Forum looks at legislation to restrict ICE arrests

Proposed state legislation to prohibit U.S. immigration officers from making arrests in New York courts without a judicial warrant is seen by supporters as much-needed authority over the actions of federal agents.

The Protect Our Courts Act was the subject of a forum Wednesday evening at the Holy Cross/Santa Cruz Church on Pine Grove Avenue in Kingston, organized by the Ulster Immigration Defense Network.

An audience of about 30 listened to a panel discussion that featured state Assemblyman Kevin Cahill, D-Kingston; Ulster County District Attorney David Clegg; New York Civil Liberties Union representative Shannon Wong; and Radio Kingston host Antonio Flores-Lobos.

The New York State Office of Court Administration last April issued a directive barring warrantless arrests inside courthouses by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, but immigrant rights advocates says the directive doesn’t go far enough and a state law is needed.

Proponents of the state legislation say ICE officers regularly misrepresent their authority by using U.S. Department of Homeland Security warrants or notices, rather than warrants signed by judges, to make arrests.

Cahill, D-Kingston, said the Protect Our Courts Act aims to stop the misuse of federal paperwork.

“When somebody legitimately should be arrested on their way to or from court, they should be arrested, and there’s a means of doing that,” Cahill said.

“We are not in any way diminishing the ability of law enforcement to do what they should do to keep us safe,” he said. “What we are doing, however, is to say that the sham administrative warrants that ICE has been using will no longer be valid.”

Wong said prohibiting warrantless arrests in courts will, among other things, create an environment in which immigrants feel comfortable testifying in legal proceedings. She said federal agents are being counterproductive to the justice system in their pursuit of arrests.

“ICE’s courthouse tactics threaten your Constitutional right to [have] access to the courts,” she said.

“The National Immigrants Women’s Advocacy Project surveyed administrators, attorneys and law enforcement, and they found out that more than half of the judges surveyed reported that, in 2017, over 2,000 cases were interrupted because the immigrant domestic violence survivor feared coming to court,” Wong said.

Speaks at Wednesday’s forum said immigration officers have used excessive intimidation and sometimes seem to have the sole purpose of terrifying the families of people being arrested.

“I [saw] an incident that broke my heart ... the way that they treated this person on Henry Street [in Kingston]” city resident Shalawan “Shai” Brown said.

“The way that they showed up was like they were going to get [Colombian drug lord] Pablo Escobar,” Brown said. “There was nothing genuine about it . ... The young man’s children were crying, and it was very heartbreaking to see . ... You would have thought they were coming to get a mass murderer.”

Clegg, the first Democrat is recent history to serve as Ulster County district attorney, said the state legislation is important because it was written to fit with New York’s Civil Rights Law and would help reduce fears that arise from the tactics described by Brown.

“One of the hardest [groups] to bring into [court] is the immigrant community,” Clegg said. “They are vulnerable. They have been victimized by landlords and predatory people out there taking advantage, knowing that they are going to be afraid to come to the authorities, knowing that they are going to be afraid to contact the police, and knowing that they are going to be afraid to go to court because they might get picked up.”

Clegg also voiced concern about the impact undocumented immigrants, who now can get New York driver’s licenses, declining to appear in court for traffic infractions.

“If they get a speeding ticket and they’re afraid to go [to court] ... what happens next is they have a warrant out for their arrest and they get fined and they get in trouble and they lose their license,” he said.

The Protect Our Courts Act has been approved by state Assembly committees but not the full body. And state senators have yet to take up the legislation.