Category: Archive

Joint Public Defenders’ Letter Re: Operation Lone Star

April 6, 2022 Merrick Garland, U.S. Attorney General Lisa Monaco, Deputy Attorney General Vanita Gupta, Associate Attorney General Kristen Clarke, Assistant Attorney General United States Department of Justice 950 Pennsylvania Ave. NW Washington, D.C. 20530 Re: Operation Lone Star Dear Attorney General Garland, Deputy Attorney General Monaco, Associate Attorney General Gupta, Assistant Attorney General Clarke: […]

Client Experience Survey

As an organization, The Bronx Defenders is committed to listening to the people we represent and being responsive to their needs and concerns. Client surveys are one way we try to connect with the people we serve to seek their input about their engagement with us, better meet their needs, and hold ourselves accountable to […]

Vox: New York gave every detained immigrant a lawyer. It could serve as a national model.

“Sarah Deri Oshiro, who is now managing director of the immigration practice at the Bronx Defenders, had been working on deportation defense at Varick Street for five years prior to the implementation of the program. She saw a grim reality for detained, unrepresented immigrants, despite the city’s robust network of legal services organizations. “Given the […]

Law360: After ‘Dragging Their Feet,’ Bronx DA To Drop Pot Charges

“Eli Northrup, an attorney with the Bronx Defenders, however, told Law360 on Thursday morning that the DA’s office has agreed in conversations with public defenders to identify and dismiss open marijuana cases involving expungeable offenses under the MRTA. In a phone call last week with Ann Mathews, the director of the Bronx Defenders’ criminal practice, Chief […]

Cannabis NewsWire: Public Defenders Accuse Bronx DA of Dragging Feet on Dropping Pending Cannabis Cases

“Despite the passage of the recreational cannabis law, those cases are still hovering over people’s heads, says Eli Northrup, a lawyer from Bronx Defenders. For instance, 41 people from the Bronx have been arraigned before court on marijuana charges, and their court dates are coming up. There are also cases involving individuals who, after being arrested, were […]

Gothamist: Bronx DA Slow To Drop Open Marijuana Cases After Legalization, Public Defenders Say

“The Bronx Defenders sent a letter to Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark’s office on April 20th—three weeks after the law was passed—urging her to begin acting in accordance with the law. The letter estimated there were “hundreds” of pending cases in the Bronx in which the most serious charges were criminal sale or possession of […]

NY City Lens: The Most Pressing Issue for Incarcerated Women: Sex Abuse and Harassment

“Advocates also sounded the alarm about the sexual abuse and harassment of transgender women in New York City facilities. Dany Greene of the LGBTQ Defense Project at The Bronx Defenders testified that transgender women are still being housed in male jails at Riker’s Island. Conversely, even if they are housed correctly, according to their gender […]

The Nation: Biden Has a Chance to End the Jail-to-Deportation Pipeline

“Guillermo Bustos migrated to the United States when he was a child. He spent his formative years in Los Angeles, where he graduated from Huntington Park High School in 2006. Guillermo’s entire family and life is in California. He was raised by his mother, Maria Bustos, a lawful permanent resident, and his older sister and […]

The Riverdale Press: Advocates applaud New York legalizing marijuana

“A number of the neighborhoods that were most targeted for marijuana enforcement are out here in the Bronx,” said Eli Northrup, a policy lawyer for The Bronx Defenders, a public defender non-profit that helps low-income Bronx residents. “We represent people every day who are affected by marijuana convictions. Even if marijuana policing has gone down […]