US House passes Congresswoman Clarke’s
legislation to protect immigrants
Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke. Photo by Jason Speakman
Caribbean Life, J BQ uly 19–25, 2019 3
By Aidan Graham
Brooklyn Borough President, Eric
Adams climbed the steps of City Hall on
Friday flanked by an unlikely entourage
of yoga gurus, wellness experts, and
police union honchos to demand
meditation classes for New York’s Finest
amid a rash of suicides.
“The stress and trauma that our police
officers face on a daily basis, where they
are frequently forced to make life-ordeath
decisions, are all too familiar,” said
Adams, who served as a city police officer
for 22 years, retiring with the rank of
captain. “Just as we teach police officers
how to use a weapon, we should be
teaching them how to use mindfulness
to manage stress.”
Adams hosted his June 12 press
conference after firing off letters to Mayor
Bill de Blasio and Police Commissioner
James O’Neill urging them to institute
semi-annual meditation courses,
arguing that eastern mindfulness
techniques aren’t a bunch of hippydippy
nonsense, but a proven method
of providing psychological benefits that
translate to happy, high-performing
cops.
“Secular meditation and mindfulnessbased
stress reduction are evidence-based
practices that have been scientifically
proven to decrease anxiety, depression,
hostility, and stress, while increasing
attention and focus, ethical decisionmaking,
and even happiness scores,”
wrote Adams.
This year, six city cops have taken
their own lives, including veteran
officers Joe Calabrese and Steven Silks,
who shot themselves one day after the
other in June.
And the beep — a noted fitness fanatic,
who meditates twice each day — said he
hopes Brooklyn’s boys in blue won’t let
their masculinity stand in the way of
his flower-power healing routine, saying
there’s nothing manly about allowing
your mental health to deteriorate.
“Policing is a macho occupation,”
he said. “Meditation and self-help is
considered almost a sissy response.”
The Patrolmen’s Benefit Association
— a labor union representing officers
within the NYPD — threw its support
behind Adam’s call for mindfulness
training, with President Patrick Lynch
claiming it’s never been harder to be
a cop and never more important to
support first responders.
“The job of a New York City police
officer has always been a stressful one,
but policing today is more mentally and
By Nelson A. King
The United States House of
Representatives has passed the National
Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that
includes an amendment by Caribbean
American Congresswoman Yvette D.
Clarke with regulates the US Department
of Defense’s (DOD) involvement with
the US Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE) agency.
Clarke, the daughter of Jamaican
immigrants, said she, along with
Representatives Bennie Thompson, of
Missouri, and Kathleen Rice, of New
York, offered the amendment as “a clap
back to the crisis at our border.”
The amendment prohibits the use
of DOD equipment, personnel and
facilities to house or construct housing
for any foreign nationals who are in
custody of ICE.
“There is an emergency at our
southern border on the account
of our bigoted president who has
directed Border Patrol agents to house
migrants in dangerous and unsafe
conditions,” said Clarke, who represents
the predominantly Caribbean 9th
Congressional District in Brooklyn.
“We must not allow the Department
of Defense to play a role in the
dehumanization of our migrant
community,” she added, stating “that
is why I included my amendment in the
NDAA.”
The NDAA also prevents, among other
things, the use of money for a border
wall; prohibits federal funds from being
used for any military action against Iran
without Congressional authorization;
prohibits new transfers into the
Guantánamo Bay detention facility in
Cuba; and restricts US assistance of
Saudi campaign in Yemen.
“New York’s 9th Congressional
District is bustling with people from
around our globe. I will never stop
fighting for immigrants to ensure they
are treated humanely and are respected
as human beings,” Clarke said.
In early June, the US House of
Representatives passed the latest
version of the DREAM Act, an ambitious
expansion of an almost two-decadeslong
legislative effort that would put
millions of young undocumented
Caribbean and other immigrants and
immigrants with temporary status on a
pathway to US citizenship.
With few Republican votes, the
Dream and Promise Act of 2019 (H.R.
6), sponsored by Clarke, passed the
Democratic-controlled House by a vote
of 237 to 187.
Clarke said the Dream and Promise
Act provides a pathway to citizenship
for 2.5 million Temporary Protected
Status (TPS) and Deferred Enforcement
Departure (DED) recipients, as well as
DREAMers.
DREAMers are young undocumented
Caribbean and other immigrants who
came to the US as children, including
those who were protected from deportation
by the Obama-era Deferred Action for
Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
Since Trump assumed the presidency,
he has terminated the DACA program,
but US courts have blocked it.
Clarke, who is chair of the
Congressional Black Caucus
Immigration Task Force, along with
Representatives Roybal-Allard, of
California, and Velázquez, of New York,
sponsored what Clarke referred to as
“this common-sense immigration bill
to protect immigrant communities
across America.”
Clarke told Caribbean Life that she
ensured H.R. 6 includes rights for
TPS and DED recipients, “who are
often overshadowed or excluded from
immigration legislation.”
“Passing the Dream and Promise Act
marks a monumental day for more than
2.5 million immigrants in America,”
she said. “As chair of the Congressional
Black Caucus Immigration Task Force,
it is my duty to stand up for immigrants.
“They are our neighbors and our friends,
and are engrained within the fabric of
our communities.
“I am proud to champion the rights for
Temporary Protected Status recipients,
Deferred Enforcement Departure
recipients, as well as DREAMers, who
call America home, so they will have a
pathway to citizenship,” she added.
Borough President Adams calls for meditation
training for cops following string of suicides
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