Not only the immigrants felt ICE’s wrath this Tuesday in the 26th of Federal Plaza, at Bajo Manhattan.
An American citizen faced pushing with a group of agents in front of an immigration audience room on the 12th floor, while stopping an immigrant. One of the officers grabbed him by the neck and neck of the shirt, pushing him against the wall.
“I am a American citizen!” “I don’t even want to tell my children that this is the country in which we live.”
“You should be at home taking care of your children,” said one of the ICE agents.
After several minutes of confrontation, they let him go without arrest. Security personnel escort him out of the building.
Horning terror
The chaos seized the Immigration Court on September 9, while ICE agents Rondaban Federal Plaza and the immigrants attended by audiences were crying with fear.
The panic left a Colombian woman to the edge of a nervous woman. According to observers, the woman was so terrified by the masked and armed agents that she refused to leave the room.
Father Fabián Arias, of the Saint Peter’s church, prayed for her and accompanied her to cross the hall while shouting, horrified at the idea of being separated from her children who were at home. Finally he managed to pass and, with tears in his eyes, raised a thumb to our sister publication, Amnewyork, before entering the elevator.
Separation of families
Not all immigrants had the same fate. ICE made several arrests during the day, including the separation of a father from his little son and his wife.
The family almost managed to evade the agents, but one of them ran to the elevator and intercepted them. The agent even tried to force an amnewyork photographer from the elevator, but gave up. Then they went down to the sixth floor, where they separated the father, leaving his wife and son in shock behind the doors closing.
Change of judges
These frantic scenes occur after several immigration judges were fired from their positions. According to The City, two judges were removed and plans to replace them with military lawyers, which many fear will favor ICE.
“The worst is when they separate families. They always do it, but when it happens, it ends with the shattered family,” said Peter, an observer. “It is devastating to see a mother and a child suffer when they take the father.”
Lawyer Nneka Jackson told Amnewyork that many judges are dismissing cases for fear of losing their jobs.
“I think that many judges fear reprisals or dismissals. We have seen recent cases of judges with high grades that were fired, and that causes others to only agree with the Department of National Security (DHS),” said Jackson. “I have seen too many cases where the judges do not even listen to the arguments of the lawyers. It does not matter how valid they are, they automatically incline the DHS.”
