It’s now against the law in New York City to threaten someone with a call to immigration authorities or refer to them as an “illegal alien” when motivated by hate.
The restrictions — violations of which are punishable by fines of up to $250,000 per offense — are outlined in a 29-page directive released by City Hall’s Commission on Human Rights.
“‘Alien’ — used in many laws to refer to a ‘noncitizen’ person — is a term that may carry negative connotations and dehumanize immigrants, marking them as ‘other,'” reads one passage of the memo. “The use of certain language, including ‘illegal alien’ and ‘illegals,’ with the intent to demean, humiliate, or offend a person or persons constitutes discrimination.”
The directive goes on to list several examples of acts and comments that would run afoul of the restrictions, including harassing people over their accents or grasp of English, or wielding the threat of a call to Immigration and Customs Enforcement as a tool of hate.
“A hotel prohibits its housekeepers from speaking Spanish while cleaning because it would ‘offend’ hotel guests or make them uncomfortable,” reads one hypothetical.
“An Indian immigrant family complains to their landlord about mold and cockroaches in their unit. The landlord tells them to ‘just deal with it’ and threatens to call ICE if they file a complaint in housing court,” reads another.
“A store owner tells two friends who are speaking Thai while shopping in his store to ‘speak English’ and ‘go back to your country,’ ” reads a third.
The Commission on Human Rights made clear that the directive is, at least in part, a rebuke of federal crackdowns on illegal immigration.
“In the face of increasingly hostile national rhetoric, we will do everything in our power to make sure our treasured immigrant communities are able to live with dignity and respect, free of harassment and bias,” said Carmelyn Malalis, the agency’s commissioner.
The directive comes months after Mayor Bill de Blasio vocally opposed coordinated raids by ICE on the city’s immigrant communities.
Meanwhile on Thursday, the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs announced a joint $1 million investment with the state to guarantee legal services to immigrants facing imminent deportation.
Trump should hold a rally in NYC and repeatedly say “illegal alien” and repeatedly threaten to deport them. He should then challenge de Blasio to do something about it.
Can we ban NYC from America for being such an embarrassment to our nation?
I guess NYC forgot that the Supreme Court has already ruled on this matter. There is no such thing as hate speech. They should look at Matal V. Tam (2017) in which the Supreme Court rendered a unanimous decision overruling a similar cucked law. If someone wants to make some money, go to NYC and start calling people illegal aliens in front of a police station.
Restriction of speech. This is the future liberals want.
What has happened to the United States? Why are there so many leftist Fascist?
People have become incredibly lazy and they want everything handed to them. The only politicians willing to say that they will do that are extreme progressives, leftists, and straight up socialists.
You have to remember though that Rudy Giuliani and Donald Trump also come from New York City so just because a bunch of leftist idiots are in control now doesn’t mean they will be in control forever.
Globalization moving forward…
Oh, conservatives engage in it as well when it suits their interests. Like their celebration of the NFL banning one of the most mild mannered forms of expression exercised by the players, quietly kneeling during the national anthem. Hypocrisy abounds on both sides.
Just like when all of the leftists say to conservatives when they are kicked off of Facebook or Twitter…the NFL is a private company and they can do what they want.
This is about making speech illegal and putting people in jail for it. I think those are two very different things.
That’s some impressive mental gymnastics @montecresto1
Tell me, would kneeling NFL players be arrested by the police if they kneeled against the wishes of the NFL?
Because in this case if someone says the term “illegal alien” they would be subject to arrest - in a major US city.
Legally they are, but stifling free speech is accomplished both ways.
Btw, isn’t Facebook a private company…
No, they wouldn’t, presumably. But the point was that conservatives, mainly the red hats, celebrated the stifling of free speech, when it was expression that they don’t like.
Other than calling immigration authorities, what determines hate?? Soon all speech will be banned by Liberal Thought and Speech Police.
In NYC? Political affiliation. Anyone other than a card carrying Democrat or Socialist is automatically guilty of a hate crime because they have already declared us to be racist nazis.
That’s a very good point! Let the lawsuits begin as I am pretty sure there is pesky little thing called the First Amendment.
They are called Millennials! You know those people who went to college, took gender studies as their major, accrued debt in the process, and became employees at Starbucks after graduation?
Okay, don’t say shit then. Call ICE on the down low so they can be surprised. Stealth reports are more effective anyways.
And yet, no fine for calling someone a “Nazi”. Gee, what a strange coincidence…
This was inevitable.
America was doomed from the beginning as it was based upon Enlightenment philosophy.
No ethno-nationalist philosophy was codified into the founding documents.
The Elightenment was cancer. It opened the door to multiculturalism.