The New York Attorney General, Letitia James, announced on Monday that her office formally presented a legal appeal before the Federal Court of the Southern District of New York to block Ice to stop immigrants within the courts.
James’s office explained that Amicus Brief challenges policies that allow mass arrests while men, women and even children attend their mandatory judicial audiences. For months, our sister publication, Amnewyork, has documented ICE agents hopchars waiting in the halls of 26 federal square and 290 Broadway in the bass Manhattan, where they quickly stop people when they leave the audience rooms.
In one case, Amnewyork observed how a woman called her audience remotely and told the judge that she was too afraid of ICE to appear in person. However, the judge ordered him to return to the Court immediately.
According to James, situations like this generate a climate of fear that can have a serious domino effect: immigrants in New York could feel too frightened to testify in state and local cuts, request orders for protection against abusers or participate in key judicial hearings.
“The courts are dedicated to the search for justice, not harassment or selective arrests,” said James. “With these cruel and illegal arrests in cuts, the federal government is using fear as a weapon to push immigrants in the shadows, separate families and put everyone’s safety at risk. I will not stay with crossed arms while they are taken from New Yorkers and our cuts are used as an instrument of intimidation.”
The prosecutor also warned that mass arrests within federal courts make it difficult for prosecutors to responsible for criminals and reduce the probability that victims approach the authorities for fear of being reported to ICE.
James added that the legal document describes the financial and emotional impact that children suffer when they separate their parents. He indicated that around 640,000 undocumented residents live in the city, many of them essential for the State’s workforce.
When they arrest the economic support of a family, children are exposed to poverty, food insecurity and even lack of housing. The prosecutor added that investigations show that these children also suffer from anxiety, depression and post -traumatic stress, sequelae that usually persist in adulthood.
Amnewyork has several times how children get anxious to have to pass with armed and hooded agents aligned in the halls of the Cortes. Many shout looking for their mothers or are paralyzed in fear of walking in front of them.
In a recent visit to 26 Federal Plaza, the city’s comptroller, Brad Lander, described ICE operations as a waste of resources.
“It is a horrible waste of our taxes as Americans, destined for a deportation machine that has nothing to do with security. In addition, these are not people accused of any crime. They are people who are fulfilling the law when attending the Court. Therefore, it is an abominable waste of resources,” Lander previously told Amnewyork.
