Brooklyn Courthouses Had Most ICE Arrests In 2018, Study Finds

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK -- ICE arrests in city courtrooms have spiked since President Trump took office and nowhere more so than in Brooklyn, according to a new report that details aggressive surveillance tactics and violent captures in the borough.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents made 35 arrests in and near Brooklyn courthouses in 2018, contributing to a 17 percent increase of New York State arrests in 2018 and a 1700 percent increase in 2017, according to the nonprofit Immigrant Defense Project.

The report details multiple captures near Brooklyn courthouses one involving a mother who thought her son was being kidnapped in front of her by plainclothes agents who shoved him into a car.

One ICE agent denied being an immigration officer and another slammed her head against a wall when she tried to cry out for help, the report states.

"The officer repeatedly told her to “shut up” and physically blocked her from going over to the unmarked car," the report reads. "The officers then drove away, leaving his mother sobbing on the street, panicked that her son had been kidnapped."

IDP documented 202 reports of ICE arrests across New York State, more than 60 percent of which — 35 in Brooklyn, 33 in Queens, 30 in Manhattan, 26 in The Bronx and 12 in Staten Island — took place in the city. There were just 11 ICE arrests in New York State courts in 2016, according to the report.

ICE agents have also "turned to more aggressive surveillance" tactics in Brooklyn, the report found.

One attorney detailed being followed from Brooklyn Supreme Court to a nearby McDonald's, where she had arranged to meet her client and give him an order of protection.

"Suddenly, five undercover ICE officers surrounded her client and arrested him," the report reads. Her client, the husband of a U.S. citizen, "was detention for more than four months before being scheduled for his first hearing in immigration court."

The report made headlines the same day Documented NY reported state officers have informing ICE agents when immigrants arrive in court.

IDP's report also came out the same month Assemblywoman Michaelle Solages introduced the Protect Our Courts Act, legislation that would protect immigrants from civil arrests in state courtrooms.

Brooklyn District Attorney responded to the report on Twitter.

"These aggressive tactics do not keep us safe," he said. "I renew my call for ICE to rethink its disruptive policies and designate courthouses as sensitive locations."

An ICE spokesperson did not immediately respond to Patch's request for comment.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), officers look to arrest an undocumented immigrant during an operation in the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn on April 11, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)