Transcript: Mayor de Blasio Delivers Remarks At Somos Dominican Reception

March 25, 2017

Mayor Bill de Blasio: I want to thank everyone for this chance to be with you. And look, I want to say a few things about what is going on right now in our city and in our country. This is a very powerful moment – I want to speak to it – but, first, I want to thank these great leaders.

You will notice that the Dominican presence in the legislature seems to be growing all the time, and that is something very positive for New York City and for the whole State of New York. And it is not just that there are more leaders from the Dominican community in the legislature – and now, by the way, in the Congress – it is the quality of the people and the impact they’re making and the values they bring to this. So, I want to thank them all. 

Of course, I want to say everyone is proud of a man who made history – and now he’s fighting to protect all the progress we’ve made in our nation. Let’s thank our Congressman Adriano Espaillat.

[Applause]

I just want to note that Adriano goes to Washington and Donald Trump is immediately defeated on the Affordable Care Act.

[Applause]

Now, coincidence? I don’t think so, okay?

I want to thank, of course, one of the newest members of the State Senate – someone I’ve had the pleasure of working with for many years and deeply appreciate the good work we’ve done together – Senator Marisol Alcantara, we thank you so much.

[Applause]

And one of the newest members of the Assembly and a bright rising star – Carmen De La Rosa, thank you.

[Applause]

I believe Victor Pichardo is here – I haven’t seen him, but I think he’s here. Assemblyman Victor Pichardo, thanks for all you do. And a crucial ally in so much we have done in City Hall on so many of the issues you heard about before, including Vision Zero. One of the biggest champions for Vision Zero – Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez, thank you.

[Applause]

And, finally, a mentor of mine – where’d he go? There he is. A mentor of mine, going back many years to when I first was working for Mayor Dinkins – Dr. Rafael Lantigua, thank you for all you do for this community – a voice of conscience, always.

Listen, I want to talk to you about what’s going on. This is a very powerful moment. And let me just start by saying this – we saw – we saw a moment of history with a defeat of Donald Trump’s effort to take away healthcare. We saw a moment of history. We saw the pendulum swinging back our way, didn’t we?

[Applause]

And I want you to understand how powerful this is – 2 million people in New York City got health insurance because of Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act – 2 million people. Everyone here is involved in the community. You know people who have benefited. All that was in danger. All that was in danger. Our public hospitals were in horrible danger and everything was on the line, and people mobilized all over the country to fight the repeal of the ACA. 

Now, in case you hear from people that you can’t fight Donald Trump, well, guess what? We’ve just proven, you can fight Donald Trump, and you can beat him.

[Applause]

And that takes me to the second issue, which is what Donald Trump is trying to do on immigration and the way we’re going to beat him on that too. Did you see in the State of the Union address – did you see that Donald Trump suggested we need a whole federal office for “victims of immigrant crime.” What was that about? That was Donald Trump trying to demonize all immigrants, trying to paint all immigrants as negative and criminal. It’s not just about a few crimes – this is a much more systematic effort to demonize immigration and we will not allow that to happen. We are the city of immigrants, the state of immigrants. We will never allow our immigrants to be treated that way.

[Applause]

And we made clear this week in New York City that if ICE tries to come into our public schools, they will not be allowed in the door. 

[Applause]

Let’s be clear. Let’s be clear, we in New York City – we control our own fate. We are not going to see our children terrorized. We’re not going to see our families torn apart. Can you imagine if you’re a child in one of our schools and you fear that you’re about to be taken away and forced our of the country. Or if you fear that you’ll go home at night and your parents won’t be there. That has what has been created in this environment, and we have to show our children that we will have their back and stand up for them. 

[Applause]

So, if any ICE agent appears at one of our public schools or any of our other city buildings, they will have to deal with someone in one of our uniforms telling them they cannot come in the door – it’s as simple as that.

[Applause]

And I want to say, I was so proud – you saw a few weeks ago – it was on the cover of the Daily News – a picture of our Police Commissioner on one side and Donald Trump on the other side. I was so proud of our Commissioner Jimmy O’Neill, saying to our police officers – you are not going to be turned into immigration enforcement agents in New York City.

[Applause]

Finally, I want to say to you this – I want to ask your help and I want to talk about something that affects so many of us in New York City. Everyone here knows that we are fighting a battle in New York City to keep it a city for everyone. We’re fighting all of these bad policies in Washington, but we also are fighting to protect our own neighborhoods, our own communities. 

Too many people have been displaced. Too many people have lost their homes and their apartments because they couldn’t afford them anymore. We have an affordability crisis in New York City and we have to do something different. And what I’ve called for is what I call a mansion tax. It’s a simple idea that says if someone buys a home for more than $2 million, they should pay a little more in taxes so we can give affordable housing to our senior citizens.

Now, I want to take a little survey here – how many people here believe that the wealthy should pay their fair share of taxes?

[Applause]

Right? How many people here believe the wealthy right now are paying their fair share?

We have a problem, don’t we? This is why the mansion tax is such a powerful idea. It’s an act of fairness. If someone’s wealthy enough to afford a $2 million, a $3 million, a $10 million-dollar home, they can give a little more and 25,000 senior citizens will get affordable housing. 25,000 of our neighbors will get affordable housing with the money we raise from this tax. Doesn’t that sound fair to you?

Audience: Yes!

Mayor: So, thank you, everyone. Listen, SOMOS every year is a time where we enjoy each other’s company, we network, we think together, and we get read to fight the battles ahead. We’ve got a lot to fight for this year, we’ve got a lot to fight against in Washington, but we are strong, and we have a great victory this week to prove how strong we are.

Let’s go to win some more victories together.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]