in Jefferson City, Mo. On Monday, April 29, 2024, a panel of lawmakers dismissed an ethics complaint against Plocher, breaking from a Republican who argued that Plocher used his power as the House leader to block an investigation. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson, File)