While these concerns have resurfaced under the second Trump administration, the message from advocates, lawyers, and health centers is clear and unequivocal: health is always a priority and treatment should not be stopped.
“We must accumulate data to understand how the city has supported work permit applications, entrepreneurship, workforce development initiatives, and access to health care in order to identify the gaps in our efforts,” said the bill’s sponsor, Councilwoman Carlina Rivera.
“As we go into an election year, it is vital that New York prioritize passing legislation that will protect immigrants across our state, like the Dignity not Detention Act, and stop using our resources to detain immigrants.”
“New York City and the rest of the nation continue to grapple with the failings of our mental health system that were exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.”
“We must not be complacent. People of trans experience in many parts of the country are being targeted for simply being who we are. New York has an opportunity to be a safe haven for the trans community.”
“We are in the midst of a worsening overdose crisis. Children don’t deserve the remnants of drug use in the playground, or to lose loved ones to overdose. People who struggle with drug use shouldn’t have to hide in dark places to avoid having their health issues confronted with shame and judgment.”
A state-funded increase in wages for the frontline workers begins Saturday, but companies say insurance providers are withholding the money.
“Fear aside, will our city recognize health care as a human right? If these sick people can’t be placed in a hospital campus, then where else can they go?”
Some in Sunset Park worry their experience of random violence will invoke a response more focused on carceral measures than addressing structural inequalities that shape public safety. “When I think about safety here, I think of how we need stimulus relief bills, unemployment and healthcare,” one local resident told City Limits. “Not police.”
“We must reject policies that single out, scapegoat, and sweep away the rights of our neighbors with mental illness.”
City Limits uses investigative journalism through the prism of New York City to identify urban problems, examine their causes, explore solutions, and equip communities to take action.
Founded in 1976 in the midst of New York’s fiscal crisis, City Limits exists to inform democracy and equip citizens to create a more just city. The organization is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit funded by foundation support, ad sponsorship and donations from readers.
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