Friday, December 8, 2017

Attorneys Hold Chilly Protest as Immigration Arrests at Court Surge

"ICE out of the courts": protest, Brooklyn Borough Hall. Photo: Phil Josselyn
By Amanda Ottaway, Courthouse News Service
December 7, 2017
BROOKLYN, N.Y. (CN) – A week after public defenders staged a walkout in protest of immigration agents carrying out courthouse arrests, attorneys joined a throng of several hundred protesters Thursday on the chilly front steps of Brooklyn Borough Hall.

“Hey, hey, ho, ho, ICE has got to go,” they chanted, using the abbreviation for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement that appeared in many of the home-made signs dotting the crowd.

“Melt ICE,” one said. Against a backdrop of these signs, and more official placards that carried the names of groups like the Association of Legal Aid Attorneys, the Osborne Association and New York City Public Defenders, several speakers addressed the crowd in both Spanish and English.[…]

Read the full article:

Modern Courts releases Report on ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) and New York Courts
Protecting the Administration of Justice in New York State: Impact of ICE Arrests on New Yorkers’ Access to State Courthouses

December 5, 2017
Press Release : New York, NY – The Fund for Modern Courts today released a report entitled, Protecting the Administration of Justice in New York State: Impact of ICE Arrests on New Yorkers’ Access to State Courthouses, which proposes four new policies and protocols to ameliorate the significant increase of enforcement actions by U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement (“ICE”) in state courthouses and to ensure the proper administration of justice.

Amelia T.R. Starr, Esq., Vice Chair of the Fund for Modern Courts and one of the authors of the report, said, “Immigrants are intimidated by ICE’s deliberate decision to target New York’s courthouses for enforcement actions. They fear ICE retaliation at the courthouse steps. Every time fear of ICE keeps a New Yorker from entering the courthouse, access to justice is compromised.”[…]

Read the report:

No comments: