NYC NOW - Evening Roundup: Tech NYC Throws Support Behind Hochul’s Cell Phone Ban, Adams Faces Mayoral Challengers on Tin Cup Day and NYC Schools Brace for Deportations

Episode Date: February 6, 2025

A group representing major tech companies, like Meta and Google, is backing Gov. Hochul's plan to restrict cell phones in schools. Plus, Mayor Adams’ budget testimony put him face to face with a couple of his challengers in this year’s mayoral race. And finally, WNYC’s Michael Hill and Jessica Gould discuss what educators and parents can do if ICE shows up at their doors.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news and around New York City. From WNYC, I'm Jene Pierre. A group representing major tech companies is throwing its support behind Governor Kathy Hokel's plan to restrict cell phones in schools. The group TechNYC represents companies like META and Google. Julie Samuels is its president and CEO. She appeared on New York One Thursday. There's enormous opportunity. that comes with, for instance, mobile phones,

but there are also challenges, and we think that for all of the reasons the governor just put out, they shouldn't be in school while kids are in class. Governor Hokel wants to prohibit students from using their mobile devices on school grounds during the day. Her plan has support from the state's teachers' union,

but some parents have expressed concern about being able to contact their children during the school day. New York City Mayor Eric Adams joined other local leaders in all Albany this week to testify at a state budget hearing. The mayor's budget testimony put him face to face with a couple of his challengers in this year's mayoral race.

WMYC's John Campbell was there too and shares how it went down. It was interesting. I mean, this was a state budget hearing. So state lawmakers got to question him. And two state lawmakers who did question him are Democrats from Queens who are running against the mayor. That's state senator Jessica Ramos and assembly member Zeran Mamdani. Ramos was up first.

She pressed him on early childhood funding and when the city's going to get opioid settlement money out of the door. But here's the thing. She only had three minutes to question him. Listen to this. Staten Island was not improved. It was approved to get the opioid dollars. Pardon him with A.G. James. Thank you.

Did you hear that little beep? That was the mayor literally running out the clock. I mean, the clock stopped and he just stopped. It was a strategic move by the mayor. Mom, Donnie was up next. He tried to pin the mayor down on whether the city is going to cooperate with immigration officials, as President Trump pushes for mass deportations. Will you today clearly state that as long as ICE does not have a judicial warrant signed by a judge,

you will deny them entry into New York City public schools, hospitals, and any other city property? We are examining all the EOs, and based on those EOs, we would never put, an employee of the city in harm's way. EO is executive order, we should say. And we should also note, too, city controller Brad Lander got to testify at the hearing later in the day. He's yet another person running against the mayor. He made a point to criticize Adams for not really addressing the possibility

that the city could lose a lot of federal funding under the Trump administration. That's WMYC's John Campbell. After the break, we look at what. steps New York City schools are taking amid President Trump's promise of mass deportations. Stick around. The Trump administration is ramping up immigration enforcement and deportations. And now, New York City schools are bracing for the possibility immigration officials could show up at their doors.

My colleague Michael Hill talked with WMYC's Jessica Gould, who has been talking to educators and parents about how they're preparing. if ICE does show up. Jessica, set the stage for his place. What has Trump done on immigration that's affected school communities? Right. Well, as you know, the data on detentions of undocumented New Yorkers

is still coming in. It's a little thin right now, but ICE says it's making a thousand or more arrests every day across the country. And we know that Homeland Security Secretary Christy Nome joined ICE agents on a raid in the Bronx last week. She said they were getting dirt bags off the street and they detained 39 people.

That said, there have not been any ICE agents at New York City Schools so far, but there's a lot of fear right now about what would happen if they did show up. What are the city's public schools supposed to do if ICE agents do come to the door? Well, the Trump administration has overturned the policy that banned ICE operations in sensitive. locations, and that includes churches and schools. But according to city policy, ICE is still not allowed in schools. And if they do come, administrators have to immediately call the legal division for backup. But you report that even though the city says ICE is generally not allowed in schools, the fee are still having an impact, isn't it? Yeah, we're seeing some potential impact on attendance. So according to schools Chancellor, Melissa Avila Ramos, attendance was down just a little bit, a few points in the days

following the inauguration. She was talking to lawmakers in Albany, and she said that fear was among the factors contributing to that. So, you know, the other factors were, of course, that it was very cold that week, and there's a lot of viruses going around. The mayor's office is downplaying the impact on attendance, saying attendance has been within the range of normal this year at this time of year, but multiple teachers have told me that some kids are staying home. And I spoke to Carol Jimenez, who is a bilingual teacher at a school in Sunset Park. Here's what she said. I had one parent share that her daughter has been home for a week because the family has been staying home because a neighbor was deported, so they're afraid to go out. And I've heard similar things from parents and teachers

across the city. Has the district told us how many undocumented, unauthorized students are actually in the city's public schools? Well, it's a rule that they don't track immigration status. So the numbers that we have are a Comptroller's report last summer said there were 50,000 undocumented families in city shelters, but they're also undocumented and mixed families outside shelters. And we've been reporting for years now about how schools have come together to integrate, newcomer families and students into their classrooms. So at this moment, some parents and teachers have really been taking matters into their own hands in an effort to protect the kids. What kind of steps are they taking? There's a range. You may have heard of these red cards that

outline people's rights in multiple languages. Teachers are handing them out or, you know, posting them to bulletin boards, putting them in libraries. Some teachers have also joined ICE watch groups. So encrypted messaging apps where they report to each other when they see ice in certain neighborhoods. And I've also been hearing, you know, kind of grassroots efforts where parents are offering to escort kids from undocumented families to school so their parents spend less time on the streets. Are there other steps that these parents and teachers say the city should be taking? Yeah. Immigrant advocates met with the school's Chancellor this week and laid out a bunch of recommendations.

Those included updating guidance, you know, as policies on the federal level change so quickly, having a point person at each school who is sort of central for supporting immigrant students. And they say that right now there's a lot of activism because people are stepping in where the city is falling short in these areas. But I've also heard from parents and educators who say they don't want schools to be politicized and they don't want to stoke alarm among these kids. But Jessica, right now, so far as we know, no ice rate is taking place at any of the city's

schools. That's right, but we'll be keeping a close eye on that. That's WMYC's Jessica Gould talking with my colleague Michael Hill. Before we go, we want to take a moment to remember hip-hop producer and Queen's native, Irv Gotti. His death was confirmed late Wednesday by Def Jam Recordings, the former parent company to a label co-founded by Gotti, Murder Inc. Records. Born Irving Domingo Lorenzo Jr., he rose to prominence in the late 90s and early 2000s,

and is credited for helping start the careers of musicians like JZ, Ashanti, and Jarl. Irv Gotti died at the age of 54. Thanks for listening to NYC now from WMYC. Catch us every weekday three times a day. Jean-A-Pierre. We'll be back tomorrow.