N.York prevents immigration service from detaining undocumented persons in court

New York, Dec 15 (EFE) .- The United States Immigration and Customs Services (ICE, for its acronym in English) will no longer be able to detain undocumented persons in or near the courts of New York, a lawsuit that has long years hoisted the defense organizations of this group.

Governor Andrew Cuomo printed his signature on Tuesday to validate the “Protect Our Courts” Act, which protects the undocumented from federal immigration authorities when they have to go to local or state courts.

The new law “guarantees that New Yorkers can freely access the justice system without fear of becoming a target of federal immigration authorities,” said a statement from the state government office released on Tuesday.

The brief stresses that ICE’s routine practice of detaining immigrants in the vicinity of city courts “discouraged them from appearing in New York courts and impeded a fair administration of justice.”

“Unlike the federal government, New York has always protected our immigrant communities,” said Governor Andrew Cuomo, quoted in the note, insisting that “this legislation guarantees all New Yorkers that they can go to tried without fear of being unfairly approached by Immigration or another federal immigration authority. “

The statement states that this law does not prevent an undocumented person from being detained by court order, although federal security forces will not be able to execute an administrative arrest warrant issued by an immigration court.

For the association “Make The Road”, which defends the rights of the immigrant and undocumented community, this law represents a “historic milestone.”

“This is a victory for immigrant New Yorkers. Now that the Protect Our Courts draft has been signed into law, the presence of ICE and its abusive tactics that intimidated and prevented immigrants from having equal access to court are ending.” assured the co-director of the NGO Javier Valdés in a brief note.

For Valdés, this law is “crucial for the protection of the undocumented” and to “defend immigrants against the deportation machine of the (President Donald) Trump Administration.”

Between 2016 and 2018, ICE operations increased the number of undocumented persons detained around the courts from 11 to 202, an increase of 1,700 percent, as reported in October by the digital outlet Documented.

In 2019, 127 people were arrested outside court buildings, mostly in Brooklyn and Queens counties. EFE

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