Wednesday’s deadly shooting at an ICE facility in Texas did not interrupt proceedings at Lower Manhattan immigration court, where agents continued their rounds and took additional individuals into custody following court appearances.
Security remained tight at 26 Federal Plaza in the hours after a lone sniper opened fire on a detention center in Dallas, killing two ICE detainees and critically wounding a third individual. No law enforcement agents were reportedly wounded in the killing.
An ICE spokesperson said the shooter apparently fired several rounds from a nearby roof, then took their own life with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The motive for the killings remains unknown, even though FBI Director Kash Patel claimed that ammunition found near the sniper appeared to have anti-ICE scrawled onto it.
Nevertheless, regular business went on at Federal Plaza on the 12th and 14th floors, where a group of masked ICE agents paced the halls on Sept. 24 in waiting to take individuals into custody.
Immigrants attending their legally mandated court hearings in Lower Manhattan continued to be detained on Wednesday as more immigration judges were fired by the Trump administration. amNewYork observed three detainments throughout the day, with two taking place on the 12th floor and another on the 14th floor.
In one incident, a man was leaving a courtroom when federal agents moved in, shoving him against a wall, then pulling him into a stairwell in a matter of seconds. While the other two arrests were less physical, they were equally fast and appeared to leave the unidentified men confused as they were whisked away.
Wednesday’s detainments occurred in the wake of an NPR report that 14 immigration judges across the country, including those who oversee cases in the Big Apple, were being dismissed by the Trump administration.
The outlet also reported that the number of judges removed by the president has now reached upward of 80 across the country.
“The dismissal of more immigration judges is an illogical and costly setback for the nation’s immigration courts,” said IFPTE President Matt Biggs in a statement to NPR. “At a time when the backlog has reached historic levels and the administration has made immigration enforcement a central issue, the removal of experienced judges is hypocritical, undermines the law, wastes taxpayer dollars, and further delays justice for citizens and immigrants alike.”
In the weeks leading up to these removals several lawyers spoke to amNewYork and accused some judges of colluding with ICE out of fear for their own jobs.
“I think a lot of judges are scared of being retaliated against or losing their jobs, because you’ve seen in recent cases where there are immigration judges that have high approval ratings have gotten fired, and I think a lot of judges are scared to either get fired or have retaliation, so a lot of them are just agreeing with DHS,” attorney Nneka Jackson said. “There’s been so many cases where the judges are not even listening to attorneys’ arguments. No matter how valid the arguments are, they’re just automatically siding with DHS.”
Another attorney, who asked to remain anonymous but who has been practicing law for about a decade and a half, said that he would not go as far as to suggest judicial malpractice, yet he says he has seen some judges make some questionable decisions, though no specific judges’ names were mentioned.
“The judge issued one of the worst decisions I’ve ever seen a judge issue in an asylum case, and I thought it was highly appealable. Obviously, he was not being sympathetic. In my view, he did not consider the case on the merits in a way that reflected the facts or was legally justified,” the attorney said. “But I’d be reluctant to point the finger at judges.”
