Like so many immigrants, Holly Ondaan came to New York with an expired tourist visa. Since 2011, the Guyanerin lived in a small apartment in the district of Queens. Her daughter, who was born in the US, was granted US citizenship.
But then Ondaan fell behind with the rent. Landlady Dianna Lysius threatened to tell her that she would be deported to the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) immigration police. "My money, or I call ICE," she is supposed to have written in one of many SMS.
The denunciation threat went backwards. The city's Human Rights Department notified Lysius, and in September a civil court sentenced her to $ 17,000. It was the first judgment in the US for discrimination against an illegal immigrant.
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"Proud of Our Diversity": New York Solidarity Protests with Immigrants (2017)
It will not be the only one. The city council issued a decree shortly thereafter, which enshrined the ruling for all New York City criminal: who harassed or "degraded" an immigrant by threatening him with deportation or verbally abusing him with expressions such as "Illegal" or "illegal alien", the henceforth threatens a fine of up to $ 250,000.
The unprecedented US policy continues to punish discriminating against foreigners because of a lack of English or their accent, refusing to serve them in restaurants, and paying them lower wages - no matter what immigration status they actually have ,
"No New Yorker should be disadvantaged"
"We are extremely proud of the diversity of our city," said New York's vice mayor Phil Thompson. "This new regulation aims to ensure that no New Yorker is disadvantaged because of his or her immigration status or background."
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Who is allowed in, who has to get out? Immigrants at New York Immigration Bureau
For the 8.5 million metropolis, which has always been understood as the "melting pot" of the world, this is hardly remarkable. But in the America of Donald Trump, in which the exclusion and insult of strangers was elevated to politics, this step has signal effect.
Especially since this policy is becoming increasingly brutal. Trump locks migrant children in camp. It exacerbates even legal immigration by decree. He even seems to have thought about reinforcing his border wall to Mexico with a ditch full of poisonous snakes and alligators - and "shooting migrants" in the legs.
But hundreds of " sanctuary cities" are now countering this escalating harassment by supporting immigrants and protecting them officially from access by the state - that is, the ICE agent.
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Meter high: Trump in front of a prototype of its border wall
The list ranges from smaller communities such as Middletown in Connecticut to major cities - Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Cincinnati, Washington and just New York, the most populous US metropolis. Here reveals the growing division of America under Trump.
"These vile hideaways are a serious threat"
Because most migrant-friendly regions are located in progressively oriented states on the east and west coasts. Conservative southern states such as Alamaba, Arkansas, Mississippi, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas, as well as Missouri and Iowa in the Midwest, have banned havens: There, an illegal immigrant has no chance of indulgence.
"These vile hideaways are a serious threat to public and national security," Trump scolds. He tries to pressurize the cities by threatening to block them or ordering mass raids from the ICE.
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On the way to a new future: Immigrants arrive in Ellis Island in 1907
That's why New York's latest regulation sends a signal: The city is the largest and most important of these US refugee locations. More than three million New Yorkers - almost one in three, more than in any other US city - are immigrants. 560,000 live illegally here, twice as many in families where at least one person does not have a residence permit. Immigrants own 52 percent of New York's businesses and corporations and account for nearly a quarter of the gross regional product.
"Immigrants are our past, our present and our future"
"Immigrants," says Mayor Bill de Blasio, "are our past, our present and our future." Why did Trump's hometown also oppose his policy from the beginning? In the 2016 elections Trump got in New York City only 19 percent of the vote.
Even before Trump, New York refused to cooperate with the state immigration authorities. The New York Police Department prohibits its officials from supporting ICE agents except in the case of violent crime such as murder or rape. Also illegally arrived immigrants in New York get a driver's license.
The city even publishes a "Sanctuary Manual" in ten languages, which makes immigrants aware of their rights. "New York is a place that welcomes people, and it always has to," writes City Treasurer Scott Stringer.
Nevertheless, even here the mood threatens to tip. Holly Ondaan was just one of 160 New York cases last year where immigrants were discriminated against by their landlords - an increase of seven percent since 2017. However, the actual figure is likely to be even higher as most sufferers are afraid to report such incidents ,
Ondaan was not afraid. Even before the verdict in her favor, she moved out of her troublesome apartment in Queens. Meanwhile, she finally got a green card.
