Joseph Crowley

Joseph Crowley

Congressman Joseph Crowley serves as Congressman for the 7th District of New York.

Crowley is the fourth ranking Democrat in the House.

Background

A native of Woodside, Queens and lifelong New Yorker, Joe has served the people of the Bronx and Queens in Congress since 1998. Before being elected to Congress, Joe received a bachelor’s degree from Queens College, ran a successful small business for nearly a decade and represented the 30th Assembly District in the New York State legislature. Throughout his career in public service, Joe has been driven by a desire to protect New York’s middle class.

As Vice Chair of the Democratic Caucus, the fifth-highest ranking position in House Democratic Leadership, Joe’s efforts in Congress are focused on building strong communities, creating jobs, increasing access to health care and housing, protecting seniors’ hard-earned benefits, and opening up educational opportunities for working families. His seat on the prestigious Committee on Ways and Means allows Joe to work directly on issues of importance to the residents of the 14th District – keeping Medicare and Social Security strong, improving health care for all Americans and creating a fair and equitable tax code for American families and small businesses.

Influence

Crowley currently serve on the Committee on Ways and Means, the oldest committee in the House of Representatives. The Ways and Means Committee has jurisdiction over tax measures, trade and tariff laws, Social Security, Medicare, and retirement security.

He also serve on a number of caucuses, including: Ad Hoc Committee on Irish Affairs, Co-Chair.

Staffer's 2001 trip to Cuba

In May 2001, Kevin Casey from the office of Congressman Joseph Crowley spent seven days in Havana, Cuba, for the purpose of "fact finding". The trip cost $2,004.43 and was paid for by the Christopher Reynolds Foundation.

Staffer's 2010 trip to Cuba

Rep. Crowley sent Katherine Winkler, to Cuba for 3 days in March/April 2010. The trip was courtesy of a $$2,127.40 grant from the Institute for Policy Studies connected Center for Democracy in the Americas... "Fact-finding mission to understand the importance and culture of U.S. policy toward Cuba" .

Sinn Fein

Crowley is very supportive of Sinn Fein.

Sinn Fein sympathiser

In 2002, when allegations surfaced that the Irish Republican Army was working with Colombia's narco-terrorist FARC guerillas, the Irish Echo commented on many US Congressmembers' Sinn Fein sympathies.

The 47-member House International Relations Committee represents a broad cross-section of congressional political opinion. Fourteen of the members represent northeast (mainly New York and New Jersey) constituencies, some such as Ben Gilman’s, with a strong Irish-American makeup. A substantial core of these have been identified over the years with Irish issues. As well as Gilman, they are Peter King, a New York Republican; Robert Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat; Joe Crowley, a New York Democrat; Christopher Smith, a New Jersey Republican; Eliot Engel, a New York Democrat, and Gary Ackerman, also a New York Democrat.

All have been sympathetic to Sinn Fein and the Irish nationalist agenda in general. King has been a long-time supporter also of the IRA. Smith was prominent in the hearings into Northern Ireland police reform. They can be expected to lend a sympathetic ear to any plausible explanation from Sinn Fein as to what the three republicans were doing in Bogota, should the party chose to send a representative to the hearing.

However, Rep. Hyde and Cass Ballenger a Republican from North Carolina, both conservatives, have been resolute in their determination to look at the allegations of IRA and FARC links. Ballenger was unequivocal when speaking before the Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere on April 11. “The IRA has been in Colombia providing the FARC narco-terrorists with urban terrorist expertise and training,” he said.

Lift ban on Sinn Fein fundraising

In October 2005, Members of Congress urged the State Department to lift a fundraising ban on Sinn Féin in advance of the upcoming visit to the U.S. of party leader Gerry Adams.

And that very visit could be in jeopardy if the specific Adams fundraising component is denied by the U.S. government.

Seven members of the House of Representatives have signed on to a statement in which they say they “strongly oppose efforts to ban Sinn Fein fundraising in the United States.”

The signatories include the Republican chairman of the Friends of Ireland group in Congress, Rep. James Walsh, and Rep. Richie Neal, a Democratic co-chair of the Ad Hoc Committee on Irish Affairs.

The group plays up its bipartisan composition in a statement in which they express “in the strongest possible terms our opposition to any effort that would prohibit Sinn Fein from raising funds.”

“We believe that the Sinn Fein leadership has kept its word and honored its commitments. At this critical moment in the peace process, they should not be penalized for delivering on their promises,” it added.

“Every political party from Northern Ireland has the right to fundraise in the United States. We are simply calling for a level playing field. The ban that prevents Sinn Fein from fundraising in the United States should be lifted promptly.”

In addition to Walsh and Neal, the statement was also signed by reps. Joe Crowley, John E. Sweeney, Eliot Engel, Frank Pallone and Brian Higgins.

Discussions with Gerry Adams

Crowley, Gerry Adams, 2012

Following discussions March 16, 2006 with Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams a number of senior US representatives agreed to lobby the British government to reconvene the Assembly in the short term.

The Sinn Fein President held a lengthy series of discussions yesterday with leading Congressional and Senate representatives.

Among the Congress members he spoke to where James Walsh, Richard Neal, Carolyn McCarthy, Marty Meehan, Peter King, Chris Smith, Joseph Crowley, Eliot Engel, Tim Murphy, Mike Capuano, Frank Pallone, Neil Abercrombie and others.

Mr. Adams also had a brief meeting with Senator John Kerry, and held two separate meetings with Senators Ted Kennedy and Chris Dodd and Senator Hillary Clinton.

A Sinn Fein spokesperson described all of the meetings as "very positive and constructive. The conversations concentrated on the need to make progress and on our proposals for breaking the logjam. This means movement by the British and Irish government‚s before the summer and well in advance of the marching season.

Sinn Fein lobbying

During a 10-day trip from Dublin in January 2013, Sinn Fein lobbyist Rita O’Hare had a meeting with Billy Tranghese from office of Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., and met directly with Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., Rep. Joseph Crowley, D-N.Y., Rep. Brian Higgins, D-N.Y., and Rep. William Keating, D-Mass. And on Jan. 21, O’Hare attended President Barack Obama’s inauguration.

Meeting Gerry Adams, March 2014

Mary Lou McDonald, Richard Neal, Joseph Crowley, Rita O'Hare, Joseph Kennedy III, Eliot Engel, Gerry Adams, and Frank Pallone

Gerry Adams, Sinn Fein Vice-President Mary Lou McDonald, and Sinn Fein lobbyist Rita O'Hare met Reps. Richard Neal, Joseph Crowley, Joseph Kennedy III, Eliot Engel, and Frank Pallone, in Washington DC, March 13, 2014.

"Solid supporter"

Irish nationalist politician Gerry Adams told The Hill June 2014, that his recent arrest in relation to a 1972 murder could ultimately have a beneficial effect in bringing renewed U.S. attention to lingering issues from the conflict in Northern Ireland.

Adams was speaking at the conclusion of a two-day trip to the United States during which he briefed Irish-American leaders in New York, and met with Obama administration officials in Washington, including Vice President Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan.

“My arrest alerted a lot of people here to difficulties, and part of the reason for my visit was to say to them, ‘Look, you know, now we have both [British and Irish] governments at least focusing on the need to sort this out,’” Adams said.

Adams met with the Congressional Friends of Ireland, a grouping whose members include Rep. Peter King, Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.) and Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-N.Y.).

“I pay great credit to the small group of Congress members on the Hill who, through thick and thin, and all the twists and turns of the process — people like Peter King and Richie Neal and Joe Crowley and others — have all remained very solid,” Adams said.

Helping McAllister

Malachy McAllister readily admits to his former life, although he prefers to think of himself as an ex-soldier in a civil war. As a member of the Irish National Liberation Army, a left-wing paramilitary organization, he plotted to kill two Royal Ulster Constabulary officers in Belfast. One of his targets was slightly wounded, and the plot against the other fizzled.

That was another Malachy McAllister, he says now. He gave up being a terrorist because he was bothered by the killing part, served time in prison, and for more than a decade has done nothing more violent than put mortar to brick. After gunfire riddled the family's Belfast home in 1988, he and his wife fled with their four children, first to Canada and then to the United States, where they requested political asylum. He told the authorities that if he returned home, old enemies would be waiting.

In October 2001, a federal immigration judge in Newark agreed that he had turned his life around but said the change does not diminish the gravity of his earlier criminal activities; he ordered that Mr. McAllister be deported. But the judge granted asylum to Bernadette McAllister for having suffered extreme past persecution based on her religion, her political opinion, and because she is Malachy McAllister's wife.

Distraught over the split decision, the McAllister family hoped that the Clinton administration would include them in any final sweeping gesture regarding Northern Ireland.

In December 2000, the government announced that to contribute toward a lasting peace there, it would not pursue deportation proceedings against nine Irish republicans. Mr. McAllister was not among them.

The family wound up in this predominantly Polish-American New Jersey town in 1997 simply because a friend of a friend knew of a place for rent. Then, in mid-1999, they moved into the first floor of a three-family apartment building, not far from Giants Stadium and just off a main road lined with gas stations and convenience stores.

Most of their neighbors are ignorant of their plight, and the McAllisters have worked to blend in, to be just a few more threads in the New Jersey fabric. But when Mrs. McAllister is not keeping the house and Mr. McAllister is not detailing brick, they are attending fund-raising events for their benefit, talking to lawyers about court appeals, and doing what they can to block a deportation that draws nearer each day.

All we're asking for is sanctuary in this country so that our children don't have to endure what we had to endure, Mr. McAllister, 43, says.

Even relocating to Dublin in the Republic of Ireland, 100 miles south of Belfast, holds little appeal. Too close, says Mrs. McAllister, weary beyond her 42 years. They were out to shoot my family.

Nearly two dozen members of Congress recently signed a petition that sought, without success, to prompt a last-minute reprieve from President Clinton. Now the same pressure will be applied to the Bush administration, according to Representative Robert Menendez of New Jersey, who with Representative Joseph Crowley of Queens is championing the cause of Mr. McAllister and other Irish republicans living illegally in the United States, a group whose exact number is unknown but estimated to be fewer than two dozen.

President Clinton provided some relief for a small number of them, Mr. Senator Robert Menendez said in a statement. Now it falls on President Bush to do the same for Malachy McAllister and the other remaining few who otherwise will be forced to return to Northern Ireland and possibly face politically motivated threats against their well-being.

Crowley Letter to Prevent Deportation of Malachy McAllister

April 28, 2006 Crowley Leads Bi-Partisan Letter in Support of Malachy McAllister and His Family from Deportation.

—Congressman Joseph Crowley, a co-Chair of the Congressional Ad-Hoc Committee on Irish Affairs joined Friends of Ireland Chair James Walsh (R-NY) along with Reps. Richard Neal (D-MA), Anthony Weiner (D-NY), Eliot Engel (D-NY), Brian Higgins (D-NY) and Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY) in authoring a letter to Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff asking him to intervene to stop the deportation of Malachy McAllister and his children.

"Malachy has served time for his crimes and is not a terrorist threat to the United States. Returning him and his family to Northern Ireland would put him at grave risk. When Congress passed tight terrorism laws we designed them to keep terrorists who threaten our nation out. Not to cause pain and suffering to hard working people living peacefully within. Malachy has shown that he is determined to live his life in the United States peacefully and to put his past in Northern Ireland behind him. To deport him and his family would be immoral," said Congressman Joseph Crowley.

Recently the Third Circuit Court of Appeals based in Philadelphia ruled against Malachy's appeal for deportation. In writing on the case Judge Maryanne Trump Barry wrote "I cannot find a way to keep Malachy in this country and I have surely tried."

Stay of deportation

Apr 21, 2016, Reps. Joseph Crowley (D-Queens, the Bronx), Vice Chair of the Democratic Caucus and co-chair of the Congressional Ad-Hoc Committee on Irish Affairs, welcomed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) decision to grant temporary relief from deportation to Malachy McAllister. Crowley has joined a bipartisan group of members of Congress, including Reps. Bill Pascrell, (D-NJ), Peter King (R-NY), Richard Neal (D-MA), Chris Smith (R-NJ), and Eliot Engel (D-NY), in leading efforts in support of McAllister’s case, including spearheading a bipartisan letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson and organizing multiple calls with ICE and U.S. Department of State officials. Today’s action will allow McAllister to stay in the U.S. for one year.

Colombia Support Network letter

In 2002, the Colombia Support Network organized a :dear colleague" letter to President Andres Pastrana Arango, of Colombia, through Ned Steiner, a staffer in Rep. Sam Farr's office.

The letter called on President Pastrana to end a military blockade on the Colombian town of San Jose de Apartado, a sister community of Madison Wisconsin, where the Colombia Support Network is based.

We write to you to bring your attention to the humanitarian crisis facing the civilian population of the Peace Community San Jose de Apartadó and its outlying settlements.

We urge the appropriate authorities of your government to dismantle the paramilitary checkpoint on the road between San Jose and Apartadó, ensure the continued safety of the road, and fully investigate recent threats and attacks on the Peace Community.

The Peace Community San Jose de Apartadó and its settlements, including the village of La Union, receive the permanent accompaniment of international organizations.

These include Peace Brigades International (PBI), as well as the U.S. Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR), which currently has two US citizens in La Union. We support the work of these two respected organizations as well as the Peace Community in its effort to build a non-violent alternative to the conflict.

Representatives who signed the Colombia Support Network inspired letter in 2002 included Joseph Crowley.

Voted against cutting funding for ACORN

In September 2009, following the lead of their Senate colleagues, the House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to cut off funds to ACORN. the vote was 345-75. All of the 75 were Democrats, and included Joseph Crowley.

"One Million Strong" Planned parenthood Cocktail Party

Jane Fonda, Joseph Crowley, Cecile Richards

Guest speaker and actress Jane Fonda, Congressman Joseph Crowley and President of Planned Parenthood Federation of America and Planned Parenthood Action Fund Cecile Richards attended Planned Parenthood Action Fund and Planned Parenthood Advocates of New York City for the One Million Strong Cocktail Party, a fundraiser to help make this a pro-choice election year. The event was held at The Prince George Ballroom on June 2, 2008 in New York City.

Haiti, March 2010

Sean Penn, Barbara Lee, Joseph Crowley

In March 2010 Nicole Lee from TransAfrica Forum, actors Danny Glover and Sean Penn and Reps Barbara Lee and Joseph Crowley were in Haiti working on earthquake recovery efforts.

Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus

In May 2013, Joseph Crowley was listed as an associate member the of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus.

Asian Americans for Equality connections

Endorsed Grace Meng

In 2012, Grace Meng won the endorsement of Rep. Joseph Crowley, in her first Congressional race, even though Crowley's own cousin City Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley was also in the race.

Asian Americans for Equality Award

Asian Americans for Equality’s 39th Annual Lunar New Year Banquet was scheduled for March 21, 2013, at the Jing Fong Restaurant in Manhattan’s Chinatown. At every banquet, AAFE presents the “Dream of Equality Award” to several honorees.

2013 honorees were Congressmembers Joseph Crowley and Grace Meng, State Assembly member Ron Kim, Sheena Wright, President and CEO of the United Way of NYC, David Garza, Executive Director of Henry Street Settlement.

Joseph Crowley has represented New York’s 7th Congressional District, in the Bronx and Queens, since 1998. As a member of the high-profile Ways & Means Committee, he has fought tirelessly for middle class New Yorkers, helping to keep Medicare and Social Security strong, reforming health care and creating a fair and equitable tax code for families as well as small businesses. Throughout his career, Congressman Crowley has dedicated himself to building strong communities, increasing access to affordable housing, protecting seniors, creating jobs and opening up educational opportunities.

Backed John Liu

Congressman Steve Israel, the chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, endorsed State Senator Tony Avella’s re-election bid, Mr. Avella’s campaign announced in July 2014.

Mr. Avella was up against former Comptroller John Liu, who raised significantly more money than Mr. Avella. The Queens Democratic Party and the area’s elected officials, including Congresswoman Grace Meng, were firmly behind Mr. Liu, setting up what appeared to be a clash between Mr. Israel and Congressman Joseph Crowley, the chair of the Queens Democratic Party and also a high-ranking Democrat in Washington.

After Mr. Avella joined a group of breakaway Democrats that govern the State Senate with the Republican Party, Mr. Crowley pushed Mr. Liu to run against Mr. Avella: it was this primary, in part, that eventually drove the Independent Democratic Conference to agree to eventually govern with the mainline Democratic conference, potentially putting the GOP in the minority for 2015.

Though Crowley was intent on driving Avella from office, he accomplished much of his goal by helping to drive a deal between the Democrats and the IDC, Queens observers say. Mr. Israel’s endorsement, therefore, may not sting as much as it would have before the deal was made.

“Joe planted his flag and can declare victory. He’s the only county leader who had the balls to challenge the IDC like this,” a Queens Democrat sympathetic with Mr. Crowley explained.

After the deal was made, labor unions and the Democratic conference agreed to not support primary challengers to IDC members any longer. The labor-backed Working Families Party withdrew their support of Mr. Liu and Mr. Avella even won some labor endorsements afterward, though a smattering of unions remain loyal to Mr. Liu. Mayor Bill de Blasio, who helped broker the IDC deal, also backed Avella.

Mr. Liu’s camp touted his own momentum and pointed to the number of Queens pols who endorsed him.

“Support for Democrat John Liu’s campaign is growing every day and we’re honored to have the strong endorsements of three of the District’s most respected leaders, Congressmembers Joseph Crowley, Grace Meng and Gregory Meeks,” said James Freedland, a spokesman for the campaign. “Elected leaders, community members and grassroots supporters know that John Liu is the only choice to stand up to the Republican status quo and fight for good jobs, affordable housing and better schools for every community in the 11th District.”

Endorsed AAFE 2016 banquet

PDA contact

In 2013 Progressive Democrats of America assigned activists to deliver their material to almost every US Congressman and several Senators. David Cook, and Chris Rieth were assigned as contacts for Rep. Crowley.

Immigration rally arrest

More than 20,000 people - including thousands of unionists -- who marched down the Washington, D.C., Mall on Oct. 8, 2013, to demand the U.S. House immediately pass comprehensive immigration reform. And 200, including 90 union leaders and union members and eight members of the House of Representatives were arrested when, in an act of civil disobedience, they blocked a street in front of the Capitol.

Arrestees included Lisa Bergmann, SEIU 1199 member Delphine Clyburn and activist Joelle Fishman, both also from Connecticut, Communications Workers Secretary-Treasurer Annie Hall and Political Director Yvette Herrera, The Newspaper Guild's president, Bernie Lunzer, and Paul Booth, the top assistant to AFSCME's president. Among the nation's top labor leaders also taken into custody were AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Tefere Gebre, AFT President Randi Weingarten, Unite Here President D. Taylor and Maria Elena Durazo, executive secretary treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor.

Among the lawmakers arrested were Reps.Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.), John Lewis (D-Ga.), Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.), Joseph Crowley (D - N.Y.), Al Green (D-Texas), Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) and Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.).

Unions, led by contingents from the Service Employees and their Local 32BJ, the Laborers and Unite Here, contributed a large share of the demonstrators. Other unions represented included AFSCME, the Communications Workers/TNG, Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, AFT and the United Farm Workers.

Working Families Party

The Working Families Party backed Crowley in 2014.

ARA PAF endorsement, 2014

The Alliance for Retired Americans Political Action Fund endorsed Joseph Crowley in 2014, also 2012.

Congressional Letter for Neutrality, 2014 Salvadoran Elections

On Monday December 16, 2014 Reps. Juan Vargas (D-CA), Mike Honda (D-CA) and Mark Pocan (D-WI) sent a letter to Sec. of State John Kerry – signed by 51 Members of Congress – calling for a public statement of neutrality by the State Department before the first round of El Salvador’s presidential elections on February 2, 2014.

The letter, , highlighted several “important steps” that the current government has taken to “strengthen its democratic system and expand the right to vote to all citizens,” including those living outside of the country, who will be voting by absentee ballot for the first time in February. Since the election of Mauricio Funes, the first President from the Marxist Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) party, the government has increased the number of polling places four-fold to increase accessibility, especially in rural areas.

“We’re glad to see so many Members of Congress expressing respect for the right of the Salvadoran people to determine their own future. That’s an attitude that’s sorely lacking in much of the US’ policy in Central America, especially with regard to economic policy,” said Alexis Stoumbelis, Executive Director for the pro-communist Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES), in Washington, DC, which has observed every post-war election in El Salvador, starting in 1994.

Signatories included Rep. Joseph Crowley ..

New York City honors Medicares 50th Birthday

July 30, 2015 marked the 50th anniversary of Medicare and Medicaid which were enacted in 1965 during the Lyndon Johnson administration. Various activities around the country celebrated these remarkable programs and called for defending, improving and expanding them and Social Security

In New York City an uplifting celebration at the Professional Staff Congress (City University staff) union hall started off the day's activities that included Metro NY Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism members.

Several elected officials spoke, including Rep. Nydia Velazquez (NY-7th CD), NY State Assembly Health Committee Chair Richard Gottfried, NYC Public Advocate Letitia James and a representative of Congressman Joseph Crowley. They were joined by speakers from several unions (SEIU 1199, Doctors Council SEIU, Committee of Interns and Residents/SEIU, Professional Staff Congress, NY State Nurses Association, etc.), and advocacy organizations including Children's Defense Fund, Medicare Rights Center, Physicians for a National Health Program, Metro Health Care for All, AARP and NY Statewide Senior Action Council.

Condemning Criticism of Islam legislation

On December 17, 2015, Rep. Don Beyer, Jr. introduced legislation condemning "violence, bigotry, and hateful rhetoric towards Muslims in the United States." The legislation is based on unsourced claims that there is a "rise of hateful and anti-Muslim speech, violence, and cultural ignorance," and a "disproportionate targeting" of "Muslim women who wear hijabs, headscarves, or other religious articles of clothing...because of their religious clothing, articles, or observances." The resolution, H.Res.569 - Condemning violence, bigotry, and hateful rhetoric towards Muslims in the United States

The legislation was cosponsored by Rep. Michael Honda, Rep. Keith Ellison, Rep. Joseph Crowley, Rep. Andre Carson, Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton, Rep. Betty McCollum, Rep. Marcy Kaptur, Rep. Carolyn Maloney, Rep. Dan Kildee, Rep. Loretta Sanchez, Rep. Charles Rangel, Rep. Scott Peters, Rep. Brad Ashford, Rep. Alan Grayson, Rep. Mark Takai, Rep. Brian Higgins, Rep. William Keating, Rep. Raul Grijalva, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Rep. G.K. Butterfield, Rep. Gerry Connolly, Rep. Ruben Gallego, Rep. Cheri Bustos, Rep. John Delaney, Rep. Kathy Castor, Rep. Luis Gutierrez, Rep. Michael Quigley, Rep. Elizabeth Esty, Rep. Joseph Kennedy III, Rep. Robin Kelly, Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, Rep. Gregory Meeks, Rep. Grace Meng, Rep. Al Green, Rep. Katherine Clark, Rep. Adam Schiff, Rep. Alcee Hastings, Rep. Sam Farr, Rep. Frank Pallone, Rep. Jim McDermott, Rep. Barbara Lee, Rep. Donna Edwards, Rep. Robert Brady, Rep. Frederica Wilson, Rep. Michael Doyle, Rep. Albio Sires, Rep. Suzan DelBene, Rep. Judy Chu, Rep. Jared Polis, Rep. David Loebsack, Rep. Bill Pascrell, Rep. Debbie Dingell, Rep. Jan Schakowsky, Rep. Steve Cohen, Rep. Ruben Hinojosa, Rep. John Yarmuth, Rep. Niki Tsongas, Rep. Jim Langevin, Rep. Mark Pocan, Rep. John Conyers, Jr., Rep. Mark Takano, Rep. Tim Ryan, Rep. Jose Serrano, Rep. Hank Johnson, Rep. Paul Tonko, Rep. Zoe Lofgren, Rep. Chris Van Hollen, Rep. Lois Capps, Rep. David Price, Rep. Doris Matsui, Rep. Gwen Moore, Rep. Denny Heck, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, Rep. John Carney, Rep. Xavier Becerra, Rep. Eric Swalwell, Rep. John B. Larson, Rep. Dina Titus, Rep. Peter Welch, Rep. Lloyd Doggett, Rep. Jim Himes, Rep. Matt Cartwright.

Capitol vigil

March 10, 2017, South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT), a national South Asian civil rights organization, along with partner organizations, American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), Arab American Institute (AAI), Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Desis Rising Upand Moving (DRUM), Indiaspora, MPowerChange, National Council of Asian Pacific Americans (NCAPA), National Network For Arab American Communities (NNAAC), Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF), and Sikh Coalition joining with and Members of Congress, held a vigil on the steps of the Capitol to honor the victims of hate violence in South Asian, Sikh, Muslim, Hindu, and Arab communities nationwide.

“At a time when South Asian, Sikh, Muslim, Hindu, and Arab community members are facing hate violence and harassment on nearly a daily basis, we need real leadership from Washington to stem the tide of injustice,” stated Suman Raghunathan, Executive Director of SAALT. “Waiting nearly a week before commenting on a deadly shooting in Kansas won’t do it. Issuing a second toxic Muslim Ban won’t do it. We need direct action from this administration to forge inclusion, justice, and hope in this quintessential nation of immigrants. SAALT will continue fighting for laws and policies that light a path toward a just and inclusive future for us all.”

Other speakers included Yolanda Rondon, Esq., Staff Attorney, American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, Amrita Bamrah, SALDEF, James Zogby, President, Arab American Institute, Robert S. McCaw, Director of Government Affairs Department, CAIR.

Members of Congress who joined the vigil included Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), Congressman Ami Bera (D-CA), Congressman Joe Crowley (D-NY), and Congressman Ro Khanna (D-CA).

Rally for Ravi

Yvette Clarke, Joseph Crowley, Nydia Velazquez

The New Sanctuary Movement announced Jan. 29 2018, that “After weeks of unrelenting community mobilization, Judge Katherine Forrest ruled this morning that ICE denied Ravi Ragbir due process by detaining him in his routine check in on Jan. 11. That means Ravi will get to fight his ongoing case from home rather than from behind bars in detention. The fight is not over. This ruling only affects Ravi’s detention, not his pending deportation. …Today’s decision is proof that organizing and the power of community will ultimately set us free. That’s why we must keep up the fight for the thousands of people facing the same racist, unjust, and escalating treatment from ICE every day.”

On the morning of Jan. 27, nearly 100 people protested outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office at 26 Federal Plaza in New York City to support Ravi Ragbir, an immigrant rights leader from Trinidad who is head of the New Sanctuary Coalition of New York, and Jean Montrevil from Haiti. Both were arrested by ICE agents earlier in January. U.S. Reps. Nydia Velazquez and Yvette Clarke from Brooklyn spoke at the rally in support of the two prisoners. Rep. Joseph Crowley was also there.

Muslim Democratic Club endorsement

The Muslim Democratic Club of New York endorsed Joseph Crowley for Congress in 2018.