Press Release Archives - 511-96 - City Challenges Immigration and Welfare Laws

Archives of the Mayor's Press Office

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: October 11, 1996

Release #511-96

Contact: Colleen Roche (212) 788-2958 or Jack Deacy (212) 788 2969

MAYOR GIULIANI ANNOUNCES CITY HAS FILED SUIT TO CHALLENGE FEDERAL WELFARE AND IMMIGRATION LAWS

Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani today announced that the New York City Corporation Counsel has filed a law suit against the federal government challenging two provisions of the recently enacted Federal Welfare and Immigration laws. The suit contends that these laws are unconstitutional on the grounds that they violate the Tenth Amendment of the United States Constitution by invalidating New York City's "Executive Order 124."

"I believe the anti-immigration movement in America is one of our most serious public problems," Mayor Giuliani said. "And Washington is only making the problem worse. I am speaking out and filing this action because I believe that a threat to immigration can be a threat to the future of our country. Just as they did in years past, immigrants today revitalize and reinvigorate the culture and economy of our cities and states."

The suit filed today is an action for declaratory and injunctive relief challenging two federal statutory provisions that encroach on the power of the City of New York to determine policies to ensure public health and safety and regulate its workforce. These provisions prohibit the City from continuing its well-considered policy, embodied in Executive Order 124 and enacted under former Mayor Edward I. Koch.

Executive Order 124 bars City employees from disclosing to federal immigration authorities the immigration status of aliens who come to their attention, unless required to do so by law, and more specifically barring the New York City Police Department from reporting the immigration status of victims of crime.

The suit contends that the reasons for this policy are evident. Undocumented aliens who are witnesses to or victims of crime must not be deterred from coming forward for fear of deportation, nor should undocumented aliens who are infected with contagious disease be deterred from seeking treatment, nor should undocumented alien children be afraid to attend public schools and forfeit their right to an education. The safety and public health of the entire City are dependent on all residents, regardless of their immigration status, cooperating with the government and securing government services to which they are entitled. The federal statutes at issue prohibit the City from continuing this particular policy and thus require the City to allow its officials to provide information on the immigration status of aliens to the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

The City's lawsuit also contends that the Federal laws together prohibit States and local government entities and their officials from prohibiting such entities and officials from sending information to the INS regarding the immigration status of an alien in the United States. It further charges that these provisions run afoul of principles of federalism and the Tenth Amendment and Guarantee clause of the United States Constitution because (1) they directly prohibit States and localities from engaging in the central sovereign process of passing laws of otherwise determining policy; and (2) they usurp States' and local governments' administration of core functions of government, including the provision of police protection and regulation of their own workforces, in a statute that is not of general applicability.