Video, Audio, Photos & Rush Transcript: Governor Hochul Rallies With Immigration Advocates and 1199SEIU Members Following SCOTUS Ruling

Governor Hochul rallies with immigration advocates and 1199SEIU members following SCOTUS ruling.

VIDEO: The event is available to stream on YouTube here and TV quality video is available here (h.264, mp4).

AUDIO: The Governor's remarks are available in audio form here.

PHOTOS: The Governor’s Flickr page will post photos of the event here.

A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:

 First of all, I want to acknowledge the leadership of Yvonne Armstrong of this incredible union, and it is her strength that inspires us every single day and the hardworking men and women of SEIU. I also know that you'll be hearing from our Attorney General, and Murad is here. Where is Murad? He's here. We stood together yesterday — the Brooklyn District Attorney, the Attorney General, myself and Murad — to talk about what we're doing to defend the rights of individuals who found New York as their home.

But today, hundreds of thousands of individuals woke up with this dread, this fear in their hearts because their rights are being abandoned by the Trump administration and the Supreme Court of the United States. Temporary Protected Status has long been a vehicle to protect people who are living in war-torn countries, torn with political strife, those where there's starvation and violence, and our Statue of Liberty and our harbor has always been the place people come for support legally — came here legally with legal, protected status. They walked in, came here and had legal status until the Trump administration literally withdrew that from them.

Now, many of them, many of them are doing some of the most difficult, challenging work that needs to happen in our country and our state and I'm grateful to them — I'm grateful to them who show up every single day as healthcare workers to take care of our elderly, sometimes our children, people with disabilities, senior citizens. They're performing God's work here in New York State, and I'm grateful for them. I've met many over the years I've been Governor, traveling to Little Haiti and making sure that they knew that I support them, especially after Donald Trump was so disgustingly demonizing them just a couple years ago about what happened, he alleged happened in Ohio.

They have been under siege for a long time, and they do not deserve this. So what has happened now, the Supreme Court withdrawing these rights, I'm telling you it's going to cripple our healthcare system — cripple our healthcare system because so many of them are hardworking union members.

Who's going to show up tomorrow to take care of grandma? Who's doing that? Who's stepping up? This is what's going to happen in our state and our country, and we have to stand up and challenge this, fight this, and say, "Not here, not now, not ever." That is why I'm going to continue leaning into the laws that we've enacted, and I thank the Legislature for teaming up with me and the Immigration Coalition, all the advocates and the elected officials, to do something to show New York State is standing up.

We're banning masks for immigration enforcers as well as anyone who wears a badge. We should know who you are. You should not be able to go into our communities, intimidate, threaten and create fear — number one. Creating sensitive locations so you can go to school, go to a healthcare facility, go to a childcare center, places of worship and a polling place without fear of an ICE agent trying to stop your rights. Also, creating a constitutional right for those who've had their rights trampled on by ICE and immigration agents.

So we're not sitting on the sidelines. That's my message here today. This is New York. We fight back. We defend our people. And for those who think they can come here and just tell us that's going to be a different way than it is, you have to get through us first. You have to get through all of us first because we're standing strong. And I'm standing here because we have values.

We have a long, long history of standing up for people who are oppressed, who need our help. That is what defines us and separates us from every other place in the world, every other place in America. This is New York, and we have to have leaders who believe that America is stronger because of our immigrant community and not in spite of them.

That is the State of New York, and I'm proud to stand here with all of you, all of our members of the coalition who've been out there fighting every single day. But what has happened now for the Haitian community is going to have severe, severe, severe consequences on our entire economy as well as our fragile healthcare system, and that is why I'm proud to stand here with the leadership of SEIU and all the elected officials joined us today. Enough is enough.