Thought, speech, the Constitution and enforcing the law all appear to be taking a hit with a current move taken in New York City.

It’s now against the law in New York City to threaten to call immigration on someone or to call someone an illegal alien “when motivated by hate.”

This was announced not in a decision by the legislature, but in an edict declared by the New York Commission on Human Rights.

BREAKING:
New York City has made it illegal to threaten to call ICE based on a discriminatory motive or to tell someone "go back to your country." Hate has no place here. pic.twitter.com/8PaIozjQty

— City of New York (@nycgov) September 26, 2019

From Daily Wire:

The new crimes include, according to a press release from the commission, “Threatening to call [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] when motivated by discrimination, derogatory use of the term ‘illegal alien,’ and discrimination based on limited English proficiency are unlawful discriminatory treatment under the NYC Human Rights Law.”

The commission also said it was “currently investigating 4 cases involving discrimination based on threats to call ICE in order to harass, threaten, or intimidate a victim.”

And this sounds a lot like the Commission is declaring illegal aliens a “protected class.”

The new guidance “defines discrimination on the basis of perceived or actual immigration status and national origin under the New York City Human Rights Law in public accommodations, employment, and housing.”

“The guidance states that the use of the term ‘illegal alien,’ among others, when used with intent to demean, humiliate, or harass a person, is illegal under the law,” the commission said in its press release. “Further, the guidance stipulates that harassing or discriminating against someone for their use of another language or their limited English proficiency, and threatening to call ICE on a person based on a discriminatory motive, are considered to be in violation of the law.”

The Commission provides some examples of what would trigger them.

From NY Post:

“A hotel prohibits its housekeepers from speaking Spanish while cleaning because it would ‘offend’ hotel guests or make them uncomfortable,” reads one hypothetical.

“An Indian immigrant family complains to their landlord about mold and cockroaches in their unit. The landlord tells them to ‘just deal with it’ and threatens to call ICE if they file a complaint in housing court,” reads another.

“A store owner tells two friends who are speaking Thai while shopping in his store to ‘speak English’ and ‘go back to your country,’ ” reads a third.

Imagine the nightmare of accusations this is going to spawn.

Plus, the punishment is not minor. You can get a $250,000 per each incident, effectively destroying any small business or landlord.

The edict made it clear they were doing this because of the “increasingly hostile national rhetoric.”

“[W]e will do everything in our power to make sure our treasured immigrant communities are able to live with dignity and respect, free of harassment and bias,” said Carmelyn Malalis, the agency’s commissioner.

The directive comes months after Mayor Bill de Blasio vocally opposed coordinated raids by ICE on the city’s immigrant communities.

The city is also providing one million dollars to help with legal defense against deportation for illegal aliens.

So beyond the fact that this was just declared without the input of the legislature, there’s the small problem of criminalizing thought, speech and enforcement of the law.

Who gets to decide when “illegal alien” is said “with hate?” Who gets to decide what happened in a “he said, she said” matter? And is there any doubt that the city, which finds everything offensive, will err on the side of finding for the illegal alien offended?