Pols, immigration advocates want ICE out of courthouses

Letter to NYS Chief Judge Janet DiFiore requests ban on agents

February 20, 2018 By Paula Katinas Brooklyn Daily Eagle

In this file photo from Jan. 10, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents serve an employment audit notice at a 7-Eleven store in Los Angeles. Lawmakers in New York City are seeking to ban ICE agents from making arrests in court houses. AP Photo/Chris Carlson/File

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President Donald Trump’s promise to crack down on illegal immigrants is having troubling ramifications in Brooklyn, according to lawmakers and advocates who said agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are routinely and unfairly arresting immigrants in courthouses.

Several Brooklyn lawmakers, including Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams and Councilmember Carlos Menchaca, chairman of the Immigration Committee, are helping to spearhead an effort to keep ICE agents from arresting people in New York state courthouses.

A group of elected officials sent a letter to Hon. Janet DiFiore, the chief judge of New York state, asking her to ban ICE agents from state courthouses.

In addition to Adams and Menchaca, the letter signers included Council Speaker Corey Johnson, Public Advocate Letitia James and Comptroller Scott Stringer.

There has been a 900 percent increase during the past year in reports of ICE agents arresting or trying to arrest immigrants, according to immigrant rights advocates, who said that many of those taken into custody are not undocumented immigrants, but green card holders and people with valid visas.

The letter to DiFiore asks her to use her constitutional authority to impose a ban on ICE agents making arrests in New York state courts.

The situation is rapidly becoming dire, immigration advocates said.

“More and more often, clients charged with low-level offenses with no prior convictions, with valid claims to legal status who are young, ill or otherwise vulnerable are being arrested in the courts,” Brooklyn Defender Services Executive Director Lisa Schreibersdorf said in a statement.

“ICE in court obviously disrupts the lives of those arrested, their families and communities, but the daily presence of ICE also creates an environment of fear and confusion for advocates, witnesses and victims of crime, and other immigrant defendants just following their legal obligation to show up to their court dates,” she added.

Menchaca said the justice system is in danger of becoming compromised due to the aggressive actions of ICE agents swooping in to take people into custody.

“Our justice system should not be compromised by xenophobic policies coming from the White House. For this reason, I ask Chief Judge DiFiore to keep ICE agents out of our courts. Their presence at courthouses intimidates immigrants who might be witnesses in a case, or victims of a crime. They have the right to due process,” said Menchaca (D-Sunset Park-Red Hook).

“ICE’s presence in our courts is counterproductive to public safety in our city and state,” Adams said.

“If we are to be a city that respects the judicial process, we must keep ICE out of our courts,” Johnson said.

President Donald Trump issued an executive order in January of 2017 authorizing a get tough policy on undocumented immigrants.

In February of 2017, Gen. John Kelly, who was the U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security at the time, sent two memos to his agency outlining the new policy, National Public Radio (NPR) reported.

ICE works under the jurisdiction of the Department of Homeland Security.

Kelly ordered an expansion of the categories under which immigrants would be subject to expedited deportations according to New York Public Radio, which reported that the expansion would include immigrants in the U.S. illegally who have commit crimes but who had not been charged and those who illegally collect public assistance benefits.

“The department no longer will exempt classes or categories of removable aliens from potential enforcement. In faithfully executing the immigration laws, department personnel should take enforcement actions in accordance with applicable law,” Kelly wrote in one of his memos.

Kelly also directed ICE to hire 10,000 additional officers and agents and to “take enforcement actions consistent with available resources.”

Kelly is now the White House chief of staff.

Javier H. Valdes, co-executive director of the immigrant rights organization Make the Road New York, called the ICE-court house situation appalling. “Chief Judge DiFiore needs to consider the harm that this practice is doing to our communities and how it makes all New Yorkers less safe and take immediate measures to remove ICE from our courthouses,” Valdes added.

The activity of ICE agents is causing a chill to descend on the judicial system, leaving immigrants anxious and fearful, according to James, who said it is adversely affecting immigrants who are victims of crimes and those who come to court to testify as witnesses in criminal cases.

“Immigrants are being unfairly detained and key witnesses and victims are too fearful to come forward, creating a dangerous cycle of distrust,” James said.

“Today, immigrants are living in fear, and ICE raids on New York courthouses are one reason why. When ICE deploys dragnet arrests in New York’s courts, they are preying on those seeking justice. It’s wrong, plain and simple,” Stringer said.

Lee Wang, staff attorney at the Immigrant Defense Project, said his organization saw a sharp increase in arrests taking place in courthouses in 2017. “These arrests will undoubtedly continue to escalate as ICE seeks to formalize their presence in courts. Each new arrest not only terrorizes our immigrant communities, but undermines trust in our state courts,” Wang said.

“ICE’s unfettered presence in local courts undermines our legal system and deters immigrants and other New Yorkers from seeking justice. We can’t allow this to continue to happen,” said Tina Luongo, attorney in charge of the criminal defense practice at The Legal Aid Society.