Vote 2025: Meet the candidates for New York City Council District 12

Vote 2025: Meet the candidates for New York City Council District 11

Wilfredo Lopez vying for District 8's open City Council seat 

Clarisa Alayeto, running for District 8's open City Council seat, hopes to represent the South Bronx  

Ask Your Advocate Jumaane D. Williams: June 2025

Power & Politics: 1:1 with Zellnor Myrie; explaining ‘open primary’ system

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News 12 Staff

ASKTHEAVO317B

Welcome back to Ask Your Advocate here on News 12 with New York City Public Advocate Jumani Williams. Ready to take some calls? Let's do it right, we're gonna kick things off tonight with Tony from Bed Stuy Tony, thanks so much for your call. And what's your question for the public advocate tonight? Hi, how y'all doing? Um, I wanted to say thank you, uh. A public advocate because I called last month and you were able to, you and your team, everything was solved. Now my biggest issue now is I've been living in a rent stabilized for 30 years. The tenant upstairs is banging, dropping heavy items all hours of the night, dragging furniture. I've made 311 noise complaints. My local precinct have responded. I've contacted the landlord in person and by certified return receipt. I've taken out a harassment complaint and nothing has been done about it, and it's having an adverse effect on my health, my mental, my psychological, my physical, everything. How can I move forward and is there anybody you can uh refer me to so I could talk off the air? Tony, we appreciate that question, and it seems like she has really taken a variety of avenues to try and resolve this and to no avail. Yeah, this is, I, I've actually lived through this, um, and it was terrible. It was actually part of the reason I actually ended up making a move was it got, it got so bad in one location, which not everybody has the ability to do um. That's correct. Um, so one, I'm glad that you got some assistance from a previous call. Um, this was a little more difficult, so I don't wanna pretend like we don't have, we have a magic answer. Tony's actually done a lot of things that we were recommended doing, um, so I wanna connect her with our office and see if there's someone else that we can connect with. Sometimes it's a third party organization. That can help mediate between uh neighbors um sometimes law enforcement is involved it's not always the best, but we know sometimes that has to happen. She sounds like she already tried that sounds like she's contacted the landlord. The landlord may have to do some more if the tenant, if in fact the tenant is violating the lease as well, it's another avenue that you can go, but I don't know that there's a magic answer to this one. By the way, we get a lot of noise complaints and so they're, they actually were on the rise at one point. So this is something that's bothering New Yorkers, uh, that we have to really try to take more seriously, but I'm sorry, Tony, as you're going through this, uh we'll make sure you get connected with our office and see if there's some way you can help. Yeah, we'll absolutely make sure that we get that information to you and hopefully we're hearing back from you again next time, Tony, with a little bit of resolution there. Let's get to our next caller we have Keisha also dialed in from BedSuy this evening. Keisha, thanks so much for your call and what is your question tonight? Oh yes, hi, um, my question is I want to know why is alternate side of the street parking enforced only in certain neighborhoods? The the street sweepers can't sweep the grounds the streets properly because the cars are not moving only in certain neighborhoods and the streets are dirty and they paying the rats off and they're not doing cleaning the streets properly. Great point about being able to access so that you can clean and then avoid the rodent problem we've seen. We, we have seen or heard anecdotally, um, different enforcement levels, uh, depending on neighborhoods so that's interesting uh it's interesting it seemed like uh this person wanted more enforcement uh in the neighborhood and not less so we should find out where that space is and see what's what's going on. You know cars should be moving. It's they they're there for a reason. There's some neighborhoods that actually don't want the alternate side street parking, so that's another, another thing, but it's always a push and pull because there's some people that want the enforcement and there's some people that don't. I mean, you've called people for enforcement for double parking. Then the person say I double parking in my own house. Why are you taking me? so you try to, you know, balance those things out, uh, but if you could find out where exactly that is, it sounds like it's a particular neighborhood, my guess it might be on the, the spot that she lives in, and maybe we can figure out what's going on there. We'll be sure to connect you with that information, but we tell folks. You gotta move, particularly on those hydrants we've seen some very bad um ability to fight fires because people are on those hydrants and so sometimes it feels like it's not a serious thing, but it really can be. You mentioned double parking and there's this new effort being spearheaded by I believe the Department of Transportation to perhaps explore putting automated cameras. To look for double parking and then automatically find or ticket people who are in violation of that. What do you think about that level of enforcement that happens? I mean, the automations, uh, they do help. We sometimes there's a belief that again they're enforced in certain neighbors and not others. We wanna make sure uh that doesn't happen. The the only problem of automation is that there's no ability to like hey this is a circumstance. I just really need to jump out um you can't get that interaction sometimes it's helpful. Sometimes it's not and so I think the best way to do a lot of these things is by pilot programs. Let's see what happens. Let's see if it's something that should be expanded or it shouldn't, but you know, um, double parking is a is a issue generally people are just complaining about other people double parking though, uh, if you're double parking yourself, it's just because you just we're trying to run it for a few minutes and but if it's somebody else. It's a it's a different story. Never worse than walking out to your car thinking you're gonna be able to just drive off and then you realize oh I'm boxed in and who is even the driver of that vehicle. So then there goes that you mentioned the issue of fires and we have seen so many across our boroughs and like you mentioned, in at least 2 in recent memory we had cars blocking the hydrants impeding the ability of firefighters to get there. They have now been a little bit uh more proactive I guess and. Trying to find those drivers, find them and then find them, uh, anywhere from, I think it was $400 to $5000 is that enough to act as a true deterrent, um, in a city where parking is so scarce and people really just try to make the most of whatever they have? I, I think it is if people know that it's happening. I mean those, those folks who got it probably won't do that again, uh, but I think the thing is people don't normally think about that, um, you know, we've all done it if we're honest, if we're drivers, um, but it really, really can be. Dangerous, um, as we see it takes, uh, you know, seconds are lies when it comes to fires and so I think they're right to ratchet up the kind of enforcement. I haven't seen this in, in a while. I don't remember the last time I've seen something like this, but you know, people can die and people, um, there's an impact whether you can fight fires, so I think they're right to step up enforcement, particularly around the fire hydrant issue. Yeah, we definitely have seen more cases of this in recent memory than I can think of over the past 5, 10 years, so. Yeah, definitely something to look out for in the future. All right, the conversation is just getting started here on Ask Your Advocate on News 12 tonight. 718-861-6800 is the number to dial. We're getting back to your calls and questions right after this quick break. Stay with us.

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ASKTHEAVO317C

Welcome back to Ask your advocate where the calls just keep on coming in this evening so we're gonna get to another caller right now. We have Louisa who has dialed in from Crown Heights. Louisa, thanks so much for taking time for the call this evening and what is your question? Hi, Mr. Williams, how are you this evening? I'm OK, thank you. How are you? I'm good. I'm just calling you because I just wanted to tell, I was just curious to know why you didn't get into the mayoral race. Oh thank you so much for that question. I really appreciate it. It's, it's spirit warming, so thank you. um, you know, I, it was as much as the mayor tries to pretend somehow, um, this all my criticism has to do with running for mayor it's actually not a position I was I was ever seeking, um, so I'm a person of faith to, you know, I prayed about I spoke with the family. And you decided that we're gonna run for reelection, um, and do what we can to make sure that we actually have a mayor that's gonna care uh about New York City and so again I mentioned you know I'm on the dream team um I'm very disturbed about the amount of support that Andrew Cuomo is actually getting. I feel like people have forgotten who he was and he hasn't changed. I think people have forgotten how much. He's, he cut the psychiatric beds. One of the reasons we have a problem with, uh, psychiatric beds is because Andrew Cuomo cut them. He tried to cut Medicaid in the middle of the pandemic. Uh, he made some very poor decisions and lives were lost because of it, and so he hit communities, he hurt communities, uh, we wanna remind people of that when they think this is the person. I mean, you don't wanna go from a mayor who is may lead. scandal for another executive who did this is not the person that we need here at communities in general, um, black and brown communities in particular, but as I mentioned, there's a lot of exciting candidates. Adrian Adams is very exciting, uh, to watch, uh, what she's doing, and I'm excited about her candidacy I mentioned, you know, what the Brad Leonard's gonna be #1 and #2 for us, and there's a whole host of other folks that I think will be much better than, um. Eric or Andrew and so we're on the dream team. Don't rank Eric or Andrew for mayor. What do you think about Adrian Adams' late entrance into this race and can she make up the ground that other candidates have spent months trying to build? You know, obviously entering early might have been better, but if you look at the amount of money she raised in just 5 days, it's pretty impressive, um, that's correct, um, and a large amount that is matchable. um, I don't even think, uh, Andrew Cuomo has reached matching funds and he's been in it for a longer time period. So it's gone to be made up, um, but it can be made up and there's, uh, you know, without the matching it seems to be a decent amount of money in the coffer to get to the point where you can get the matching funds, uh, so she's definitely still a very formidable, uh, candidate and looking forward to see what she does and, and the others and again, you know, my #1 and #2, Brad Lander as well. And this has been a mayoral race with nonstop development, so we'll see what else arises between now and the next time we have you here. Stay with us though. We ask your advocate here on News 12 right after this.

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ASKTHEAVO317D_2025-03-17-20-04-23

Thanks for staying with us here on News 12 for Ask your advocate with New York City Public Advocate Jumani Williams. We've already gotten to a bunch of callers and the phones are still ringing, so I guess it's time to answer a few more. We've got Gary who has dialed in from East New York. Gary, thank you so much for your call and what's your question tonight for the public advocate? Yes, good, good evening. Thanks for taking my call here. I appreciate that, Mr. Williams, and ma'am, uh, question I have is um what can be done with public utility trucks, MTA, I'll just call them out MTA parking in residential area, and on top of all their employees also leave their car there and to refer to that lady with street parking, the same employees, they will leave their car right there with their vest inside the car, so they don't get tickets. So the vehicle will just go around the sweeper will go around them and then Just keep on going 3:30 and these guys, they'll get in the car, they leave, they go to their house, wherever they live, and then our city, our block is dirty. So it's a very, actually this is actually a battle to been fighting for and I'm sure it's other neighborhood in Brooklyn, but it's really wrong and I'd like to do something about that. Thank you. A valid concern, Gary, not one that we haven't heard here before about perhaps, uh, city workers, city officials parking where they potentially shouldn't be. And it sounds angering, um, one, obviously if the utility is making some sort of repairs, um, that's different, it sounds like that's not the case, uh, and there should be a case of enforcement and we've seen all over these kind of if someone put a vest or a card or something in a window, um, that's not. Really a legal reason not to enforce and so we should really figure out where in East New York it is. I can imagine which which precinct and and try to reach out and figure out what's happening with the enforcement there why we're not doing the enforcement but you know Gary's right to be angry. I'm sure if he parks there he's gonna get a nice red note or orange note, um, reminding him that he shouldn't and you know people should, should be kind of treated equally and we've seen placard abuse we've seen a bunch of abuse of things of this nature. Um, and it kind of erodes confidence in government and so that's another thing we have to think about when people see this. It's not just the person or the one, the one time it happened, but it's an erosion of government. It seems like the lower you're on the total pole, um, the more you're supposed to follow the rules, and that's not really, um, a comfortable place to be in the city, and we've had this conversation with not only city vehicles or city workers I should say, but. I I think back to people calling in and complaining about trucks taking up spaces in residential areas and it comes back to that idea of enforcement. Do you feel like there should be more that's being done in terms of how we go about enforcing. One of the biggest complaints used to be my mom actually, so, um, I would say you know what I think it's even worse when it's. The the city, it's the MTA, it's even NYPD we've seen, um, so that's even worse, but with the big trucks it seems to be that sometimes there are tickets made and these companies just view it as a cost of doing business. One of the problems is that the, uh, PD is limited in the amount of tow trucks that they have for the entire city, so it's hard to actually get them towed. I think there we need to just get the ability to tow these trucks a lot quicker than we are uh we can because then it becomes more of a new. For the person running the business and then they will stop but once they can just bake it in to the cost of doing business, then they're not gonna stop because it's cheaper to get the ticket than actually try to find a legal place to park. Such a good point. Easier to swipe the credit card and pay the ticket than it is to go to the impound and try and get that truck back. So we'll follow up on that. I think we're gonna be sticking with street enforcement with this next question. We have Robert who has dialed in from Bensonhurst rather tonight. Robert, thanks so much for your time in the call and go ahead and ask your question when you're ready. Good evening and thank you for taking my call. My question is, um, FDNY are not allowed to give tickets to the vehicles that are uh blocking fire hydrants. Why? I actually don't know the answer to that question, so I'm gonna look into it. I, I, I thought they did have a little bit of powers, but I know that oftentimes sanitation and law enforcement, sometimes that is, uh, you know, some of the problem because you have to wait for those agencies to come. So this one is a little a little stumping, so I wanna, I wanna find out what the actual answer is and what the rules and regulations are. Yeah, whether or not it was FDNY or another city agency, I do know that at least in the two instances in recent time here in the Bronx where we had fires break out and cars blocking the hydrant. There were summonses and fines that were issued, I think in the ballpark of 4000 to $5000 but whose responsibility that is? We'll follow up and find out for Robert. I think we're gonna bounce to another Robert who has dialed in from Concourse Village tonight. Robert, thanks for your call and what's your question for the public advocate? Hello, hello uh advocate, um, I live in the, in the Bronx Gerard Avenue. They haven't fixed the elevator in almost 66 weeks to 2 months. I'm, you know, I, they say the city shut it down. Why can't the city come and check on the elevator to see if they fix it? It's been almost 2 months. I got cancer treatment that I have to take. And I have to walk up and down these elevator, and I'm a heart patient too. Why can't the city come and let them fix the elevator? That's what I don't understand. Why can't the city follow up under the elevator? Well, I appreciate Robert for drawing our attention to that. Unfortunately this is a problem we see time and time again our elderly New Yorkers essentially trapped in their homes because of out of service elevators. And I will guarantee you that Robert is paying his rent and uh that owner. Wants to make sure the rent is paid, um, even though the services are not being provided we also see this in NIA where uh the city uh uh of the of the people who run Niter but you know this is one way we might be able to help so I really, I mean help a little quick more quickly. HPD has the ability to come in and make repairs and charge the owner treble damages, which is 3 times the damages. So I'd like to find out why that hasn't happened. Uh, so let's really get the Robert's information connected to my office. I'm so sorry it's happening to you, Robert. That sounds, that sounds rough even if you weren't going through those things on top of having all those things. That's, that's just an unbearable, uh, situation to be in. Um, if this is NIA, it's even more disturbing because it's, uh, the city that runs that and we see this happening time and time again in our NIA developments sometimes treated as if, um, you know. It's just, it's remarkable how nature has been treated. It's a whole show on itself, uh, but let's find out where Robert lives and see what we can do to make that uh elevator be fixed or at a minimum too, you know, you shouldn't be paying as much rent. You might be able to work out something, but this is not his case because he really needs to get his treatments, but normally work out something, hey, I'm not paying. This much of my rent because these services were down for this long. The overall infrastructure of our housing stock across the city seems to be compromised, especially in certain buildings, certain developments, uh, like I said, we've heard this complaint from not just Robert but so many of our viewers. time and time again we talked about the budget conversations that are happening right now of course housing affordability a big theme of those conversations in terms of really protecting our tenants that are already situated in their homes but dealing with these, I mean I don't wanna even call it a quality of life issue because it's so much bigger than that. Any conversations that can be had right now to really dedicate money to getting things like this. Well, I will tell you there was a study, it was either last or a year before where our housing stock has gotten worse. And our rents have increased, uh, so we have amongst the highest rents in the world and probably the highest rents in the country right now, and that's not by accident, and many of us have been pleading with the powers that be to do something about this, um, you know, the city council under Speaker Adrian Adams passed some laws to help people get vouchers, uh, so they can actually get a place to live. Um, the mayor has been blocking that and uh that you have to talk to him about why he's doing that, um, but to that point. There is no housing plan that is real if 60% of that plan is not about preservation and so very often we talk about building, which we do, we could talk about that another time. We wanna make sure if we're building, we're building at uh income targeted levels, uh, but we have to preserve what we already have, so that means Mitchell Lama, that means section 8, that means rent regulation, um, that means NITA and. We also have to make it so that we can upkeep those properties and so there has to be dedicated money particularly from the state we need some from the city but we need a lot more from the state uh to make sure that those are kept up and there are some owners that need help, particularly our small mid-size owners. We have to have a plan for them as well, a program where they can go get assistance uh and and make those repairs that are needed because what we can't do. I continue to raise the rent to make those repairs because what we see is an increase in people who then are homeless. You talked about the state, the budget for them, the deadline is coming up April 1st. It's quick. What do you really think needs to be key to the conversations that are happening right now and what do you really hope makes that final budget because we just saw the assembly and the Senate's version, and there are some differences from the governors of course. You know, I'm again hoping that we look at some revenue raises. um, I do think we're gonna, we're gonna need them and we're gonna need some stuff in the rainy day fund. I do hope we have a lot of money in there for housing, uh, for things like vouchers, uh, for, uh, capital to make sure that we have the ability to build the housing that we need. I would really like to see a robust, um, uh, package around public safety. Because where everybody agrees is that you know we have wanna just our crime issues and our law enforcement are a part of that but everybody agrees they can't do it alone and we need to see the resources and infrastructure for that to happen uh we got quick money for law enforcement for the trains. But what about for the Department of Mental Health and hygiene uh who uh should be the first people responding to people with mental health crisis. So if you don't put the resources there, uh, knee jerk reaction is always to send people who are not the best folks and are not trained to do that, and there's always gonna be bad things that happen. So I'd love to see a plan. Um, that is robust, um, that is not just solely rely on law enforcement and you need funding to do that and you need resources and you need the infrastructure. Real quick before we go to break, what do you think? Should they touch the discovery reforms or is that something that should already be left as is? Um, I'm, I think that's something we have to do and discussing a little bit because this is, it's more of a nuanced, uh, answer. We'll circle back on that right after this quick break. Stay with us. We'll be right back.

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ASKTHEAVO317E

Thanks for staying with us here on Ask Your Advocate on News 12 right before we went to break, we were talking about the potential for more reforms to the state's discovery process, which has been something that the governor has pointed to as part of her plan to address public safety. Just wanted to give you a moment to you a little bit more on your thoughts on that. First, I'm glad that we're off the bail, um, because even as the governor was pushing bail reform, she herself had said she's. to headlines, not the actual data, um, and if you speak to DAs, they themselves were actually saying let's look at discovery, let's bail um unfortunately the mayor took the bait and others took the bait and we're really pushing something that wasn't true and that was harmful to everyone. um I am listening to what folks are saying about the discovery um I think um that I'm hearing some things that may make sense but on the other side people are reminding me. Why we did this in the first place, a lot of folks got railroaded. A lot of people who did not have the ability to fight their charges because of the way the system was before and how, uh, they would get literally information about the case literally the day before, um, and so there's a reason why we did this, but I'm one that always wants to make sure I'm listening and looking at what the facts actually are, actually are and what the impact is. So I'm still, you know, myself just trying to make sure I'm hearing from everyone, but I'm glad that we're moving from something. That was created as a boogie person, um, and it never really was what people were saying and so, um, I think the number one thing is actually where everyone agrees is we should have speedy trials and make sure that people's cases are heard and they're either guilty or they're not and that's some place where we're not focusing enough time or energy or resources. Lastly I say even with the dis discovery changes, I don't know that that was backed up with the type of money that was needed. Uh, for definitely not for the legal aid types and the public defenders, um, and even maybe even for the DA. So when we do these things we wanna make sure they're funding behind it because there are a lot of changes and sometimes it's the funding that's needed, uh, to make the thing work and we confuse that with uh the reform not working itself. Such a good point and something that I'm sure a lot of people will have eyes on as we continue through this budget negotiation process for the rest of the month. I do want to get to another caller. We've had quite a few tonight which is great, and another Robert at that, this one from East New York. Robert, thanks so much for your call and what's your question for the public advocate tonight? Uh, first of all, I'd like to say, uh, good evening to both of you. Thank you very much for taking my call. My question or my issue is I live in East New York between Flatlands and the Gateway Center Mall. I've been here for quite some time before everything was built up and of course it's getting even bigger. They're doing even more construction. Um, I've had a neighbor who was hit by a car here. I've asked several times. I've called 311. I've emailed DOT and everything, uh, to try to get something done about adding, first of all, the stop signs that have been removed for some reason. And also putting in speed bumps or speed cushions here to try to alleviate, you know, a potential fatal accident happening here. I've been almost hit myself crossing the street just going to the store, so I would appreciate it if you could either try to look into it or I don't know, try and see if there's something that you can do to try to help this situation. Robert appreciate the call and drawing our attention to it something that we hear often from viewers, they advocate for changes to street safety in their neighborhoods but perhaps aren't aware of how to go about really enacting that change. And I know that space very well so I do want to connect with Robert we actually have a a deputy public advocate for infrastructure uh in, in our office and love to work with uh Robert and we can actually, uh, connect with uh organizations that sometimes do their own. Traffic calming studies to see what can be recommended because sometimes the thing that we think about may not be the thing that can best calm that particular traffic. Um, I also know, uh, from just working in the community when we try to get folks to support speed bumps, um, every people would support it unless speed bumps in front of your house, uh, and then the rhythm of the night changed and then people got frustrated, so we wanna make sure we think about all those things, but that is a space that he's talking about which has changed a lot is. Definitely changed a lot. It's, it's, it's a, it was kind of a hidden nice gem and now it's just, it's, it's, it's growing and growing and so I can see a lot more traffic, uh, going through those areas where that weren't always as residential as they are now. I'm not sure why the uh stop signs would have been removed, but I definitely would like to connect with Robert, see what we can do uh to help put in some traffic calming devices. On the topic of street safety overall last year was an especially deadly year for pedestrians, specifically. In Brooklyn we saw very high rates of traffic fatalities. I think the highest that we had seen since records had begun to be kept, um, and then last month we saw several more deadly pedestrian hit and runs across the streets. Any other actions that you'd like to see taken across the board to really ensure the safety of our pedestrians and drivers alike and cyclists as well. And and to add to that, the administration is not even. Living up to some commitments they made in terms of changing uh the infrastructure of the street that will make folks safer what we also saw is that uh while uh street violence got worse and there was more fatalities and and um injuries there were less in wealthier wider neighborhoods and there were more in low income black and brown communities and that's just devastating to hear once again I believe part of the reason is because we. haven't seen some of the changes that we need in the infrastructure in the more low income black and brown communities, and we need those changes there because they actually do save lives and so we have to see the infrastructure change we have to see uh uh people on their bikes uh more protected. We just have to see those changes because we see the impact. Think about that we have something now saying that more people are being killed and injured. But in one neighborhood it's actually less another neighborhood is going up and so I'm hoping that this administration, uh, would take it seriously. I believe that it's not necessarily the agency of the DOT, more the administration that's not prioritizing the DOT, uh, not giving them the ability to do the job they're supposed to be doing with the resources and the support, but these are really life saving cost saving measures, um, we have the ability to do it. It's been done in other cities. We have laws that are requiring it to be done. Um, and we do get push back from communities, uh, which I understand, but we have to push through that and these lives, you know, they're real people. They matter. I'm assuming you're talking about the daylighting, removing those cars we have daylighting, we have, uh, protected bike lanes, uh, we have, uh, uh, dedicated bus lanes. There's many things that we are trying to get done. Uh, we have a limited amount of space, but we have to share the role responsibly and safely. Absolutely. All right, the conversation continues right after this quick break. Stay with us here on Ask Your Advocate.

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ASKTHEAVO317F_2025-03-17-20-04-55

Welcome back to News 12 for another edition of Ask Your Advocate with New York City Public Advocate Jumani Williams. I want to return our attention right now to a situation that has really caught the attention of so many across the city and beyond, and that is the, uh, detention of Mahmud Khalil, who was a Columbia University student. He was also a pro-Palestinian demonstrator, um, during the height of protests that happened at the university last year. He was taken into custody by ICE, uh, either last week or the. Prior and it has since sparked some outrage here in the city at which you've been on the front lines protesting on his behalf and demonstrating on his behalf. What are your thoughts on how this all unfolded and what kind of precedent this sets for those who do speak out on controversial topics? Yeah, well, we definitely put out a statement saying this shouldn't be happening and he should be returned immediately. Uh, we joined with some other elected officials. I mean, but to set the context, what we have said and always said and. To be honest, a lot of folks, even immigrants themselves, drank some of the Kool-Aid that we said don't drink. This was never about other people. This is about all of us. This was never about violent criminals. This was never about quote unquote illegal immigrants, um, and we see now it it's playing out sanctuary cities, by the way, are safer than most cities, and they never protected violent criminals, period. What we see now, uh, are people who are here legally. And Mahmoud Khil is not even charged with a crime at all, much less a violent crime. They are revoking his green card, revoking his visa, and trying to deport him. We also see our Haitian brothers, sisters, Venezuelan brothers and sisters getting their legal status removed and opening the pool of who can be deported. The Lake and Riley Act, which is based off of a horrible crime, horrible crime. Uh, but because of it now, a 15 year old who has accused, not even found guilty, accused of stealing a pack of M&Ms can be deported. This is, this is where we are now, um, and we have a, a real, no matter where you are on this issue, a real, a real thing about free speech on our First Amendment and quite frankly, if a Palestinian person cannot speak about what's happening to other Palestinians. Then who actually can and so often you hear, well, these are just folks who don't even know what's going on. This is someone who does, but even that besides, however we feel about this, this should send chills down the spines of everyone, not just on this case but in all the cases we're seeing now and know that this is about erasure. This is about criminalizing people for simply existing, whether it is attacks on DEI or the mass deportations, uh, that's going on with uh people who've been here for a very long time who are actually here legally. And not charged with any kind of violent crime. Public Advocate, we appreciate your time and all of your insight and answering all of the questions tonight, and we'll see you next time here on News 12 for another edition of Ask Your Advocate.

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News 12's Amanda Bossard sits down with New York City Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams to answer YOUR pressing questions in this month's edition of Ask Your Advocate.

Ask Your Advocate Jumaane D. Williams: March 2025

News 12's Amanda Bossard sits down with New York City Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams to answer YOUR pressing questions in this month's edition of Ask Your Advocate.

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