Like many at City Hall, Council Member Kendall Stewart (D-Brooklyn) walks with his head high, taking long, purposeful steps across the white, marble floor. He carries his long, black overcoat over his shoulder like a man used to the midwinter chill. But his necktie—a mini-revolution of lush green palm trees, ripe melons, indigo blue and deep reds—screams out: “This man is not from here.”

A native of the small Caribbean island of St. Vincent, Stewart brings a level of personal expertise to his role as chair of the Council Committee on Immigration. Through that position, he said, he tries to remind New Yorkers that immigrants have been and remain the city’s strength.
As immigration has become more of a hot button issue, he said, this has become increasingly difficult.

“Immigrants come here, to New York, because it is a symbol of American democracy and of opportunity,” Stewart said. “But it’s gotten harder for immigrants to get into the U.S. than it used to be and you have people who are third- or fourth-generation who forget that they’re immigrants, too.”

Mayor Michael Bloomberg supported the creation of the committee in 2002, shortly after Stewart, a podiatrist by training, was first elected. Since then, the seven members, including Haitian-born Council Member Mathieu Eugene (D-Brooklyn), has advised the administration on efforts to make the immigration process a bit less rocky.

“What we have done through the committee is bring attention to the issues that affect immigrants no matter where they’re from,” Stewart said. “I’m the kind of person who believes that you can’t just say, ‘I support immigration,’ and do nothing.”

They have reported to the mayor about regulating immigrant services providers, some of which collected thousands of dollars from immigrants without providing the documentation and processing services promised. The committee has also promoted legislation against hate crimes in the city, helped create more English-language programs to better integrate new arrivals, provided vocational training for the children of immigrants and championed opportunities for entrepreneurship among would-be immigrant business owners in the city.

He insists, however, that the support be limited to legal immigrants, pointing out that 1 million estimated illegal immigrants scattered throughout the city are breaking the law.

Stewart’s hard-line stance is in some conflict with the mayor’s Executive Order 41, which allows illegal immigrants access to social services without fear of deportation. His views may have more in common with members of the State Senate, where Stewart expects to be in a few years. He has his eyes on the seat of Kevin Parker (D-Brooklyn). Parker, Stewart believes, should run for his Council seat, enabling them to switch positions.

Parker has been lukewarm on this idea.

One way or another, though, Stewart plans to try for Albany.

“Make no mistake,” he said. “I’m running.”

And he is already ramping up his attacks, saying he is disappointed in Parker for failing to maintain close ties to the community.

“I thought that we’d have an open door since a lot of the people I represent are in his district, but he does not communicate,” Stewart said.

For now, though, Stewart remains focused on the Council and his work leading the committee. He sees no specific agenda for what lies ahead. 

“Our goal is to continue doing what we have done: to bring attention to immigrants and immigrant issues in New York,” he said.  But he believes the city must continue being a leader for the nation in its approach to immigration, especially with the issue remaining a central focus of the presidential candidates.

“New York influences the rest of the country,” he said. “They look to New York to see what we are doing.”