Amanda Powers of NYC Anti-Violence Project testifies on LGBTQ immigrant survivors

Thank you.

Good afternoon.

Thank you, Chair Encarnacion and the committee for holding this public hearing to address Executive Order 13.

My name is Amanda Powers, and I am a legal fellow at the New York City Anti-Violence Project, or AVP.

AVP provides critical, holistic support and legal services to LGBTQ plus and HIV positive survivors of violence, including many immigrant survivors of violence in New York City.

Today, in addition to discussing EO13, I offer my voice on behalf of the queer immigrant survivors of violence who AVP serves to urge you to pass critical legislation that will allow immigrant New Yorkers who have survived violence to feel safe interacting

with city government, specifically the New York City Trust Act, Intro 209, as well as former Intros 395 and 396.

And thank you, Chair Encarnacion, for sharing your ongoing support for 395 and 396.

At AVP, our immigrant clients live in constant fear of ICE detention or deportation because of the devastating reality that for many LGBTQ plus immigrants,

Deportation is a death sentence, and ICE detention centers are sites of anti-LGBTQ plus violence.

One of our clients, a transgender woman who came to New York City seeking safety from the transphobic violence in her home country, is currently sitting in solitary confinement in an all-male immigration detention center in Louisiana.

In detention, she has experienced transphobic attacks and violent harassment from guards and been denied access to necessary medical care.

Before her detention, she survived violent rape in New York City, but did not report it to the police because she was afraid that doing so would lead to her being targeted by ICE.

Now, months later, AVP has helped her report the crime from inside ICE detention in Louisiana.

Her reality is the reality that LGBTQ plus immigrant New Yorkers understandably fear they will experience if their information is shared with ICE.

This fear is holding back AVP clients from interacting with city agencies at many levels.

AVP operates a crisis hotline for queer survivors of violence in New York City.

So we hear every day.

I'm sorry?

We hear every day from community members who are experiencing abuse and exploitation, but who feel that they cannot seek help from city agencies because they believe that government contact will lead them to further violence at the hands of ICE.

We hear stories from hotline users and clients about how this fear of ICE prevents domestic violence victims from seeking government resources to enable leaving their abusers or from relying on the city's shelter system after fleeing abuse.

And how it's keeping LGBTQ plus survivors of violence from pursuing their winnable immigration cases because they believe that interacting with any government entity will make them a target for federal immigration enforcement.

Passing the New York City Trust Act and Intros 395 and 396 are important steps toward rebuilding trust with immigrant New Yorkers, and specifically with the LGBTQ plus survivors of violence who we work with at AVP.

Thank you for the opportunity to testify today.