Immigrant protections stall while lawmakers mull end-of-session

And an argument between two lawmakers was the talk of the Capitol Friday.

Good afternoon — it’s Friday and Creativity Day.

In today’s CapCon:

• Immigration advocates are pushing lawmakers to use the final two weeks of this year’s session to pass new protections amid ongoing ICE raids.

• A tense committee meeting in the Senate this week resulted in a heated argument between two lawmakers in an elevator.

• The Senate confirmed three new commissioners to Hochul’s cabinet this week.

• A new bill would push back on unexplained decisions by the state’s cannabis agency to waive distance requirements for dispensaries.

• This Week in New York History: GE’s famous engineer, the first long-distance flight and the NAACP’s inception.

Names in today’s CapCon: Kathy Hochul, Murad Awawdeh, Kevin Parker, Mario Mattera, Mark Walczyk, Amanda Lefton, Willow Baer, Denise Miranda, Jeremy Cooney, Amy Paulin

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❗ CapCon Note: Our End of Session Sale ends TODAY! If you want to receive CapCon through the end of this year’s legislative session, here’s a 30-day free trial.

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Advocates rallied in Albany this month (Will Waldron/Times Union)

⚖️ ‘It’s happening every day’: immigration raids continue while lawmakers stall

Earlier this week, officers with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement were spotted at an intersection in the city of Albany about two miles from the state Capitol.

Then, yesterday morning, officers with the federal agency were seen in Troy, accompanied by a member of the State Police. Hours later, a series of arrests were made at a court in Manhattan.

Those are three of instances out of several being documented by immigration advocates in New York every day, said Murad Awawdeh, executive director of the New York Immigration Coalition.

“It’s been incredibly challenging,” an exhausted Awawdeh told me Friday afternoon.

He’s one of countless advocates who want the Legislature to pass new protections for immigrants before the end of this year’s legislative session ends in two weeks. So far, lawmakers have not made that commitment.

The bill that advocates are focused on is called New York For All. It would codify into state law an existing executive order that prohibits state entities from participating in immigration enforcement matters unless officers present a judicial warrant.

It would also go beyond that order and prohibit local police departments from working with ICE, like how officers in Rochester helped federal immigration authorities in an arrest last month.

Democrats in the state Legislature have publicly condemned raids from federal immigration officers in New York but, privately, they’re undecided on what, or if, they’ll do anything in response.

“We know the legislators are discussing the bill,” Awawdeh said. ”We need them to stop discussing and take action. Put it on the floor.”