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2-8 2017
BUDGET FOR A SANCTUARY CITY After de Blasio’s presentation, uncertainty over how Trump’s action will affect federal funds BY MADELEINE THOMPSON AND MICHAEL GAROFALO
Church Street and Trinity Place on Sunday afternoon. Photo: Val Castronovo
RELIGIOUS LEADERS REACT TO TRAVEL BAN President Trump’s action sparks responses from Manhattan congregations across the faith spectrum BY MICHAEL GAROFALO
“This God loves immigrants, giving them food and clothing. That means you must also love immigrants, because you were immigrants in Egypt.” “Thus says the Lord, do justice and righteousness and deliver from the hand of the oppressor she who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the resident alien, the fatherless and the widow.” Bible verses on the topic of the stranger, read aloud during last Sunday’s service at Riverside Church in Morningside Heights, resonated deeply in light of President Donald Trump’s executive order, issued Friday, Jan. 27, temporarily barring refugees and nationals of seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the U.S. Trump’s order was met with a swift response from thousands of New Yorkers over the weekend, as protesters gathered at John F. Kennedy International Airport and Battery Park to voice their opposition. Demonstrations continued Monday at Tompkins
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Just a day after Bill de Blasio presented his preliminary budget for the next fiscal year, President Donald Trump threw what could be a major wrench in the mayor’s plans. On the afternoon of Jan. 25, Trump signed an executive action to pull funding from so-called sanctuary cities that attempt to protect undocumented immigrants, of which New York City is one. Roughly 10 percent of the city’s budget comes from federal aid, adding up to more than $8 billion in 2016 and a projected $7 billion for next year. At his budget presentation, de Blasio acknowledged the questions surrounding the new president’s administration. “Against a backdrop of a lot of uncertainty … we are still confident that with this budget we can deepen the investments we’re making in this city,” he said. “It is clear to us that while we’re waiting for the situation in Washington to develop, we’ve got to keep moving.” According to New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer, it is unlikely that the entire $7 billion could be taken away. More probable is the stripping of $165 million federal dollars for security measures like surveillance cameras and other anti-terrorism protections. “This president and these Republicans have to understand that we are and will always be the number one terrorist target in the world,” Stringer
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Mayor Bill de Blasio at a Battery Park rally on Jan. 29 held to oppose President Trump’s executive order barring residents from seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the U.S. Photo: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office said. Trump has also said that he will not pull funds from law enforcement, so it is unclear exactly how the city’s security could be affected. At an emergency rally last week, New Yorkers and several elected officials spoke out in support of the city’s immigrant population. Hundreds of New Yorkers gathered in Washington Square Park on Wednesday evening to express their broad dissatisfaction with several of President Trump’s actions: the sanctuary cities order; an additional order to begin building a wall at the border between the
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U.S. and Mexico; and reports that Trump was considering an order restricting immigration from certain predominantly Muslim countries, which he signed two days later. Protesters, many wearing the pink hats that emerged as a symbol of the widespread women’s marches held the weekend before, waved signs and chanted slogans like, “No ban, no wall, New Yorkers for all.” “I came here with a completely different impression of what the United States was,” said attendee Shreyas Muzumdar, 22, who moved to New York from
his native India five years ago. “It sort of baffles me that something like this could ever happen here.” The rally, sponsored by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, attracted activists
CONTINUED ON PAGE 7 Jewish women and girls light up the world by lighting the Shabbat candles every Friday evening 18 minutes before sunset. Friday, February 3rd – 4:58 pm. For more information visit www.chabaduppereastside.com
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