Chaofeng Ye, a Queens resident, was arrested in Pennsylvania back in January for alleged credit card fraud. Because he was a Chinese national, he was transferred into ICE custody and locked up in a Keystone State detention center.
On Aug. 5, Ye was found hanging inside a shower at the Mohannon Valley Detention Center. His family back in Queens has been working for months with attorneys to learn the circumstances of his death. To date, neither ICE nor its parent agency, the federal Department of Homeland Security, has provided any answers.
Ye’s brother and family attorneys sought to bring attention to their case during a press conference outside 26 Federal Plaza, the Lower Manhattan immigration court where for months, ICE agents have apprehended law-abiding immigrants obeying court orders to attend mandated hearings about their immigration cases. ICE has largely kept the public in the dark as to why the individuals were detained, including where and how they are being detained.
The lack of transparency from ICE and the DHS about immigrant detentions is unprecedented in modern American history. It has only served to enhance the public fear of both agencies spurred by months of videos of masked ICE agents roughly accosting immigrants, photographers and politicians at Federal Plaza, on the streets of Chinatown and Washington Heights, and in other American cities.
In response to inquiries about Ye’s death, the DHS issued a boilerplate statement in which it feigned remorse and intolerance of in-custody deaths, and that the agency was still looking into it. ICE’s actions speak far louder than any words in a boilerplate statement; neither the public nor the press is moved.
After months of obscurity and violence, it is time for ICE to stand down and hold itself accountable to the Constitution that its agents are supposedly sworn to uphold.
Detained immigrants who commit a crime must be treated safely, with respect to their constitutional rights and mental and physical health needs. There should be no mysterious deaths in ICE custody. The government must hold itself to a higher standard.
ICE agents must remove their masks and clearly identify themselves to everyone they interact with on the job.
If the agency refuses to cooperate, New York state and city must take appropriate action, including all possible legal and legislative measures — such as mask bans, legal injunctions, and even withholding federal revenue if necessary.
The silence from ICE and DHS is deafening. It’s time for honesty and accountability from federal agencies that have acted with impunity for far too long.
