State Attorney General Letitia James announced Tuesday that she will launch a dedicated team within her office to closely monitor the activities of ICE agents throughout New York.
According to James, the initiative — dubbed the Legal Observation Project — will be responsible for collecting information derived from what he described as “significant enforcement actions” throughout the state, in addition to sending personnel to observe and document both ICE operations and related protests.
The attorney general explained that these observers will act as neutral witnesses, recording information that could be used for future legal actions. Your work will help ensure that accurate, real-time information is collected and preserved, and identify potential violations of the law.
The unit comes in response to recent ICE activity in Minnesota, where masked agents have killed two U.S. citizen protesters, broken into homes without warrants, pepper sprayed and arrested observers and protesters, detained indigenous people, and even taken children into custody after school.
“As Attorney General, I am proud to protect New Yorkers’ constitutional rights to freely express themselves, peacefully protest, and live without fear of unlawful federal action,” James said. “We’ve seen in Minnesota how quickly and tragically federal operations can escalate when transparency and accountability are lacking. My office is launching the Legal Observation Project to examine federal enforcement activity in New York and see if it stays within the bounds of the law.”
James reported that the Observation Project will begin to be implemented in the coming weeks and will have staff from his office who will participate on a voluntary basis. The observers will wear purple security vests with the brand of the Attorney General’s Office and will be instructed not to interfere with ICE operations, limiting themselves only to documenting them.
The announcement comes as New York prepares for a possible intensification of the immigration offensive.
Over the weekend, elected officials toured the Lower East Side, visiting businesses one by one to inform owners of their legal rights should they encounter federal agents. Assemblywoman Grace Lee (D-Manhattan) told our sister publication, amNewYork, that she and other politicians are preparing for the possibility of ICE deploying a large-scale operation in the city.
“We’ve seen everything that’s happening in Minneapolis and how ICE is terrorizing communities. Knowing that they’re starting to set up an operation in the Lower East Side is terrifying,” Lee said. “It’s scary for communities, for employees, for businesses, for neighbors, and we have to make sure we protect New Yorkers.”
In addition to the Legal Observation Project, Attorney General James encouraged New Yorkers to submit videos of federal immigration enforcement actions directly to her office through an online portal at ag.ny.gov/federal-actions-form. The reports submitted will help the Attorney General’s Office evaluate the activity and determine whether further investigation is warranted.
