NYC Gearing Up to Implement Exec Amnesty

New York City is gearing up to implement President Barack Obama’s executive amnesty for illegal immigrants even though the program has been temporarily halted after a federal judge issued an injunction against it.

City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito told the Observer that it has “pushed for an additional $2.5 million” in Mayor Bill de Blasio’s November budget to help with various programs to implement Obama’s executive amnesty.

“We’re just trying to put the wheels in motion and be ready to really roll, fully, once we get the approval—and we believe that court case is going to be overturned, thrown out, whatever—so the executive order can move forward,” she told the outlet.

According to the Observer, the “Council has also partnered with the New York Immigration Coalition for a series of events dubbed ‘Key to the City,’ which receives $200,000 in council funding and is designed to provide immigration services from foreign consulates to immigrants in the city.”

Mark-Viverito has already led the effort to create the IDNYC program, which allows illegal immigrants get access to various “city services and bank accounts.” The Council has also passed legislation to end “cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainers, and will now only hand over undocumented immigrants to federal authorities when there is a warrant and the person has been charged with a serious crime.” And it has reportedly allocated another $4.9 million to give illegal immigrants facing deportation lawyers in court.

New York, along with cities like Los Angeles and Chicago, is in the “Cities for Citizenship” partnership, which brainstorms on ideas to help illegal immigrants with various services, including getting prepared to receive Obama’s executive amnesty.

The Obama administration has asked the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse injunction against its executive amnesty programs, and the court will hear oral arguments later this  month. There are reportedly 500,000 illegal immigrants in New York City, and New York, along more than 30 cities, filed a brief to support Obama’s executive amnesty.