Author: BXD
Human Rights Watch: New York City: Don’t Exclude Certain Immigrants from Legal Services
A carveout under NYC’s administration excludes immigrants with certain criminal convictions from receiving city-funded immigrant legal services, including representation in deportation proceedings. As a public defender office and provider of universal defense for immigrants in removal proceedings, we are guided by a fundamental belief in due process and liberty not for some, but for all. […]
Executive Director Justine Olderman speaks at NY1’s Town Hall on the NYC opioid crisis
“If we do what we’ve always done — over criminalizing, over incarcerating, carving people into those who are worthy of our compassion and those who are not, those who are worthy of treatment and those who are not — we are going to repeat the mistakes of the past. What is clear is that we […]
City & State: Criminal justice reform would protect immigrants from deportation
In order to truly protect immigrant New Yorkers from ICE and keep our families and communities whole, we must recognize how deeply intertwined all of the various justice systems are. Justine Olderman, Executive Director of The Bronx Defenders along with Tina Luongo, Attorney-in-charge of the Criminal Practice at The Legal Aid Society and Lisa Schreibersdorf, […]
The Appeal: Two States Just Made It Easier to Take Babies Away from Mothers Who Use Drugs During Pregnancy
“Termination of parental rights is a mechanism by which families are turned into strangers, all contact and personal identity is erased, and families are destroyed forever.” In states across the country, including Arizona and Kentucky, legislation is being passed that would make it easier to terminate the rights of mothers who use controlled substances while […]
Leading Civil Rights Organizations’ Statement on Release of Report on Community Reforms to NYPD Practices
**FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE** Wednesday, May 16, 2018 CONTACT: NAACP Legal Defense Fund: David Jacobs, DJacobs@naacpldf.org, 212-965-2255 Bronx Defenders: Anna Kim, annakim@bronxdefenders.org, 718-838-7890 Center for Constitutional Rights: Jen Nessel, jnessel@ccrjustice.org, 212-614-6449 Legal Aid Society: Redmond Haskins, rhaskins@legal-aid.org, 929-441-2384 WASHINGTON – Today, a court-appointed facilitator, Ariel Belen, issued a report on community-generated reforms to New York City […]
WNYC: NYPD To Release Records On Seized Assets
“The NYPD initially denied a 2014 public records request from the Bronx Defenders for detailed records on seized assets. The group sued the department in 2016 under the New York’s Freedom of Information Law (FOIL). As part of the lawsuit settlement filed in state court Monday, the NYPD is agreeing to give records for one […]
The New York Times: Surest Way to Face Marijuana Charges in New York: Be Black or Hispanic
No matter what reforms have been implemented or heralded, the racial disparities in marijuana arrests have persisted. Though black and white people use marijuana at roughly the same rate, black people were arrested on low-level marijuana charges at eight times the rate of white people across New York City over the past three years. Hispanic […]
The Bronx Defenders and Davis Wright Tremaine LLP Secure Settlement Forcing NYPD Transparency around Property Seizures
*** FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE *** MAY 14, 2018 CONTACT: media@bronxdefenders.org; 718-838-7890 The Bronx Defenders and Davis Wright Tremaine LLP secured a settlement today that requires the NYPD to turn over detailed information — for the first time — about the millions of dollars of property it seizes during arrests. The NYPD has never provided a […]
BxD’s Lauren Migliaccio speaks with Telemundo
Lauren Migliaccio, attorney in our Immigration Practice, sits down with Telemundo to shed light on ICE’s use of call-in letters as a way to trap immigrants and how this practice has devastating repercussions for our clients and their families. Watch the interview here.
The New York Times: Cash Is Still Hard to Find in New York City Courthouses
“You find examples like this in every corner of the criminal justice system. Nothing ever works quite the right way.” Scott Levy, Special Counsel to the Criminal Defense Practice, speaks with The New York Times about the lack of accessible ATMs in the Bronx courthouses. Read the piece here.