“Yet advocates say that a drug test is frequently and unfairly used as a kind of parenting test. “Often what we see when there is a positive toxicology with a parent — that is pathologized,” said Miriam Mack, policy counsel for the family defense practice at The Bronx Defenders. “It’s held up as an indictment…
November 17, 2020 NYIFUP Statement About Hudson County’s Contract with ICE The New York Immigrant Family Unity Project (NYIFUP) provides free, high-quality representation to detained people facing deportation in New York City. Our clients are New Yorkers who are detained in county jails that include the Hudson County Jail in New Jersey. NYIFUP is run…
“Bronx Defenders, a pro bono attorney service, has sued the NYPD over its use of mug shots to build its facial recognition database, in violation of a 1976 law that keeps mug shots sealed. Facial recognition software was recently used to identify Derrick Ingram, a Black Lives Matter protester who quickly found himself besieged by dozens of NYPD officers….
“This is New York City I’m hearing everything. Everyone has an opinion and that’s the great thing… we’re hearing everything and that’s the most important thing, giving people a voice, hearing them,” Shea said. “Now we have to turn it into action in terms of what can we learn? This is just phase one. I…
“Teachers in schools are still calling ACS when our clients’ children failed to log on for remote learning,” said attorney Miriam Mack of The Bronx Defenders. “But we know and we’ve seen in the news media that white parents can and do opt out of remote learning without fear of ACS intervention.” Read the full…
“What are some of your proudest recent achievements? Creating a cross-practice, interdisciplinary policy team at The Bronx Defenders with advocates from the criminal defense, family defense, immigration, and civil action practices. This team coordinates with our communications and organizing divisions and has drafted legislation, testified at dozens of hearings, and held community education events. Getting…
“The city council says it will earmark $28.4 million toward immigration services — funds that will help provide free legal services navigating the citizenship application process, among other services. The funding comes on the heels of the Trump administration’s attempts to raise citizenship application fees from $640 to $1,160 — an increase intended to go…
“For decades, public defenders felt like they were yelling into the void. They raised issues, they fought for them, and they were proud of their victories. All the while, they knew that in order to deliver true, meaningful justice, they could not do it alone. They needed partners. The New York Giants became one of…
“Former wide receiver and Super Bowl champion Victor Cruz moderated a discussion between Giants players and The Bronx Defenders as part of the Team of Teams initiative.” Watch the full video here
***FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE*** Bronx Defenders Urge City and State Officials to Assist Incarcerated People with Stimulus Check Applications Nationwide Injunction Issued Recently Found that Incarcerated People Are Entitled to Benefits October 5, 2020 Ryan Karerat, The Bronx Defenders (RKarerat@bronxdefenders.org) (NEW YORK, NY) – A federal court ruled that thousands of incarcerated people and their children…
“This year, the New York Giants are a team of teams. During an unprecedented offseason, players and coaches split themselves into nine groups, each one paired with an organization in a dedicated region within New York and New Jersey. These community partners have a focus on racial injustice, criminal justice reform, education and economic advancement,…
“Jenn Rolnick Borchetta, who heads a civil rights unit at Bronx Defenders, said she won’t celebrate “unless and until Bronx residents living in private buildings are free from police harassment.” “The NYPD has a history of dismantling a program only to redeploy the same practice in new packaging,” she said. “It will be important to…
“We represent dozens of protesters from that night on claims against the NYPD,” said Jenn Rolnick Borchetta, managing director of impact litigation at the Bronx Defenders. “Our clients were all trapped before the curfew,” Borchetta said. “They were trapped to such a degree that people reported that they couldn’t breathe. Then police descended on a…
“Bronx Defenders Chief of Staff Caines said he was working on decarceration for some time before bail reform. He said the early releases, in November and December, were frequent, favoring those who he said shouldn’t have been incarcerated anyway. In January, releases from Rikers made some fear an impending crime wave, but it didn’t happen,…
“Human Rights Watch analyzed 155 videos that were recorded during the protest, some of which were posted on social media and others that were shared directly with Human Rights Watch. We also reviewed social media posts related to the protest and police scanner recordings from the 40th and 41st precincts on the evening of June…
“A federal judge ordered ICE officials at a jail in New Jersey on Monday to release Ousman Darboe, a 26-year-old undocumented immigrant from Gambia who has been detained for more than three years, according to his lawyers at The Bronx Defenders. Darboe, a Black Muslim, was pardoned by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo in February but has…
“Ousman Darboe arrived from Gambia at age 6. He was locked up by ICE more than three years ago — an extraordinary length of time even more notable because in February, Gov. Andrew Cuomo pardoned him for the alleged crime that landed him in detention: robbing gold chains, which he said he didn’t do. Sophia Gurulé,…
“The twin pandemics of COVID-19 and racial injustice that have ripped through this country the past six month have exposed and exacerbated long-standing inequities in our collective health, prosperity, and safety. Thousands of low-income people of color have died, millions of low-wage workers are out of a job, and Black people are experiencing violence, trauma,…
A broad coalition of civil rights organizations sent a demand letter to Airbnb today urging them to end a company policy that discriminates against individuals with arrest and conviction histories and allows users to be banned without explanation or a meaningful chance to appeal. New York, NY – A broad coalition of civil rights organizations, including…
“You’re codifying these structural inequalities into the tool,” said Scott Levy, chief policy counsel at the Bronx Defenders, a public-defender organization. “That is particularly pernicious because you are doing it under the guise of science.” Read the full article here
“The protests following George Floyd’s murder have amplified two different, yet intertwined demands: to hold police officers accountable and to defund the police. In New York City, the NYPD’s continued use of predatory “buy and bust” operations, which target poor people of color and are conducted by detectives with long misconduct histories, exemplifies the imperative…
“A group of legal service providers including Brooklyn Defender Services (BDS) came together to write a letter demanding that certain city agencies provide clear and transparent COVID-19 protocols for local jails. The groups, which also include the Legal Aid Society, the Bronx Defenders, New York County Defenders, Queens Defenders and Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem…
“The program has improved the chances of people getting released from city jails and state prisons, said Julia Solomons, senior policy social workers for the Bronx Defenders. Prosecutors, judges and prison officials are more likely to agree to let people out when they know there’s a hotel bed available as opposed to a packed shelter, Solomons…
“We are setting up Black communities, and the Black immigrants who live in those communities like in the Bronx, to fail,” said Sophia Gurulé, Darboe’s attorney and a policy counsel at Bronx Defenders. “He was basically plagued by constant policing and criminalization since he was a teenager.” Now, Darboe faces the prospect of deportation back…
“This is a report about the role of official misconduct in the conviction of innocent people. We discuss cases that are listed in the National Registry of Exonerations, an ongoing online archive that includes all known exonerations in the United States since 1989, 2,663 as of this writing. This Report describes official misconduct in the…