Trapping immigrants using NYC courts
In the past few weeks, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has effectively turned our courthouses into immigration enforcement zones. Across the city, ICE agents have been tracking scheduled court dates, appearing undercover and then arresting litigants as they attempt to have their cases adjudicated.
The tactic is not only unfair to New Yorkers who come to court to seek justice and exercise their most basic rights; it is disruptive to the legal system as a whole. The presence of ICE officials in our courthouses has a chilling effect on litigants, victims, witnesses and the public alike. In a city where almost 40% the population is foreign-born, the perception that no immigrant is safe in a courthouse could very well upend our entire legal process.
Contrary to the picture being portrayed by the Trump administration, our courthouses are not filled with undocumented immigrants charged with rape, murder and drug trafficking. The vast majority of immigrant clients we serve are charged with low-level, non-violent offenses, many of which are crimes of poverty — turnstile jumping and shoplifting, for example.
Despite the countless studies documenting the disparate impact of quality-of-life policing on communities of color, like the South Bronx, Mayor de Blasio still has not put an end to this shameful practice. As such, we at The Bronx Defenders continue to deal with 15,000 to 20,000 people on misdemeanor offenses every year and have at least 3,600 of these low-level offenses pending at any one time.
Immigrant New Yorkers arrested and charged with such crimes, like all New Yorkers, have constitutional rights and rely on the judicial system to protect those rights. They come to the courthouse to fight the charges against them, to request due process and to seek justice.
But since January, there has been a new story every week of an immigrant New Yorker, appearing at their scheduled court date, expecting to have their day in court — and instead being surrounded by undercover agents, handcuffed and whisked off to immigration detention.
The increased use of our courthouses to find, arrest and deport our fellow New Yorkers is sending ripples of fear throughout our communities. Each day, we take calls from clients who are terrified to come to court.
Some have minor contact with the criminal justice system from when they were young and are afraid that they are now enforcement priorities. Others have no criminal convictions and are in no danger of being deported but still fear that if they come to court that they too will be swept away.
Whether the risk of ICE intervention is real or imagined, immigrant New Yorkers with pending criminal cases in New York City’s courts find themselves choosing between giving up their constitutional rights and pleading guilty to avoid future court appearances; failing to appear on their cases and risk having a warrant issued; or insisting on their day in court and fearing on each and every court date that they will not make it home to kiss their spouse or tuck their children into bed.
These arrests are eroding not only the immigrant community’s sense of confidence in our justice system but the system itself. It is well documented that immigrants who are victims of or witnesses to crimes tend to be fearful of coming forward. Public arrests by ICE in the courthouses only exacerbate that problem.
Moreover, if a person is arrested and detained before the resolution of their criminal case, the court will lose jurisdiction over that case, the evidence will never be presented, and the prosecution will be forced to dismiss the charges.
Finally, allowing arrests by ICE in our courthouses will have a detrimental impact on the public nature of our judicial institutions. Our courthouses will become safe places only for those who are citizens or immigrants with sufficient knowledge, experience and confidence to walk the same halls as ICE agents.
The undermining of our judicial institutions is not limited to our criminal courthouses. Just a few weeks ago, a litigant appeared in Family Court on a child-support case when he was arrested and detained by ICE agents. We have also heard of landlords threatening immigrant tenants that if they fight their eviction in court, they too will end up in ICE custody.
Allowing ICE to use the city’s court system to trap immigrants is immoral. If New York City is to live up to its promise as a sanctuary city, there can be no place for federal deportation forces in our courts.