Cardozo's Kathryn O. Greenberg Immigration Clinic and Make the Road New York released a new white paper detailing key policies that the next administration should prioritize to ensure the well-being and opportunity for immigrant communities across New York City. The white paper, Dignity, Community, and Power: A 2021 Vision for NYC’s Immigrant Communities, presents a roadmap for how the next mayor and city council can and must take bold action for immigrant communities.

Cardozo students Jessica Wang, Adam Coretz, and Sadie Casamenti worked together to write the white paper, participated in a press conference on March 3, and conducted briefings with City Council members and NYC mayoral candidates. Professor Lindsay Nash, director of the Immigration Justice Clinic, said, "The students did an incredible job of working with our partner, Make the Road New York, and members of the immigrant community to develop a bold municipal agenda that covers a range of critical areas and centers the needs and goals of people who are too often denied rights and shut out of important relief programs.   

“The pandemic and its economic fallout have exacerbated what was already a deeply inequitable situation for many immigrant New Yorkers,” Sadie Casamenti, a student in the Immigration Justice Clinic said, in an interview with POLITICO about the white paper. “This white paper provides an action plan for the City to better protect immigrant community members, create durable rights, and establish models for progressive cities and states around the nation.”

Key policy proposals in the report include:

• Ensuring that immigrant New Yorkers, regardless of their immigration status, can vote in municipal elections;
• Further disentangling local law enforcement from federal immigration enforcement;
• Expanding access to counsel for New Yorkers facing deportation;
• Increasing access to community-driven health services for all;
• Ensuring that all New Yorkers have safe, affordable housing;
• Strengthening worker protections; and
• Deepening investments in adult literacy, job training, and college access.