GET THE LATEST NEWS EVERY DAY AT QNS.COM
July 12-18, 2019 Your Neighborhood — Your News®
• ASTORIA TIMES
• FOREST HILLS LEDGER
• LAURELTON TIMES
• QUEENS VILLAGE TIMES
• RIDGEWOOD LEDGER
• HOWARD BEACH TIMES
• RICHMOND HILL TIMES
ALSO COVERING ELMHURST, JACKSON HEIGHTS, LONG ISLAND CITY, MASPETH, MIDDLE VILLAGE, REGO PARK, SUNNYSIDE
Astoria families protest border crisis
Picket outside Congresswoman’s offi ce seeks action to close immigrant detention centers
BY MAX PARROTT
A group of about 20
parents, with strollers and
tots in tow, marched down
to Congresswoman Carolyn
Maloney’s office in Astoria
on July 9 as part of a national
campaign to protest the
child parent separation
policies in detention camps
at the border.
The group, organized by
Hand in Hand, an advocacy
organization for domestic
workers, picked Maloney’s
office in spite of the fact
that she voted against the
Emergency Supplemental
Appropriations for
Humanitarian Assistance
and Security at the Southern
Border Act, which the group
Photo: Max Parrott/QNS
fears would be used to carry
out President Trump’s
policies.
“As a parent it’s
unconscionable that this
is happening. When I drop
my kid off to daycare, it
can be really hard. So that
this can be done in the
name of a policy — with so
much trauma inf licted — it
has to end,” said Bhavana
Nancherla, a Hand in Hand
member.
Hand in Hand, which is
affiliated with the National
Domestic Workers Alliance,
has been organizing
playtime actions across the
city that aim to emphasize
their urgency in resisting
Trump’s border policies.
“It’s families that are
being impacted and also
families that are speaking
up,” said Nancherla.
The group let Maloney’s
office know ahead of time to
expect them hoping that they
would have an opportunity
to speak with her or a
representative
before the House
Committee on
Oversight and
Reform, of which
Maloney is a
member, held
a hearing on
misconduct at
border detention
f a c i l i t i e s
scheduled for
July 10.
The group had
three demands:
that Maloney
be committed
to closing all
border detention
centers, that
she demand
an end to child
separation at the border
and that she plan a trip to
witness the conditions of a
migrant detention center.
Ed Babor, the Queens
representative for Maloney,
greeted the parents in the
lobby of her office.
“She’s definitely in
your corner,” Babor said,
but declined to comment
on Maloney’s behalf about
her response to the group’s
demands.
Babor did add, however,
that Maloney had a trip to
a detention center in South
Texas planned for this
weekend.
Maloney responded
to the protest later on
Tuesday, confirming that
was planning to trip to the
a detention facility during
the weekend.
“I am so proud to be
part of a community that
shows up and stands up
for those who need their
voices lifted up and are
too often silenced. Thank
you to all those who rallied
at my Queens office today
to condemn the gross
atrocities at our Southern
border. I’m grateful to
have the support of my
constituents and I value
their commitment to
speaking out against
injustice and the negligent,
inhumane treatment of
migrants at detention
centers,” she wrote.
Reach reporter Max
Parrott by e-mail at
mparrott@schnepsmedia.
com or by phone at (718)
260-2507.
PRIMARY RECOUNT STARTS
Board of Elections workers began on July 9 the tedious process of recounting more than 90,000
ballots in the June 25 Democratic primary for Queens district attorney. See Page 4 for more on
the too-close-to-call race. Photo: Mark Hallum/QNS
Vol. 7 No. 28 48 total pages
/QNS.COM
link
