Statement of NYLAG President & CEO Lisa Rivera
NEW YORK — Tuesday, the president delivered his address to a joint session of Congress highlighting the administration’s actions so far and outlining a bleak vision for the future. In response, Lisa Rivera, president and CEO of New York Legal Assistance Group (NYLAG), issued the following statement:
“While touting his administration’s flurry of callous and damaging actions in its first six weeks, the president alluded to ‘just getting started.’
“As NYLAG continues our work, partnering with and providing essential legal services to New Yorkers directly impacted by these actions, here’s what ‘just getting started’ has looked like so far:
- Immigrant families are asking us, ‘Is it safe to send my children to school? Will I still be safe going to work, even though I have work papers?’
- Transgender, non-binary and gender non-conforming New Yorkers are telling us, ‘My whole life has been thrown into limbo; without accurate documents and IDs that have my correct name and gender markers, how will I secure housing or a new job? How will I access gender affirming care if my benefits are taken away?’
- Students with disabilities and their families are asking what’s going to happen to their special education supports as the Department of Education is under attack. ‘Will my child still be able to attend their school that has the specialized resources and services they require? How do we ensure that our child still has access to a quality education?’
- Dropped enforcement cases at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau have left student loan borrowers wondering if they’ll ever get relief from the crippling financial burdens predatory lenders have imposed upon them without consequence.
- Survivors of domestic and gender-based violence worry, ‘Without the emergency shelters, legal support and crisis services the government plans to defund, how will I get the resources I need to keep myself and my family safe?’
- After putting their lives on the line to serve this country, our veterans must now fight legal battles in the courts trying to defend critical care that would vanish under drastic proposed cuts to The Department of Veterans Affairs. Thousands of transgender active service members learned they’d be losing their jobs within 30 days, simply for being trans, and that the U.S. military will no longer provide their life-saving gender affirming care.
- Older and disabled adults, as wells as families, caretakers and direct care workers who rely on Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security are contacting us, asking if they’re going to lose essential services, like long-term or home-based health and medical care, and even prescription drug coverage. For many older adults and those with disabilities that prevent their ability to work, losing Social Security benefits means losing what often can be their only source of income.
“If this is ‘just getting started,’ then we know that it is precisely those communities we serve who will continue to be disparately harmed, unfairly targeted and disproportionately impacted by more of the egregious acts of injustice, destructive policies and violent rhetoric we have already come to expect from this administration.
“We refuse to stand idly by as this administration continues to dehumanize and vilify our communities. NYLAG and our partners will never stop fighting to ensure access to essential legal services, partner with communities and advocate for systemic change.”
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