New York Officials Demand ICE Stop Arresting Immigrants In Courthouses

DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN —President Trump’s deportation policies have immigration officers swooping into courthouses, making arrests in record numbers, and preventing legal citizens from exercising their right to a fair trial, according to allegations from New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.

“It’s cruel, it’s self defeating, and it clearly, in places like Brooklyn, makes us less safe,” said Schneiderman in press conference at the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office Thursday.

“I can tell you, without any equivocation or doubt, targeting immigrants in courthouses undermines justice.”

Schneiderman and Acting District Attorney Eric Gonzalez are calling for Immigration and Custom Enforcement agents to stop targeting immigrants in state courthouses, a practice they said prevents victims from reporting crimes and witnesses from testifying against criminals.

Gonzalez cited the case of William Siguencia Hurtado, a tax-paying Brooklyn resident whose testimony helped secure prison sentences for five murderers, yet who was detained by ICE agents in June when he reported to their offices for an annual check-in.

“This detention sends the wrong message to witnesses,” said Gonzalez, “that no matter how hard you try to do the right thing … you will still be held in detention and be subject to deportation.”

The number of arrests made by ICE agents in New York State courthouses has spiked under the Trump administration, according to numbers from the Immigration Defense Project.

The nonprofit reported that about 60 people — including green card holders, domestic violence victims and people who appearing in court for low-level misdemeanors — have been arrested in courthouses in 2017, as compared to the 11 total arrests made in 2016.

The Immigration Defense Project survey, which analyzed responses from 225 New York State advocates and attorneys, also found that immigrants have become increasingly afraid of facing ICE agents in the courtroom — 74 percent of respondents reported immigrant clients who fear facing ICE agents in court, 50 percent reported immigrant clients had refused to call police for fear of ICE, and 29 percent had clients who failed to appear in court.

Attorneys also told IDP that the ICE agents work as “rogue operators,” appearing in courtrooms wearing plain clothes and refusing to identify themselves to lawyers who watch as their clients get dragged out of the courtroom.

“Defence attorneys ask, ‘Who are you?’ and they won’t say who they are,” said IDP spokeswoman Lee Wang. “Sometimes they have a badge and sometimes they don’t.”

Wang also noted the number of arrests centered around courthouses may be higher than 60, since her organization has reports of arrests happening outside the courthouse.

“There’s a lot of ICE operations we may not know about,” said Wang. “They’re snatching people up before they get to court.”

The solution, according to Schneiderman and Gonzalez, is for ICE agents to include courthouses in the list of “sensitive locations” — such as schools, hospitals and houses of worship — where they will not make arrests.

“It’s time for us to get ICE out of our courthouses,” Schneiderman said. “It hurts all the efforts of those of us who seek to ensure that the laws are applied equally and fairly to all.”

Photo by Kathleen Culliton