Mayor Bill de Blasio accused President Donald Trump of “scapegoating” and “attempting to demonize” immigrants—especially the undocumented—with his proposal last night to create a new office to tackle immigrants who commit crimes against American citizens.
Speaking before the Joint Session of Congress for the first time yesterday, Trump announced the establishment of the Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement Office within the Immigration and Customs Enforcement—provoking audible outcry from Democrats in the audience. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said today that VOICE will work with victims and their families to make sure that any questions and concerns they have about immigrant enforcement efforts are addressed.
De Blasio asserted that few undocumented people commit serious crimes in New York City “even though there’s a half million undocumented folks here.”
“This is clearly an act of scapegoating by the president,” de Blasio told the Observer at a press conference with the NYPD in Queens on the latest crime statistics. “He is attempting to demonize immigrants. Look at the experience we’ve had here in this city. Look at how little violence we have now compared to what we used to have. Look at how cooperation with immigrant communities helped to reduce crime.”
At the press conference, Police Commissioner James O’Neill and other NYPD officials said that overall crimes were down by 709 crimes from the same period last year—a reduction of 9.7 percent. They saw decreases in shooting incidents and other areas, but did note that murders were up by 11 percent.
The liberal Democratic mayor claimed Trump is trying to create “alarm” and a “negative impression of immigrants because it serves his political purposes”—namely, his escalation of deportations and his planned crackdown on cities like New York that refuse to comply with federal immigration authorities. de Blasio reiterated that it was an “overt political play” to make people throughout the country worry about a perceived danger from immigrants when in reality, undocumented immigrants are not responsible for the country’s worst offenses.
“When you look at those horrible massacres that have occurred across the country—you can get a whole list of them out here in college campuses and movie theaters—tell me how many of those people were undocumented immigrants,” de Blasio continued. “I think you’ll find either very few or none who committed those horrible acts of violence.”
O’Neill would not comment on the matter, instead asking Larry Byrne, NYPD’s deputy commissioner for legal matters, to speak on his behalf. Byrne said that he has not studied Trump’s program but said that the NYPD has an extensive crime victim outreach program that does not share personal details with the federal government.
He said they work with victims to solve the crime and provide them with the necessary resources, without inquiring about their citizenship status.
“We do not—when we take statements from crime victims and when we arrest criminals—record immigration status, nationality,” Byrne told the Observer. “We record identification information for purposes of prosecuting the case and staying in touch with the victim. So we’re following the practice we’ve followed for decades. This is nothing new, it’s not a change in policy at the NYPD.”
Both Byrne and de Blasio—who has vowed that New York will remain a sanctuary city for undocumented immigrants—reiterated that there are only 170 violent offenses over which the city will cooperate with federal requests that it hold an undocumented immigrant in custody. The mayor has threatened legal action should the Trump administration follow through with promises to sever federal funding to the city because of that policy.
