New York and Brooklyn Sue to Stop Migrant Arrests at Courthouses

(Bloomberg) -- New York Attorney General Letitia James and Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez sued U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to block the agency from making arrests at state courthouses.

• The policy implemented in January 2018 disrupts the courts, prevents victims and witnesses from asserting their rights or helping law enforcement, harms criminal prosecutions and threatens public safety, James and Gonzalez say
• ICE enforcement actions in New York have “skyrocketed” and agents are still making arrests without such a warrant near courthouses, including on the steps, the suit says.

Key Insights

• While the New York suit is largely a local issue, states, cities and counties are increasingly pushing back against ICE enforcement actions in their communities. Former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions defended courthouse arrests in March 2017 after California’s chief justice raised concerns about the practice and implemented a new policy in response.
• The New York arrests are taking place despite a policy making arrests based on warrants approved by judges easier, a policy that had been implemented to head off the courthouse arrests

Read More

• Read the complaint filed in federal court in Manhattan on Wednesday
• ICE Courthouse Arrests Barred in Massachusetts, for Now
• Amid Immigration Crackdown, Undocumented Abuse Victims Hesitate to Come Forward

To contact the reporter on this story: Chris Dolmetsch in Federal Court in Manhattan at cdolmetsch@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Glovin at dglovin@bloomberg.net, Heather Smith, Peter Blumberg

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