Ravi Ragbir Should Stay In U.S. For Good, City Council Says

NEW YORK CITY HALL — The City Council passed a resolution Thursday urging Congress to keep immigrant-rights activist Ravi Ragbir in the United States after some debate over which immigrants deserve the city's support.

The resolution calls on the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives to pass, and President Donald Trump to sign, U.S. Rep. Nydia Velazquez's bill to give Ragbir legal permanent status in the U.S. as federal authorities try to deport him to Trinidad and Tobago.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents suddenly arrested Ragbir, who came to the U.S. in 1991 and got a green card in 1994, at a routine check-in on Jan. 11. ICE has agreed to delay his deportation as his lawyers try to stop it for good with a pair of court cases.

Velazquez's bill is unlikely to pass in the Republican-controlled Congress and even less likely to be signed by Trump, who has overseen a crackdown on undocumented immigrants. But Thursday's resolution marks city officials' latest effort to protect Ragbir, who leads the New Sanctuary Coalition of New York City, an interfaith group that works to protect immigrants from deportation. Progressive lawmakers and advocates say ICE targeted Ragbir for his activism, which ICE denies.

"Ravi personifies the need for compassionate, fair and just immigration policies, and we, the New York City Council, will continue to do everything in our power to stand up for immigrant communities in our city and across the nation," Council Speaker Corey Johnson (D-Greenwich Village) said.

ICE declined to comment on the resolution, but has said Ragbir lacks a legal basis to remain in the U.S. after several reviews of his case before federal courts and immigration authorities.

Several Council members have stood behind Ragbir since ICE detained him last month. Two councilmen, Ydanis Rodriguez and Jumaane Williams, were among 18 people arrested at protests that erupted outside the Manhattan federal building that day.

But seven lawmakers voted against the resolution, with some citing Ragbir's 2000 criminal conviction for wire fraud on which his deportation is predicated. He lost his green card after that conviction.

Councilman Kalman Yeger (D-Brooklyn) pointed to a New York Daily News op-ed by NY1 anchor Errol Louis detailing the financial crimes to which Ragbir confessed.

They involved a fake-mortgage scheme that stole the identities of several people to profit Ragbir and his business partner, including one woman who died before he went to trial, Louis wrote Tuesday. He served prison time after an appeals court upheld his conviction.

"The person who we’re doing this resolution for is not the right example of what’s wrong with immigration in Washington," Yeger said. "The problem with immigration in Washington is that it’s not recognizing our dreamers, it’s not recognizing those who have come here and abided by the law, who have done right by their community and done right by America."

But Ragbir's allies in the Council argued that even immigrants deserve a chance at redemption. His work to protect immigrants over more than a decade has earned him city officials' respect despite his past misdeeds, Councilwoman Margaret Chin (D-Manhattan) said.

Ragbir has asked a New Jersey federal judge to overturn the conviction.

"This vote reminds us that whether you are an immigrant or you are born in this country, you have the right to due process," Councilman Carlos Menchaca (D-Brooklyn) said. "We all have that right to defend our cases in court."

This story has been updated with a response from ICE.

(Lead image: Ravi Ragbir speaks at a news conference outside City Hall on Jan. 31. Photo by Bebeto Matthews/Associated Press)