NYC NOW - Midday News: Live Bird Markets Closed, an All-Gender Beauty Pageant, and NYC Hospitals Issue Guidance Around ICE Activity

Episode Date: February 7, 2025

New York State is shutting down live bird markets in and around New York City amid concerns over avian flu. Plus, a community kitchen in Greenpoint is throwing an all-gender beauty pageant to raise funds for Brooklyn Community Kitchen. Finally, New York City hospitals are sharing guidance with their employees in the event federal immigration officials show up. But as WNYC's Caroline Lewis explains, some of the guidance is prompting more questions.

Welcome to NYC now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. It's Friday, February 7th. Here's the midday news from Michael Hill. New York State is shutting down live bird markets in and around New York City. WNIC's Jimmy Veilkine reports that it has to do with the avian flu concerns. Officials say they've found seven cases of H5N1, or avian flu, at markets in Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx. So the state's pausing live bird deliveries at 80 markets in the five boroughs, as well as Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester counties. They can reopen after they've been disinfected and

shut down for five days. So far, no cases have been detected in humans. Elizabeth Walters is Deputy Commissioner of the State's Department of Agriculture and Markets. She says the state is stepping up its testing. I want New Yorkers to know that we are on top of this in doing everything we can to keep New York animals and people safe. Officials say upstate markets can stay open because they have separate suppliers. In other news this afternoon, a community kitchen and Greenpoint is throwing an unusual fundraiser and all-gender beauty pageant to raise funds for Brooklyn Community Kitchen. That's a nonprofit which repurposes food that would otherwise be thrown out to serve free meals to the neighborhood. Organizer Simone Tita says it's going to be campy and fun with contestants

from 18 to 80 years old. It'll be at Princess Manor, a banquet hall in Greenpoint that hosts 15th birthday celebrations and sweet 16s. It's a very kind of hallowed place because everyone in Greenpoint knows about it, but very few people have actually been inside. The all-gender beauty pageant is Thursday, February 27th. 41 with sunshine, winter storm watch kicking in tonight because we have snow in the forecast three to five inches tomorrow night. Stay close. There's more after the break. This is NYC now. For WNYC, I'm Michael Hill.

New York City hospitals are sending out guidance to their employees and how to deal with ICE if a federal immigration agent shows up, but some of the instructions are stirring up more questions among workers and the public. We're speaking with WNIC Healthcare reporter Caroline Lewis about the hospital's policies and legal obligations when it comes to immigration and customs enforcement. Caroline, recent ICE activities prompted hospitals to send out these guidelines. Are ICE raids on hospitals? Are they common? Well, immigration experts, I spoke to, said enforcement targeting patients seeking medical care has

actually been extremely limited in the past. You know, even during the first Trump administration, which also began with a big public clamp down on immigration. you know, think about the Muslim ban. But it's unclear whether that could change. You know, President Trump recently said so-called sensitive locations such as hospitals and schools and churches are now fair game for immigration enforcement. And I think that's raised a lot of questions about how these institutions would handle a visit from ICE.

And, you know, NYC Health and Hospitals has been sending out all of these public-facing messages to patients saying they should keep seeking medical care regardless of their immigration status, saying they won't share patients, you know, information with anyone without their consent. But hospitals are also now sharing their internal policies with employees. And I think those offer a window into some of the more concrete information around what the protocols really are if a federal agent actually shows up. Have you read the guidance that has been sent out and what does it say? So I did look at the internal policies from NYC Health and Hospitals, NYU Langone, New York Presbyterian, and Mount Sinai. And I would say all of them have different variations on a theme. You know, they all said that ICE agents would have to be asked to show their credentials and any warrants or subpoenas or other documents they have. And they told employees to contact, you know, a hospital council or security or some designated personnel to review those documents because they can be really hard for a lay person to evaluate. But some of those guidelines also talk about extenuating circumstances like the city hospital guidance.

notably says that if an employee feels threatened or fears for their safety, they can give the officer the information they're asking for and let them in. And also, not all of these policies, including the one from the city, actually spell out for employees what hospitals' legal obligations are when it comes to ICE. And what are those legal obligations? So, yeah, so again, you know, speaking to policy experts on immigration, they say hospitals only have to let an ICE agent conduct enforcement on the premises if they have a warrant signed by a federal judge that names the person being targeted. And those are very hard to get. This is Laura Mukherjee, who runs an immigrant rights clinic at Columbia Law School. So if someone is wanted for a violent crime,

then maybe yes, you can get a federal judicial warrant. If someone is accused of being involved in serious drug trafficking, yes, then you can get a federal judicial warrant. But she said for anyone else, it's very unlikely. And again, I'm not necessarily seeing this specific information in hospital guidance, although Mount Sinai did spell it out pretty clearly. What concerns are critics raising about the guidance that's gone out so far? Who's objected? Well, I think especially when it comes to city hospitals, you know, politicians, city employees and unions have questions about how readily employees are supposed to give in to ICE. And NYC Health and Hospitals, and NYU Langone, both have lines in their policies that also specifically tell staff not to

actively help a person avoid being found by ICE and not to intentionally protect someone who's here unlawfully from detention. I spoke to two hospital employees, one at NYC Health and Hospitals, one at NYU Langone, who balked at this language because they want to better understand how they can actively protect their undocumented patients and what specific actions they can take. And they wanted more assurance that their employers weren't overly eager to comply with ICE. You know, of course, they don't speak for every health care worker, but some elected officials are also raising these concerns, like I said, especially about NYC Health and Hospital since it's a public system and treats a lot of undocumented patients.

And city institutions notably also are subject to sanctuary protections, which bar government workers from assisting immigration officials except in limited circumstances. And how has the city responded to those concerns? Well, City Hall says that the people raising alarms about the guidelines are the ones stoking people's fears. You know, they say it's not true that the city is instructing employees to cooperate with ICE. They say employees are simply being advised to not get into physical or verbal altercations with ICE because that could compromise their safety. So they're basically saying like these are clear and, you know, cogent guidelines.

What are doctors, nurses, medical staff to do if ICE agents are looking for someone who's in the middle of treatment, for instance, middle of testing or even in middle of surgery? You know, the guidelines really don't get that granular. And I think that a lot of employees really are looking for more of that type of guidance. I did speak to one immigration expert who was saying, like, you know, it can get a little murky. Like, you know, you could tell someone who you know is undocumented to, like, go hide if an ice agent is on the premises, but then that could potentially create some level of suspicion if they see that person hiding or running away.

and create some kind of reason for them to pursue that person. So I think people really are just looking for this more granular information about people's rights and the law. And we are too. Our guest has been WNIC. Healthcare reporter Caroline Lewis. Caroline, thank you. Thanks. Thanks for listening.

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