City Bar Calls on NY Chief Judge to Issue New Rules on ICE Courthouse Arrests (New York Law Journal)
New York Law Journal, July 11, 2018
City Bar Calls on NY Chief Judge to Issue New Rules on ICE Courthouse Arrests
“As U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents continue to make arrests at New York state courthouses, the New York City Bar Association is calling on Chief Judge Janet DiFiore to use her authority to keep New York courthouses from being a preferred destination for agents to round up immigrants. In a report released on Wednesday, the city bar said the chief judge should issue administrative rules requiring agents to have judicial, rather than administrative, warrants when making arrests at courthouses; and should require judges and judicial officers to notify ICE targets in their courtrooms if agents are present waiting to make an arrest. DiFiore should also issue administrative rules to limit court officers’ cooperation and assistance with ICE agents, to reduce the number of appearances that potential ICE targets need to appear in court and make information about ICE enforcement activities available for public review. It the situation intensifies, the city bar warned, defendants and witnesses may stop coming to court altogether, which could create a class of residents who are effectively shut out of the justice system, and which could adversely affect prosecutions and waste judicial resources.”
