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Readout: Mayor de Blasio Meeting with U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly

May 15, 2017

This afternoon, Mayor de Blasio met with United States Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly. The 55-minute meeting at DHS headquarters in Washington, D.C., focused largely on New York City anti-terror funding, where the two agreed to help foster bipartisan support for federal investments key to the safety of the nation’s top terror target. Mayor de Blasio and Secretary Kelly also discussed immigration and New York City public safety. The Mayor stressed the importance of the relationship between police officers and the city’s immigrant community in securing record-low crime rates. Secretary Kelly spoke at length of his respect for that bond and the unrivaled public safety gains New York City has achieved. In discussing immigration, the Secretary re-affirmed his commitment to enforcement protocols that don’t involve sweeps or visits to hospitals, places of worship, or schools. The Mayor and Secretary discussed the presence of two DHS immigration agents at a school in Queens last week. The Secretary said that the agents were not there for enforcement action and that DHS does not target schools in such efforts. The Mayor made clear that the agents’ presence was nevertheless non-conducive to the learning environment and inconsistent with fair and effective immigration and education policy. They pledged to work together to ensure that the DHS investigative work in question was performed remotely and without the presence of federal immigration agents in New York City schools. In addition to discussing their shared allegiance to the Boston Red Sox, the Mayor and Secretary agreed to meet again in New York City in the coming months.

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