Transcript: Mayor de Blasio Delivers Remarks at the Hispanic Federation Annual Gala

April 20, 2017

Mayor Bill de Blasio: [Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

Welcome, everyone and thank you – thank you for gathering tonight in support of such an extraordinary organization.

I want to talk about the Hispanic Federation and what it means at this moment in history and why you’re commitment is so important. But first, I have an obligation to share some very sad news with you. Just a few hours ago, we lost one of our New York City firefighters in the line of duty. Firefighter William Tolley – a man who was only 42 years old. He leaves behind a wife and 8-year-old daughter. I just want to ask you to – because this good public servant gave his life protecting all of us – I want to ask you for a moment of silence, please, for Firefighter Tolley.

[Observance of moment of silence]

Thank you very much.

I want to tell you, each year when we gather to support the Hispanic Federation [inaudible] this community in this city grows. Literally, each year we gather together the community becomes larger and more important in New York City.

[Applause]

Each year we gather together the Latino community of this country becomes bigger and more important to the destiny of [inaudible].

[Applause]

There are some in this country and they were in great evidence during the last election. There are some who deny this reality, undercut it, and paint it with a bad brush. We know better. We know there is a bright Latino future for the United States of America. 

[Applause]

So we have to support the organizations that uphold the community’s interest; serve people, advocate for people, make sure that the decades and decades and centuries of injustice in the way resources we’re given out and the way people were governed, that that’s addressed each and every year and that’s what the Hispanic Federation does. And it does it well. I want to offer my thanks to the whole board and all of the leaders of the federation. A special thank you to someone I had to joy of working with regularly – done a great job as your president, José Calderón we thank you.

[Applause]

And your dynamic new chair Natalie Rayes, we thank her for her leadership.

[Applause]

I thank all the elected officials who are here, local and state, our federal leaders who are here – all of the good friends who support this organization. And from my own team, I just want to single out and thank our wonderful commissioner of Immigrant Affairs. She has been at the frontline of the national fight to protect the rights of immigrants, Nisha Agarwal – our commissioner for Immigrant Affairs.

[Applause]

And then two proud Bronxites who play prominent roles in my administration, the Commissioner for Community Affairs Marco Carrion.

[Applause]

And the newest member of my team who is doing an outstanding job is my senior advisor Lorraine Cortés-Vázquez.

[Applause]

I just want to spend a moment – I know you’ve got a lot to do this evening, but let me say just a few very simple things about this moment in history. And I know we all feel it but we have to feel it with passion and we have to act with passion. That is why it is so important that you support tonight’s dinner because this is not business as usual, my friends. Nothing happening in the Washington D.C. is business as usual. We cannot allow it to be normalized. We cannot allow it to seem like something we will accept for our future. It is something to be addressed urgently now.

And I am going to give you two example that [inaudible]. One is during the President of the United States State of the Union address, he had the painful audacity to say that this country needed a new office – it was called Office for Victims of immigrant Crime. 

Think about what that was really trying to do. It was not about victims of crime. It was not about a few immigrants who committed a crime because that is true of all of humanity. There are always a few bad apples. It was an attempt to demonize all immigrants and particularly to demonize Latino immigrants. That is what was really going on. When the Attorney General of the United States, at the border just days ago in his prepared remarks, was going to call people who came from Mexico ‘Filth’ – you may have seen that. That was in his remarks. And he pulled them out at the last moment. This is a broad systemic, racist campaign to demonize all immigrants.

[Applause]

But you see there is a special [inaudible] when the President’s administration talks about Latinos. There is a special effort to single out and attack Latinos. And we will not stand for it; none of us should stand for it. And then we come to a very simple reality; a nation of immigrants where the vast majority of all immigrants among us contribute greatly to our nation including 12 million people who happen to be undocumented, but still contribute greatly to our nation. 

And the other day, one of them – Juan Manuel Montes – was literally sitting in a McDonald’s in California; happens to be undocumented, was minding his own business. ICE arrives and a few hours later he is in Mexico. And he is a dreamer. He is someone who grew up here; he is someone who is supposed to be protected under DACA. And he was deported on the spot. This is not American. This is not what conforms to our values and our beliefs as Americans. We have to feel outrage and an unwillingness to accept any of this; and a belief that the American people, when they are fully educated about the state of affairs, will not accept it either because Americans are not a hateful people. They do not want to see families torn apart. They don’t want to see people treated in an inhuman fashion. This is what is our task this moment to make that case in every corner of this country and to prove here in the greatest city of immigrants – a City that is right now more prosperous than ever and safer than ever because it is a city of immigrants.

[Applause]

It’s our job to tell it like it is; to show people the truth. I’ll conclude with this point, there are half-a-million folks who are undocumented in this city. There are another half-a-million folks who are permanent residents. Then there are many more who have become citizens, but came here from other countries. All of them are New Yorkers. All of them have made us great. How positive it would be, how good it would be, how productive it would be if we were spending our time celebrating and uplifting the people who are now part of our community and making us greater. Isn’t that what we should be doing?

[Applause]

Isn’t that what we should be doing with our time and energy?

[Applause]

We can’t accept what we have seen for these last few months. We won’t accept it. We need to fight it everywhere. In this city, we need to be the shining example. We need to be the antidote. We need to show what a society of the future looks like and show that is works. And one of the reasons that it works – I will conclude where I began – one of the reasons it works is because of the Hispanic Federation making us better every single day.

[Applause]

So keep building this great organization on a pathway to a city that is even more fair, even more inclusive. A city where everyone has an opportunity where we embrace everyone, not only [inaudible] but celebrating where they come from.

Thank you. God bless you all.

[Applause]