NY City to stop holding undocumented arrestees for ICE

New York City Council in chamber. NY CITY COUNCIL PHOTO

NEW YORK CITY – New York City’s Department of Correction and the Police Department will no longer honor immigration holds issued by the federal government unless they are accompanied by a judge’s warrant, according to the ordinance passed by the City Council on October 22.

Voting 41 to 6 on two bills that ends cooperation with the federal government when it asks Corrections or the NYPD to hold undocumented persons for 48 hours instead of releasing them so that the persons can be handed over to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency.

Under the new ordinance, which is supported by Mayor Bill de Blasio, the city will honor immigration waivers if the federal government requests them with a judge’s warrant — and even then, only if the subject of the warrant was convicted within the last five years of a violent or serious crime, or is a possible match on the terrorism watch list, according to Observer.com https://observer.com/2014/10/council-passes-bills-to-stop-cooperation-with-federal-immigration-detainers/.

Supporters of the legislation, including City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, lauded it as a way to end warrantless detention of immigrants that they argued are unconstitutional, and as a way to keep city families together and reform broken immigration policies.

“If obstructionists in Congress insist on delaying any federal action on fair and just immigration reform, it falls to municipal governments to pick up the slack,” Mark-Viverito said.

Councilman Daniel Dromm argued that the legislation would make the city safer in spurring immigrants to report crime.

“By ending the collusion of local law enforcement and jails with federal immigration authorities, New York City will be a safe place where our immigrants no longer fear deportation by interacting with police. This is good news for all New Yorkers,” Mr. Dromm said.

But Councilman Paul Vallone said the bill’s removal of ICE offices from Rikers Island “sends a dangerous message,” and argued nobody had presented any evidence the legislation would make the city safer, according to Observer.com. Vallone was joined by two fellow Democrats and three Republicans in voting no.

 
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