Category: Archive

The Intercept: ICE’s New York Office Uses A Rigged Algorithm To Keep Virtually All Arrestees In Detention. The ACLU Says It’s Unconstitutional

IN 2013, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement quietly began using a software tool to recommend whether people arrested over immigration violations should be let go after 48 hours or detained. The software’s algorithm supposedly pored over a variety of risk factors before outputting a decision. A new lawsuit, however, filed by the New York Civil Liberties […]

Sophia Gurulé Presented City Council Testimony re: Oversight – ICE’s Escalated Attacks on NYC Policies Protecting Immigrants

New York City Council Committee on Immigration and Committee on Hospitals Hearing re: Oversight – ICE’s Escalated Attacks on NYC Policies Protecting Immigrants February 28, 2020 Written Testimony of The Bronx Defenders By Sophia Gurulé, Policy Counsel, Immigration Practice Good afternoon Chairs Rivera and Menchaca, my name is Sophia Elena Gurulé and I am Policy […]

The Intercept: The Backlash

Justine Olderman, of the Bronx Defenders, agreed. “One of the strongest lessons we’ve learned so far is just the fact of the backlash,” she said. “The drive to detain is so powerful, the drive to detain and punish mostly black and brown people from low-income communities is so strict, that it doesn’t matter how careful […]

The City: He’s 67, With Renal Disease, An Eviction Case And No Help Finding A Home

If Alvin Linton’s landlord gets her way, the ailing 67-year-old will soon be evicted from the northeast Bronx home he’s lived in for nearly 40 years. Situations like Linton’s — where a senior with limited income faces the threat of homelessness — aren’t novel in New York. Recent city data shows the number of senior citizens in homeless […]

Fox 40: Fact Check: Bloomberg leaves out key parts of his history on stop and frisk policy

Jenn Rolnick Borchetta, another opponent of stop and frisk, said that internal police shifts were not convincing evidence Bloomberg had truly had an epiphany, especially given that he kept fighting Scheindlin’s ruling and impeding efforts at policy reform. (Some of Bloomberg’s criticism of Scheindlin was validated by an appeals court that removed her from the case, […]

Oneida Daily Dispatch: Capitol Watch: Fate of pot sales in New York is unclear

Eli Northrup, policy counsel to the criminal defense practice at Bronx Defenders, said marijuana convictions are keeping people from getting jobs, putting immigrants at risk of deportation and complicating child custody matters. “What people don’t feel is the urgency with this,” Northrup said. “White people, people in power, they don’t feel the effects of the […]

BRIC TV: The New Jane Crow

For wealthier white parents, the practice of smoking cannabis is becoming widely more accepted. But for poor families of color, a positive marijuana toxicology report can have life altering consequences. The New Jane Crow tells the story of two mothers who had neglect cases opened by the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) after their newborns […]