ICE goes to video for its N.Y. hearings

ICE has called off in-person hearings at its Manhattan immigration court — forcing immigrants facing deportation to stay in detention centers and appear by video.

Legal aid groups are ripping the policy, saying it wreaks havoc on their ability to provide lawyers for immigrants.

“The decision by ICE to eliminate in-person appearances in court is a direct attack on people who have been waiting for months in detention for their opportunity to meet with attorneys, assert their legal right to remain in this country, and see their loved ones,” the Legal Aid Society, Bronx Defenders and Brooklyn Defender Services said in a joint statement.

Immigrants arrested in the city and surrounding area are typically brought to the court on Varick St. to plead their case. But after protesters from the group Occupy ICE set up outside the building's garage late last week, ICE on Monday called off all its in-person hearings on the grounds that the garage where detainees typically enter was obstructed.

But U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement says it won't be resuming hearings for the foreseeable future .”