ICE Arrests NYC Immigrant, 27, At Bronx Courthouse

THE BRONX, NY — Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested an immigrant brought to the United States as a child outside the Bronx Criminal Court on Thursday in the latest immigration arrest at a New York City courthouse, public defenders said.

Aboubacar Dembele of the Bronx, 27, had been in court disputing a misdemeanor assault charge before immigration agents apprehended him, said representatives for the Legal Aid Society, which is representing the Dembele. He has no prior criminal record.

The arrest occurred outside the state-run courthouse, as court officers did not see ICE agents enter the building, said Lucian Chalfen, a spokesman for the Office of Court Administration.

Dembele "is currently in ICE custody pending immigration proceedings," ICE spokeswoman Rachael Yong Yow said in a statement.

The arrest is the latest case of ICE agents arresting immigrants when they make legally mandated court appearances, a practice that has increased under President Donald Trump's administration. It prompted dozens of public defenders to walk out of the South Bronx courthouse in protest Thursday afternoon.

"The presence of ICE officers in our courthouses, and the perception that no immigrant is safe to seek their day in court, is threatening to upend our entire legal process and the principles upon which it stands," the Legal Aid Society and the Bronx Defenders said in a joint statement.

Dembele, a native of the Ivory Coast, came to the United States with his family at age 3, said Redmond Haskins, a Legal Aid Society spokesman. He works full-time as a barista and is attending community college, Haskins said.

Dembele married his wife, a U.S. citizen, about a year ago and has a pending application for a green card, said Casey Dalporto, a Legal Aid Society defense attorney.

The NYPD arrested him on several charges including assault on Dec. 15, court records show. A judge released him on his own recognizance the next day and issued a temporary order of protection, records show. ICE had asked police to detain him before he was released, Yong Yow said.

Dembele was initially charged with felonies, but they were dropped, leaving him with only a misdemeanor assault case, Dalporto said.

Dembele applied in 2016 for permission to stay in the country under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, but Trump rescinded the program before he could submit additional required documents to supplement his application, Dalporto said.

ICE has said it arrests immigrants at courthouses because people are screened before going inside, making encounters safer for its agents and the immigrants themselves. The agency clarified its policy last week to say that it would not arrest immigrants who go to court as witnesses to crimes or to accompany family members to court appearances.

Public defenders and immigrant-rights activists on Thursday renewed their call for the state's chief judge, Janet DiFiore, to bar ICE agents from courthouses. The Office of Court Administration, which oversees the courts, says it lets all law enforcement agents into courthouses as long as they don't disrupt court proceedings. ICE agents aren’t allowed in courtrooms under state policy.

(Lead image: Defense attorneys and advocates rally outside the Bronx Criminal Court to protest the ICE arrest of a Legal Aid Society client on Thursday. Photo courtesy of Bronx Defenders via Twitter)