24 THE QUEENS COURIER • MAY 30, 2019 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Queens DA candidate Malik announces she won’t prosecute sex workers
BY BILL PARRY
bparry@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
Mina Malik joined fellow candidate City
Councilman Rory Lancman in announcing
that as the Queens District Attorney,
she will not prosecute sex workers. Instead,
with the full force of the offi ce, Malik said
she will pursue the prosecution of promoters
and buyers, known as pimps and johns,
who are traffi cking the most vulnerable, specifi
cally targeting cases deemed to be coercive
and predatory as part of her Survivor’s
Justice Policy.
Candidate Tiff any Cabán is calling for
a total decriminalization of the sex work
industry.
As a former Queens Assistant District
Attorney and Special Victims prosecutor for
nearly a decade, Malik successfully prosecuted
human traffi ckers, serial rapists, child
molesters and violent, repeat off enders.
“It is important to understand that not all
sex work is voluntary,” Malik said. “Further,
prosecuting sex workers has discriminatorily
and disproportionately targeted communities
of color, the LGBTQ community
and economically disadvantaged neighborhoods.
As a reform-minded district attorney,
I will prosecute buyers and promoters,
not sex workers, for the oft entimes forced
participation in an exploitative industry.”
According to the National Human
Traffi cking Hotline, New York has the fi ft h
highest number of traffi cked individuals
in the entire country. Th e majority of these
victims are immigrants. Given that Queens
is the most diverse county in the country,
with residents from more than 190 countries,
Queens is a uniquely vulnerable target
for traffi cking.
As part of her Survivor’s Justice Policy,
Malik said she will avoid re-traumatizing
survivors by expediting court proceedings
where survivors encounter off enders.
Malik said she would partner with community
organizations to develop individualized
healing plans for survivors of sex crimes. She
would also seek diversion and trauma-informed
care for individuals who are suffering
from the mental, psychological and
physical abuse because of forced sex work.
In addition, Malik said she would increase
and improve the number of co-located services
for survivors within the DA’s offi ce,
enforce employee commitment to rehabilitation
of those who interact with the
criminal justice system and welcome sex
workers, advocates and experts to the table
when discussing nuances between voluntary
and involuntary sex work on a case-bycase
basis.
“While working as a Special Victims prosecutor,
I worked with countless people who
were survivors of sexual abuse and assault,”
Malik said. “I am adamantly committed to
ensuring that the Queens District Attorney’s
Offi ce protects survivors, plays an active role
in their healing and prioritizes not re-traumatizing
them.”
Malik and Cabán will face Queens
Borough President Melinda Katz, Judge
Greg Lasak and former prosecutors Jose
Nieves and Betty Lugo in the June 25
Democratic primary.
New York’s infrastructure needs national commitment
BY CONGRESSMAN
GREGORY MEEKS
Pretend for a moment that it’s the
middle of summer, high 90’s and high
humidity, and you’re on the subway platform.
Only, instead of the typical blistering
heat and inexplicably delayed subway,
the subterranean station is cooled, and
clean. Th e trains are not only on time, but
quicker, shortening your commute by a
not insignifi cant amount of time.
Now pretend you’ve just taken your
new hassle-free subway to Penn, and
you’re boarding an Amtrak to visit family
in Virginia. Only, instead of being just an
hour shorter than if you had simply driven,
the train gets you there in an hour.
As you sit in your bullet train, whizz
past high-capacity freeways and cars constantly
in motion, without unnecessary
bottle necks and less bumper to bumper
traffi c than you can remember seeing in
decades.
Th is is not some hypothetical pipe
dream, but a reality that governments
across the world are investing towards as
we speak. And the reasons why are obvious:
infrastructure investment is good for
the economy, it is good for getting people
to work, and it’s good for putting people
to work.
Every year in May we celebrate infrastructure
week, but it should not be limited
to May alone where we pause to recognize
the value of infrastructure. Rather,
Democrats are asking Republicans to
work cooperatively in passing a massive
infrastructure spending package. And we
need to look no further than our home
state of New York to see how that investment
can be directed hand-in-hand with
the community.
From the new Mario M. Cuomo
(Tappen Zee) Bridge, to the massive
work being done at LaGuardia Airport,
to the major redevelopment of JFK
International Airport in my district of
southeast Queens, New York has undergone
an infrastructure boom.
Part of what has made JFK’s redevelopment
successful is the emphasis on local
community inclusion. Th is month we
cut the ribbon to offi cially open the JFK
Redevelopment’s Community Outreach
Center for just that purpose. Th is outreach
center will not only serve as a
resource to keep the public informed on
critical developments during the redevelopment,
but information on available
jobs for the community and more.
Now, residents can drop in at
the location at 144-30 Jamaica
Avenue and learn the most
up to date information on the
Redevelopment’s completion,
which is currently slated for 2025.
You can learn about which terminals
changes to expect, which
construction jobs are being made
available, and how we are making
Minority and Women Owned
Businesses in our community a
priority in getting the opportunity
to bid for contracts throughout
the redevelopment process.
Th e lesson is simple: Not only
do residents know what’s best
for their own community, they
should also be the ones to directly
benefi t from the jobs being
brought into our community.
Th at is the principle that should
serve as the rubric for all infrastructure
projects in New York.
However, these projects are not
only direct infusions of economic activity,
they’re also a necessity. Our economy
is dependent on functioning transit hubs
that are now in dire need of repairs and
resilience. Th e Gateway Project is a perfect
example of this.
Th e Northeast Corridor of Amtrak is
the main artery for our economy. Yet,
since Super Storm Sandy, we’ve seen
how fragile our aging tunnels can be in
the face of unprecedented frequencies
of powerful storms. Th e Gateway project
will not only signifi cantly increase
the capacity of rail transit coming in and
out of New York, it will create redundancies,
ensuring that one tunnel shutdown
alone won’t grind our economic activity
to a halt.
Massive infrastructure projects like
these are critical to our local economy,
they are critical to our national economy,
but they cannot continue without federal
assistance. And as we move nationally on
infrastructure in securing fi nancial assistance,
we should ensure that we follow
successful models like New York, bringing
those jobs to local underserved communities
and diversifying those contracts
to MWBEs.
In the last Congress, I included an
amendment to the Congressional Black
Caucus’ Jobs & Justice omnibus requiring
that jobs created by infrastructure
investment prioritize jobs and workforce
development programs for communities
with high unemployment rates, as well
as outreach eff orts to underrepresented
minority and women-owned contractors.
We have an urgent need to fund infrastructure
projects across the US. Th is is
true in blue states just as it is true in red
states. which should make this a bipartisan
issue. Yet, President Trump was
more than willing to torpedo infrastructure
talks last weeks when he stormed out
of his meeting with Speaker Pelosi and
straight into a premeditated press conference.
He made it clear that he is willing
to hold our bridges, railways and roads
hostage to shield himself from Congress’
oversight.
While the President may not prioritize
infrastructure, it is my hope that
Republicans across the aisle in the Senate
and House come to their senses and
break rank for the good of their communities.
I look forward to working with my
colleagues of the New York delegation to
make the case for infrastructure so we
may duplicate the success here in our
home city and state nationwide.
Courtesy of Malik’s campaign
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