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NY State Passes Legislation Barring ICE From Making Warrantless Courthouse Arrests
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David Cruz
Published Jul 23, 2020
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Sai Mokhtari / Gothamist
By
David Cruz
Published Jul 23, 2020
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The Legal Aid Society and other advocates are pressing Governor Andrew Cuomo to sign a bill passed by the State Legislature that bars ICE agents from making surprise civil arrests of undocumented immigrants in and around courthouses unless they have a warrant.
On Wednesday, the Democratically-controlled Assembly and Senate passed the Protect Our Courts Act that bars such a practice. This follows years of aggressive arrests made at courthouses by ICE agents targeting undocumented New Yorkers appearing in court for matters unrelated to their immigration status. The legislation, sponsored State Senator Brad Hoylman and co-sponsored by Assembly Members Marcos Crespo, Victor Pichardo, Joseph Lentol, and Crystal People-Stokes, complements a ruling by a federal judge ordering ICE to obtain a warrant signed by a judge to carry out an arrest of an undocumented immigrant inside a courthouse.
"At a moment of national reckoning around law enforcement's abuse of power and role in society, this historic passage of the Protect Our Courts Act sends a clear message that New York State will not tolerate fear-inducing tactics," said Hasan Shafiqullah, attorney-in-charge of the Immigration Law Unit at the Legal Aid Society.
In a statement to NY1, Mizue Aizeki, the deputy director of the Immigrant Defense Project, said the passage sends a "loud and clear" message to the Trump administration that "ICE is the threat and harmful practices must stop."
Aizeki added, “Over the past few years, ICE has repeatedly sent a clear message that it would stop at nothing to achieve its cruel, dehumanizing and destructive criminalizing and deportation agenda. In response to our coalition’s work documenting and illustrating the devastating impacts of ICE’s activities, New York’s courts and legislature have taken decisive action to protect our rights,” said Mizue Aizeki, Deputy Director of the Immigrant Defense Project.
The Legal Aid Society is now urging Governor Andrew Cuomo to sign the measure immediately. Under Albany's legislative rules, if a bill is not signed 30 days after it's sent to the Governor it is automatically vetoed and sent back to the Assembly and Senate.
It might seem that Cuomo would immediately sign the bill--given his past comments criticizing the Trump administration's immigration policies--but he's not yet said whether he'll sign it.
Last year, as the Trump administration threatened a roundup of immigrants in NYC, Cuomo called Trump's decision a "constant assault on the civil rights and dignity of individuals and families." At the time, Cuomo had offered families of detained immigrants free legal assistance through the Legal Defense Project.
And in April 2018, after ICE arrested 225 people alleged to be undocumented immigrants in New York City, Cuomo sent a letter to Trump calling the raids "un-American."
A spokesperson for Cuomo did not return a call seeking comment.
Tagged
immigration
David Cruz
David is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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