BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Support is growing for the "New York for All" Act, legislation that would restrict state and local governments from cooperating with federal immigration authorities.
Currently, 96 state legislators back it. The surge comes after the Erie County Medical Examiner announced earlier this week that the death of Rohingya refugee Nurul Amin Shah Alam was a homicide.
Authorities say the 56-year-old was found dead five days after Border Patrol picked him up from the Erie County Holding Center. There was an immigration detainer request on him.
When the agents learned he was not eligible for deportation and had legal status to remain in the U.S. as a refugee, they dropped him off at a Tim Hortons in Riverside that night. But only the drive-thru was open at the time.
Shah Alam was found dead on the night of February 25 near KeyBank Center.
On Wednesday, the medical examiner's office said he died of a perforated ulcer triggered by hypothermia and dehydration. Advocates say the New York for All legislation would have prevented the Erie County Sheriff's Office from alerting Border Patrol. The new law would require a warrant signed by a judge for local authorities to comply.
"We need to separate things now," Assemblyman Jon Rivera said.
"Local law enforcement should not have been involved the way that they were involved," Rivera said. "We know that there's a role for local law enforcement in all our lives, but interfering and engaging with ICE should not be one of them."
"This legislation will ensure state and local resources are focused on serving our communities, not Donald Trump's political agenda," State Senator Jeremy Zellner said. "I don't have to tell anybody about Mr. Alam, a vulnerable man, nearly blind and unable to speak English, who should never have been left alone without support. His family's suffering and no one should have to go through that."
"We cannot wait for another death at the hands of Erie County Sheriff and Border Patrol or any other law enforcement in the state to pass this legislation," Megan Maloney de Zaldivar, vice president of advocacy for New York Immigration Coalition, said.
WATCH: 'Need to separate things now': Support grows for New York for All Act
In Buffalo, Mayor Sean Ryan has already signed an executive order banning all city agencies from cooperating with the federal government. Erie County agencies, excluding the sheriff's office, are under a similar policy.
The New York for All legislation would make these restrictions statewide.
The Erie County Sheriff's Office says there is nothing new about detainer requests and that they are treated the same way the state prison system has handled them.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement states on its website that when a law enforcement agency does not honor a detainer request, that means agents have to pursue the subject, which puts the public at large in danger.
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