U.S. Reps Dan Goldman, Adriano Espaillat, and Nydia Velázquez revealed Monday that they are pushing new legislation that would stop ICE agents from stalking the halls of immigration court and arresting immigrants as they attend their legally mandated hearings.
The announcement came after the politicians joined immigration advocates Father Fabian Arias and Peter Melck Kuttel inside 26 Federal Plaza earlier that morning to observe court proceedings. The congress members came face-to-face with masked federal agents who lined the halls, waiting for their targets. Goldman himself demanded to see the badge of one agent; that individual then unzipped his sweatshirt to reveal a golden emblem.
They also attempted to visit the fifth floor, where people arrive for ICE check-ins, and where amNewYork has reported that out-of-sight arrests have skyrocketed in recent months. The three Congress members were turned away.
Although ICE agents were present, they did not make any visible detainments outside of the courtrooms on Dec. 8. The Congress members indicated the courtroom detainments are dissuading law-abiding immigrants from attending their court-mandated proceedings out of fear of potential arrest and deportation, even without cause.
“Approximately 80% of the people with court appearances are not showing up because they are afraid of getting yanked from their families, detained in terrible conditions, whisked away to Texas or Louisiana and deported without due process. But what that means is there is an automatic order of removal as soon as they don’t show up, so they are choosing to go underground rather than show up for their court appearance and try to seek the American Dream,” Goldman said. “These are non-violent, non-criminal people, often escaping terrible conditions in their country.”
Goldman, Espaillat and Velázquez say their Immigration Due Process Protection Act, if enacted, would prohibit U.S. Department of Homeland Security officers from arresting or detaining an individual who is physically present at an Executive Office for Immigration Review court facility for the purpose of attending or participating in a hearing, except pursuant to a judicial warrant.
These protections would extend to individuals whose immigration case is still active and has not resulted in a final order of removal, the politicians said.
Dubbing the court detainments bait-and-switch tactics, they charged that immigrants with no criminal records, including asylum seekers and even students, have wound up in detention because of it.
“ICE told us that they have a protocol. Protocol is not above the law. These are all characteristics of what a dictatorship is when there is a blatant and abrasive disregard of the law,” Espaillat said. “They’ve driven immigrants underground so that they could break the law.”
However, this type of immigration enforcement has been taking place within 26 Federal Plaza for over half a year and has resulted in emotional family separations and weeping children, violent detentions, and even the injury of a photojournalist.
amNewYork quizzed Goldman on why, now, over six months later, the elected officials are now pushing for passage of this bill. Goldman responded with a question of his own as to what ICE is accomplishing through its actions at Federal Plaza.
“So, I think the real question is not, why did it take so long for us to have to pass a law saying that you should not arrest people who are here lawfully and pursuing legal pathways, the real question is why ICE has been doing this for six months?” Goldman said. “This is not American.”
Still, the road to passing the legislation will be a steep climb. Both houses of Congress are controlled by Republicans supportive of President Trump. Goldman himself admitted that no Republicans have signed on to support the bill.
“We are here to call out to our Republican colleagues that it is long past time for them to do something. And if they are not going to do something, the election results we just saw are going to be doubled and tripled come November, and they will not have a job anymore,” Goldman charged.
Espaillat pledged to return on a weekly basis to observe immigration proceedings in a further attempt to hold the federal government accountable.
