Advocates Call on Governor Cuomo to Sign Protect Our Courts Act into Law
For Immediate Release
December 9, 2020
For more information contact:
Rachel Cohen, [email protected], Immigrant Defense Project
Elianne Ramos, 212-739-7513, [email protected]
Advocates Call on Governor Cuomo to Sign Protect Our Courts Act into Law
New York State Legislature Passed Momentous Legislation in July: ICE Cannot Use Courts to Trap Immigrant New Yorkers
NEW YORK— As the Protect Our Courts Act sits on Governor Cuomo’s desk, immigrants and community activists are calling on him to pick up his pen to sign the Protect Our Courts Act.
The Immigrant Defense Project (IDP) and the ICE Out of Courts Coalition say the law is a vital step to prevent ICE from using courthouses to surveil, arrest and terrorize immigrant New Yorkers.
Earlier this year the advocates applauded the passage of the Protect Our Courts Act (S425/A2176), which will bar Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents from making civil arrests of people attending New York state courthouses unless they have a judicial warrant. It sent a clear message to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a federal agency that continues to terrorize communities, that it is the true threat to our towns and cities.
The legislation passed in July with overwhelming support from both chambers, including bipartisan support in the State Senate. However, Governor Cuomo has yet to sign this urgent piece of legislation into law.
As COVID-19 continues to ravage immigrant communities across the state, immigrant New Yorkers have continued to fear ICE adding more anxiety and nerves to an already overstressed community. Beginning in 2017, IDP began tracking ICE raids at NY courthouses and documented an alarming 1700% increase in ICE courthouse arrests and attempted arrests across New York State under the Trump administration. Immigrant New Yorkers are often afraid of accessing the services they need out of fear that ICE will surveil and trap them—endangering families and communities, especially during the pandemic.
Cuomo’s signature on the Protect Our Courts Act would solidify a string of decisions that have already made clear ICE’s tactics are illegal. Last year the New York State Office of Court Administration (OCA) announced new court rules prohibiting ICE from arresting individuals in state courthouses without a judicial warrant or judicial order.
And earlier this year New York State Attorney General Letitia James won a lawsuit against the Trump Administration over its illegal policy of making ICE arrests at state courthouses.
“Over the past few years, ICE has repeatedly sent a clear message that it would stop at nothing to achieve its cruel, dehumanizing and destructive criminalizing and deportation agenda. In response to our coalition’s work documenting and illustrating the devastating impacts of ICE’s activities, New York’s courts and legislature have taken decisive action to protect our rights,” said Mizue Aizeki, Interim Executive Director of the Immigrant Defense Project. “By having Governor Cuomo sign the Protect Our Courts Act now, New York’s message to ICE will be loud and clear—ICE is the threat, and its harmful practices must stop.”
IDP released a report earlier this year detailing how ICE expanded its courthouse operations under the Trump administration. ICE tactics in 2020 were among the most aggressive and militarized IDP has seen in recent years, and after a brief slowdown during the first spike in COVID-19 cases in New York in the spring, ICE has intensified its operations in the state.
Even as we see a transition to a new Administration, it will take time for President Biden to implement any changes in ICE operations on the ground. By signing this bill into law, Governor Cuomo will protect vulnerable immigrants immediately and will also send a clear message to any future administrations that these tactics will not be tolerated in New York State. New York will once again reaffirm its commitment to our immigrant communities.
Javier H. Valdés, Co-Executive Director at Make the Road New York, said, “For years, we have seen how the presence of ICE at our courts deters immigrant New Yorkers from accessing our courts and instills fear that deprives them of due process. Our communities deserve to be able to access our courthouses safely without fear of being detained and separated from their loved ones. We urge the Governor to sign the Protect Our Courts Act into law immediately.”
"ICE’s malicious practice of arresting people at courthouses strikes at the heart of the due process rights our court system is built to protect. This chilling tactic prohibits people from seeking justice in the courts for reasonable fear of profiling and arrest. Governor Cuomo can put a stop to it now by signing this bill into law, and signal that New York will use its power to protect immigrant families," said Donna Lieberman, Executive Director of the NYCLU.
Hasan Shafiqullah, Attorney-in-Charge of the Immigration Law Unit at The Legal Aid Society, said, “Since early 2017, ICE has used courthouses as a hunting ground for our clients and other immigrant New Yorkers seeking to exercise their constitutional right to access our court system. The agency’s warrantless arrests in and around courthouses have created a chilling effect and undermined the integrity of New York’s court system, depriving New Yorkers of due process. This legislation passed the legislature with wide-ranging support, and we call on Governor Andrew Cuomo to enact it into law without delay.”
“For the safety and wellbeing of New York’s immigrant communities, Governor Cuomo must stand up to ICE and its terrorization of non-citizen New Yorkers,” said Rosa Cohen-Cruz, Policy Counsel to the Immigration Practice at The Bronx Defenders. “It is particularly important now that we do all we can to limit ICE’s power to arrest and detain immigrants. We know that jails, prisons, and ICE detention centers are hotbeds for spreading COVID-19. We must make sure that immigrants have the same access to courts as everyone, without fear that ICE will arrest them and permanently separate them from their loved ones. Governor Cuomo must sign the Protect Our Courts Act now and take this simple step to protect immigrants from ICE’s predatory tactics.”
"The New York State legislature has taken a stand to protect immigrants' due process right to access criminal, family, and civil courts by passing the Protect Our Courts Act. We encourage Governor Cuomo to urgently sign this bill into law to codify this protection and to stand up as a leader for other states to follow," said Nyasa Hickey, Director of Immigration Initiatives for Brooklyn Defender Services.
“LatinoJustice applauds the legislature’s passage of the Protect Our Courts Act earlier this year as a necessary overdue step to protect immigrant New Yorkers from ICE’s rogue immigration enforcement practices targeting them while appearing in court,” said Jose Perez, Deputy General Counsel at LatinoJustice PRLDEF. “POCA affords immigrant residents attending court proceedings the ability to safely participate in the legal process, a cornerstone of our country’s justice system. LatinoJustice joins our Keep ICE Out of the Courts coalition members in demanding Governor Cuomo sign POCA into law today.”
"New Yorkers need the Protect Our Courts Act (POCA) now more than ever. For nearly four years, witnesses and survivors of abuse and violence worried that by going to court to seek protection from their abusers, they would be subjected to vigorous immigration enforcement from ICE officers. This landmark piece of legislation will help ensure that our clients will no longer have to choose between safety from their abusers and safety from arrest and possible deportation. We thank Senator Hoylman, Assembly Member Solanges and their colleagues in the New York State legislature for passing this legislation and we urge the Governor to sign into law without further delay," said Evangeline M. Chan, Esq., Director, Immigration Law Project at Safe Horizon.
"ICE interferes with justice by conducting civil immigration arrests in and around courthouses, inducing and increasing fear for our clients attending court. Just as OCA issued a rule prohibiting courthouse arrests, the Governor’s signature would codify the prohibition and ensure equal access to courts for ALL New Yorkers, regardless of immigration status. Her Justice urges Governor Cuomo to sign POCA into law immediately," said Amy Barasch, Esq., Her Justice Executive Director. of HER Justice
“Governor Cuomo must sign the Protect Our Courts Act into law without delay and put an end to ICE’s campaign of terror and intimidation outside our New York courthouses, which is explicitly designed to keep immigrants and their families from participating in our legal system and its protections. The ability to defend oneself when accused, to testify when a witness, and to make a claim against another when victimized must be protected for all New Yorkers, regardless of immigration status. New Yorkers care about the immigrants in our communities and respect their contributions. Our democratic values should extend to all,” said Ann Toback, CEO of The Workers Circle.
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About LatinoJustice
LatinoJustice PRLDEF works to create a more just society by using and challenging the rule of law to secure transformative, equitable and accessible justice, by empowering our community and by fostering leadership through advocacy and education. For more than 40 years, LatinoJustice PRLDEF has acted as an advocate against injustices throughout New York and beyond. To learn more about LatinoJustice, visit www.latinojustice.org.
About The Immigrant Defense Project (IDP)
The Immigrant Defense Project (IDP) is a New York-based nonprofit that works to secure fairness and justice for immigrants in the racially-biased U.S. criminal and immigration systems. IDP fights to end the current era of unprecedented mass criminalization, detention, and deportation through a multi-pronged strategy including advocacy, litigation, legal support, community partnerships, and strategic communications. Visit www.immigrantdefenseproject.org and follow @ImmDefense.