NYPD Agrees to Pay $125,000 to Bronx Woman Who Sued to Stop Police Violence and Retaliation Against Black and Brown New Yorkers
Media Contacts: Michael Paul Jackson, mjackson@bronxdefenders.org The Bronx, NY – Today, The Bronx Defenders and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, LLP announced that the City of New York has agreed to pay Cheyenne Lee $125,000 after nine NYPD officers barged into her home without a warrant, arrested her teenage nephew, and then arrested her without…
Ousman Darboe
Ousman Darboe is a 28-year-old undocumented Black Muslim man who arrived in the United States from the Gambia as a six-year-old. Fordham Heights in The Bronx has been his home ever since. On July 31, 2017, ICE conducted an early morning raid on Mr. Darboe’s home and arrested him, taking him away from his home…
Velesaca v. Wolf
The New York Civil Liberties Union and The Bronx Defenders today announced a federal class-action lawsuit challenging a recently-enacted policy of New York City-area federal immigration officials of jailing virtually all of the thousands of people they have arrested over the last three years. Before this policy, nearly half of those arrested on civil immigration…
P.L. et al. v. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
On February 12, 2019, seven immigrants, representing a class of all detained immigrants in the New York City area, and the three New York Immigrant Family Unity Project (NYIFUP) providers—Brooklyn Defender Services (BDS), The Legal Aid Society (LAS), and The Bronx Defenders (BxD)—filed a federal lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Southern…
Vazquez Perez v. Decker
On November 15, 2018, The Bronx Defenders, Cardozo Law Immigration Justice Clinic, and New York Civil Liberties Union filed a putative class action lawsuit against the U.S. government — including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The suit challenges the unconstitutional practice of jailing immigrant New Yorkers for months…
R.C. v. The City of New York
If you think you might be a member of the class, click here On April 24, 2018, The Bronx Defenders filed a class action against the City of New York and the NYPD for illegally using and sharing information from sealed arrest records in defiance of long-standing privacy laws that protect privacy and the…
New York Police Dept. Agrees to Curb Stop-and-Frisk Tactics
“We’re talking about stops and frisks and arrests in the sanctity of people’s homes that have had an incredible human toll on the relationship between the community and the police,” said Johanna Steinberg, director of the Impact Litigation Practice at The Bronx Defenders, which was also part of the lawsuit. “This will create accountability and…
Case Challenging Delays in Bronx Court Can Proceed with New Plaintiffs
“The Bronx Defenders won a partial victory in its suit challenging notoriously long delays for misdemeanor trials in the Bronx. But it will have to proceed with new plaintiffs. The public defender organization filed its federal lawsuit in the spring, claiming the delays violate the U.S. Constitution’s right to a speedy trial…” Listen to the…
The Bronx Defenders v. NYPD
On May 30, 2018, the court approved a settlement secured with the NYPD requiring it to turn over detailed information — for the first time — about the millions of dollars of property it seizes during arrests. The settlement resulted from a New York State Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) lawsuit filed by The Bronx…
Ligon v. City of New York
Filed on March 28, 2012, this federal class action lawsuit challenges the constitutionality of Operation Clean Halls, a part of the NYPD’s stop-and-frisk program that allows police officers to patrol thousands of private apartments buildings across New York City. As far back as the early 1990s, Operation Clean Halls has enabled police officers to patrol…
Trowbridge v. DiFiore
On August 9, 2018, The Bronx Defenders along with Emery Celli Brinckerhoff & Abady, LLP and Morrison & Foerster, LLP secured a settlement in Trowbridge v. DiFiore on behalf of New Yorkers who are affected by systematic delays in the processing of misdemeanor cases in the Bronx. According to the terms of the agreement, the…
Encarnacion v. City of New York
The NYPD routinely confiscates cash, cell phones, and other personal property from people arrested in New York—particularly impacting people in the low-income communities targeted by broken windows policing, who can least afford it. A City budget document states that NYPD retained $7 million in unclaimed cash and property auction proceeds as revenue in fiscal…