Category: In the News
City Limits: Her Husband’s in ICE Custody. She Knew Something Was Wrong When He Didn’t Call.
“Many immigration courts have closed. Lawyers are not visiting detainees. And the situation now is like being in a hurricane, when the rain stops the real impact will be known,” said Francisco Collazos, Immigrant Families Together co-founder. Organizations such as Immigrant Families Together are currently working to identify how many detainees may be at greatest […]
Law360: ICE Blocked From Enforcing NY Detention Policy
“Law360, New York (March 30, 2020, 9:52 PM EDT) — A New York federal judge on Monday blocked U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in New York from carrying out what immigrant advocates claim is a blanket no-release policy for certain detainees accused of civil immigration offenses. During an afternoon teleconference, U.S. District Judge Alvin […]
Documented: Early Arrival: Judge Orders Immigrants Released from Detention Due to COVID-19
“A federal judge on Thursday ordered the release of 10 immigrants held in county jails in New Jersey due to the coronavirus. All of them were at acute risk due to their underlying health conditions. The petition for the release was filed by the Brooklyn Defender Services. U.S. District Court Judge Analisa Torres agreed with […]
Buzzfeed: An ICE Detainee Who Was Released After Getting The Coronavirus Fears What’s Next: “This Has Hit My Whole Body”
“For weeks, immigrant advocates have pushed ICE to release certain immigrants with underlying medical issues from the facilities and to scale back arrests, saying detention facilities were ripe for mass infections and casualties. There are currently more than 38,000 immigrants in ICE custody within private and local jails. So far, the agency has not changed […]
NJ.com: Judge frees 10 ICE detainees with health issues to protect them from coronavirus
“In a similar effort, two New York legal groups, The Legal Aid Society and The Bronx Defenders, also filed action recently to free seven ICE detainees in New Jersey and New York jails who are at “imminent risk” of COVID-19 because of their age or underlying health conditions.” Read the full article here
Quartz: Why ICE’s coronavirus response is so dangerous
“These recent events make me think of people like Ousman Darboe, a longtime Bronx, New York resident, husband, and father, currently jailed at Bergen County Jail, whom ICE has kept locked up in civil immigration confinement since 2017. ICE claims he’s a public safety risk, even after governor Andrew Cuomo granted a pardon of his sole criminal conviction, […]
LexBlog: NYC Public Defenders Issue Statement Condemning ICE Inaction on Coronavirus Threat at Detention Centers
(NEW YORK, NY) – The Legal Aid Society, Brooklyn Defender Services, and The Bronx Defenders – New York City’s defender organizations providing free legal in representation to detained immigrants through the New York Immigrant Family Unity Project (NYIFUP) – today released the following statement in response to news of the first ICE detainee testing positive for […]
Buzzfeed: An ICE Detainee Has Become The First To Test Positive For The Coronavirus
“On March 6, the Bronx Defenders, a public defender nonprofit, sent a letter to the Bergen County Jail pushing for more information on how clients with underlying medical issues would be treated and calling for the release of ICE detainees from the facility. The group represents more than two dozen ICE detainees currently at the […]
The Appeal: ‘Is My Life Not As Valuable As Yours?’ Immigration Judges Want All Courts Shut Down As Coronavirus Cases Soar
“The Trump administration’s hardline immigration policies are intersecting with a highly contagious disease at a time when New York State leads the nation with at least 20,875 confirmed coronavirus cases. In New York on Friday, Attorney General Letitia James joined Bitta Mostofi, New York City’s commissioner of Immigrant Affairs, in calling for a shutdown of […]
The Intercept: If Coronavirus Deaths Start Piling Up In Rikers Island Jails, We’ll Know Who To Blame
“It remains possible that the blooming epidemic on Rikers Island will not turn into a catastrophe of mass fatalities. Medical teams are working hard in city jails and, with any luck, they will be able to save lives. If people do die on Rikers, however, it won’t be because the public officials with the power […]