Oath of Office for Civic Activists, Gov’t Officials Take Action
Greenburgh Town Supervisor Paul Feiner told the almost 1,000 residents of Westchester County who attended the protest against President Trump’s immigration policies in Sleepy Hollow on Sunday that the protest should only be the beginning of their activism. He asked all the protesters to raise their hand and to repeat the oath of office as Civic Activist.
“I swear to uphold the Constitution of the United States and State of New York and pledge to speak out on issues of importance to me at the local, county, state and national levels. I will not be intimidated and will speak my mind as a civic activist. I will attend meetings of appropriate legislative bodies and will not be silenced,” Feiner said and the crowd followed.
Feiner said he was amazed at how many people were getting involved in public policy issues for the first time in their lives. “I was at an organizational meeting last Thursday (preparing for the rally) and did not know 90 percent of the attendees, even though I have been an elected official for over 30 years. This is fantastic!” Feiner said.
Feiner said that he expects to hold swearing in ceremonies for first time civic activists at upcoming Greenburgh Town Board meetings. “President Trump will go down in history as the President who got people involved. People are now aware of the fact that there are ramifications to being apathetic. I will swear into office as civic activists people who agree with my policies, disagree with my policies, support or oppose President Trump’s policies. The goal of this swearing in ceremony is to motivate people to not only get involved with one issue but to stay involved, and to express themselves without fear or intimidation.”
“I hope that similar swearing in ceremonies will take place all over the United States. Millions are speaking out. This is what democracy is about,” Feiner added.
With similar sentiments, Congresswoman Nita Lowey (D-Harrison), joined Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, and her House and Senate Democratic colleagues on the steps of the Supreme Court of the United States, Monday, to demand President Donald Trump rescind his “unconstitutional” executive order banning refugees based on their religion.
“Donald Trump has never had a boss before. Well, now he has 350 million of them, and our voices will be heard,” said Lowey. “I join the thousands of New Yorkers, and millions of Americans across the country, expressing outrage at President Trump’s hateful and unconstitutional executive order. My colleagues and I will continue to do everything we can to fight and defeat this illegal directive.”
Lowey is an original cosponsor of both the Statue of Liberty Values Act (SOLVe) Act and the No Funds for Unconstitutional Executive Orders Act. Both prohibit the President from using congressionally authorized funds to enforce his unconstitutional executive orders.
Lowey has called on Customs and Border Patrol and Immigration and Citizenship Enforcement to release those held at airports who have already cleared security-vetting procedures and to immediately give more information to their attorneys and families.
In Albany, the Senate Democratic Conference introduced their “Resistance Agenda” that includes three bills that would protect refugees, immigrants and foreign students from being victimized by the Trump Administration’s recent Executive Order.
“President Woodrow Wilson once said ‘The history of liberty is a history of resistance’. Now it is more imperative than ever that New York leads this resistance,” Senate Democratic Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Yonkers) is quoted in a media statement.
The Senate Democratic Resistance Agenda includes: Port Authority Resistance Bill, which would prohibit the Port Authority from supporting federal efforts in any way, including supporting personnel, the use of airport facilities or providing electricity and climate control in areas of the airport being used for the detentions. Under this proposal, Port Authority police and employees would be prohibited from providing any assistance to the federal government to enforce Trump’s executive actions on Muslims and refugees. Additionally, no NYPD officer or State Police officer would be authorized to provide any assistance to federal officers.
The SUNY/CUNY Resistance Bill would require SUNY and CUNY employees to avoid inquiring over a student’s immigration status to the extent that such action would assist the federal government in removing immigrant students. This legislation would also neutralize controversial efforts by the State Senate Republicans to require universities to compile data regarding the number of foreign students, their countries of origin and the programs they are enrolled in. Under this proposal, SUNY and CUNY would be prohibited from determining if a student was from a specific Muslim-majority nation, whether the student had proper immigration status, or was undocumented.
A statement from Westchester County Democratic Legislators on President Trump’s Immigration Executive Order said: “We are appalled at the Executive Order issued by President Trump last week which seeks to limit immigration both on a religious and ethnicity basis. This is not who we are, and for residents of Westchester, it is not who we will be. Our nation, as evidenced through the immigrant background of so many of our families, is built upon the principles of tolerance and understanding. Denying entry based on where a group of people are from or what they believe flies in the face of what our founding fathers fought for. It is a policy we as a nation took during the buildup to World War II, which lead to deaths of thousands of Jewish refugees fleeing persecution in their homeland. It is a policy that can hinder our troops fighting abroad today who rely on intelligence provided from foreign nationals who stand to be denied entry based on this order. We once stood as a beacon of hope and light for all who were forced to leave everything out of fear. It is time for us to fly that flag proudly once again.”
An email request to County Executive Rob Astorino’s office for a statement had not been returned as this issue went to press.
