For immediate release: June 29, 2018

Howie Hawkins, the Green candidate for New York governor, will participate in the New York City march and rally to End Family Separation on Saturday, June 30, 2018.

The demonstration will gather at Foley Square at 10:00 am and march across the Brooklyn Bridge to a rally at Cadman Plaza beginning at 11:45 am. The demonstration is one of many taking place in cities across the nation as part of a National Day of Action to Fight for Families.

Hawkins, who called for turning New York into a "Sanctuary State” for immigrants in his 2014 gubernatorial campaign, is again campaigning for New York to enact Sanctuary State policies, including prohibiting New York State agencies from cooperating with federal immigration authorities without a judicial warrant, increased funding for the state’s Liberty Defense Fund to provide immigrants with legal services, passage of the DREAM Act, and drivers licenses for undocumented immigrants.

“Providing a safe harbor for refugees seeking asylum and immigrants seeking opportunity is what the inscription on the plaque on the Statue of Liberty proclaims America should be about," Hawkins said.

The Statue of Liberty inscription reads, "“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

Hawkins condemned the Trump administration's plans to replace family separations with indefinite detention camps for immigrant families. “This policy is as racist, immoral, and unnecessary for public safety as the Japanese American internment camps during World War II,” Hawkins said.

Hawkins called for the abolition of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP). He said their legitimate functions should be reorganized under the Department of Justice (DOJ).

Before 9/11, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) was under the DOJ. After 9/11, INS was reorganized under the Department of Homeland Security as ICE and CBP and immigration policies became more militarized and repressive.

“Reorganizing the administration of immigration policies under the DOJ is not enough,” Hawkins added. “Immigrants cannot expect equal justice under law with this administration. We have to get the racists now administering immigration policies — starting at the top with President Donald Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions — out of their positions.”

Hawkins will campaign in the New York City through Monday, July 2 and will be available for interviews.