He came to immigration court in Lower Manhattan on Wednesday morning, begging a federal judge to help his wife and children facing persecution in his homeland of Egypt – but ICE agents wound up taking him away.
The unidentified immigrant, a resident of Jersey City, came to 26 Federal Plaza on Sept. 17 for a court-mandated hearing on his immigration status. Onlookers say the man, who speaks Arabic, understood very little of what was taking place, but urged the judge to assist his wife and children, who are still in Egypt and, according to him, in danger.
“It’s pretty clear he hadn’t understood anything that was said, but certainly not that he’s about to be abducted. And he’s like: ‘Your Honor, I’m terrified for my wife and three daughters who are in Egypt and facing persecution. What can I do to help them? Can someone get me a lawyer to help my kids get them out of danger?’” City Comptroller Brad Lander recalled from watching the proceedings, adding that the judge said she was unable to aid him.
All the while, masked ICE agents waited outside the door to the courtroom throughout the morning, waiting to apprehend the man.
Once the Jersey City man and Egyptian native left the room, federal agents moved in, grabbed him by the arms and led him into a stairwell.
An attorney, who works in the facility and attempts to brief immigrants on their rights before they are detained, placed his ear to the door of the stairwell after hearing muffled sounds.
“I can hear them scuffling,” the lawyer said.
Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum also witnessed the arrest and called it “absolutely outrageous.”
“We have this semblance of a lawful proceeding where there’s a judge and a hearing and the law is followed and the process is described, and then a human being walks out and is abducted by very powerful men with weapons and face masks and whisked away from access to any kind of lawyers or attorney,” Kleinbaum told amNewYork.
According to Kleinbaum and Lander, allowing the public to observe court hearings and ICE detainments has become more difficult.
New Yorkers looking to watch the system unfold are no longer permitted to stand in the hallways and must wait in court waiting rooms, and some courts will only permit two observers at a time.
“The judges are having a hard time with their consciences. If you just sit in the courtroom, it seems like there’s a legal proceeding going on, and they don’t want to look outside the door and know a person who they’ve just granted a hearing or told read their rights under the conventional torture is being abducted by ICE,” Lander said. “Not only are they just walling themselves off from the lawlessness that they’re functionally a part of, but preventing friends of the court from helping people get access.”
This comes after several attorneys told amNewYork that they believe judges are feeling pressure from the federal government to cooperate with ICE out of fear for their jobs
