NYC NOW - Midday News: Critics Slam Cuts to NYC’s Rental Voucher Program, Historic Library Reopens After Renovation, and President Trump’s Deportation Plans

Episode Date: January 23, 2025

Budget experts and advocates are criticizing New York City for underfunding its rental voucher program for residents at risk of homelessness. Meanwhile, the New York Public Library’s Fort Washington Branch has reopened after a three-year renovation. Plus, President Trump has already issued a series of executive orders around immigration. Muzaffar Chishti of the Migration Policy Institute explains what to expect.

Welcome to NYC now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. It's Thursday, January 23rd. Here's the midday news from Veronica Del Valle. Budget experts and advocates are criticizing New York City's longstanding practice of underbudgeting its rental voucher program for residents at risk of homelessness. Mayor Adams announced a preliminary budget last week that would lead city FEPs with over half a billion dollars less in funding than it has in its current fiscal year. That's because the city typically shores up funding for the program later on, which leaves much of the money with few guarantees.

Former City Council Speaker Christine Quinn now runs the homeless shelter provider when she says the current practice is fiscally irresponsible. This move not only will hurt homeless people, homeless families, homeless children, in the long run will cost the city more money. An Adam's spokesperson defended the administration's affordable housing record and says the budgeting process is just getting started. New York Public Library's historic Fort Washington branch is open again after a three-year renovation. The over-century-old branch in Washington Heights received accessibility upgrades,

a restored facade, new technology, and multi-purpose rooms, among other updates. It's the third building to reopen under a $176 million initiative called the Carnegie Renovation Program. The program targets five historic library branches with serious renovation needs. Let's check in on the weather. It's 22 degrees right now. Today, mostly sunny, temperatures will rise just a little bit higher, high near 29 or so. Tonight, mostly clear with a low around 21. Tomorrow, sunny with a high near 30. one. Stay tuned for more after the break.

President Trump has been a world win of activity in the first days of his second term, issuing a host of orders and directives on immigration. Some steps have been dramatic, like declaring an end to birthright citizenship. But is there any indication the actions will bring about the mass deportation promised by Trump in New York or across the country? Joining me to discuss that is Muzafar Chishti, senior fellow at the Migration Policy Institute. Thanks for joining us. Thanks so much for having me. From what you've seen so far, is the president on the path to mass deportation or is this mainly show?

I think what we are about to see is a lot of shock and awe. The president promised mass deportation, but there are large number of constraints from that happening. I think we will probably not have a tsunami, but we'll certainly have a storm. We just don't know the intensity of the storm or where it will occur. But we also know that there are a lot of impediments to that becoming a much bigger event than he would like, and a lot of people are prepared to deal with the storm. What changes stand out to you as difference-making or significant? You know, the most important difference from Trump,

one to Trump too, is their decision to want to rid birthright citizenship in the country. Our Constitution's 14th Amendment says that everyone born in the United States is a U.S. citizen. It came out of the civil war when African Americans were not considered U.S. citizens at birth. And Supreme Court has held over the years and various courts have. That means exactly that except to a few exceptions of children who are born to U.S. diplomats. So he wants to change that, but most scholars believe that you need a constitutional amendment to do that. You can't do that by executive fear it, and you can't probably even do it by an act of Congress. Trump's Justice Department has directed U.S. attorneys to investigate and prosecute state and local law officials who refuse to enforce the immigration laws.

Does Washington have the power to target local officials in such a manner? Not really. Our Constitution establishes the system of dual sovereignty between federal and the state and local governments. There clearly is a lot of authority given to federal government on immigration. They can preempt competing federal and state laws, but there is also a constitutional constraint on the federal government's ability to influence the actions of state and local government. This is what lawyers like to call the anti-command-eering doctrine, which is rooted in the 10th Amendment of the Constitution, that federal government cannot coerce local officials to do something or not to do something. There are three Supreme Court decisions on this in 1992, 1997, 2018,

which established that principle. The first of those cases actually came out of New York, where the Supreme Court has said that you cannot, force local or state officials to do something. So that's the principle under which we live. Let's look at New York City. We know that the city has robust sanctuary policies barring local cooperation with immigration enforcement officers. Can the federal government compel local cooperation by withholding federal aid? Yeah, as I said on the 10th Amendment, they cannot force state officials or city officials to do anything.

But as you mentioned in the Trump first administration, the way they tried to do something similar was saying, well, if you don't cooperate, we won't give you certain funds. And all those funds were actually intended to serve public safety. That went to, it was challenged in the courts, and most courts said that you cannot withhold funding for those kinds of. of actions or inactions of the government.

There was some split at the course of appeals, but the majority of the opinions was that such holding of funds is not permissible. Whether these changes stand up in court or not, is it fair to say the president's actions will further stem the flow of immigrants to this country? Or are there other perhaps unintended consequences to that? Well, you know, the audience for this action

of the president are first is base. He promised something and he says promises made, promises kept. Whether they will actually have an outcome that in many ways is always less important to him. Announcing these things is more important. The second audience are people who may consider coming to the U.S. border and he is trying to dissuade them from coming. And the third is to have a chilling effect on unauthorized people who are already in the United States, that you better look over your shoulder.

It's exactly the statement of his boarders-on, that we are everyone is a target. So that instills a lot of fear. And that may be part of the goal here. That is not whether we deported large number of people, but whether we can instill fear among a vast swaths of our population. Before I let you go, what will you be looking for next? I'll be looking for next, I think, is what? where the first big enforcement action happens, whether that's a work site or whether that's in

a jail, because that's sort of going to test where the rubber meets the road. That's going to decide what constitutional or statutory provisions are being violated and what's the ability to resist them. I think I will also be very quickly looking at what the courts, 22 states have challenge his announcement on birthright citizenship, will quickly see how the courts react to that because otherwise that executive order goes into effect on February 19th. Muzhafer Chishti is a senior fellow at the Migration Policy Institute. Thanks so much for joining us. Thanks for having me. Thanks for listening. This is NYC now from WMYC. Catch us every weekday three times a day for your top news headlines and occasional deep dives.

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