New York Restricts Immigration Arrests In Courthouses

NEW YORK — New York State court officials moved Wednesday to restrict federal immigration agents from making arrests in courthouses after a sustained outcry from attorneys and advocates.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers can only make arrests inside courthouses if they have a warrant or order issued by a federal judge, according to a directive from the state's Office of Court Administration dated Wednesday.

The move effectively bars ICE agents from making arrests in courts on its own administrative warrants for civil immigration violations, which judges do not have to review. But the directive does not explicitly ban ICE from making arrests just outside the courthouse walls.

The shift won praise from advocates and public defenders, who for months have decried courthouse arrests as a dangerous tactic that makes immigrants afraid to engage with the justice system.

"This rule change is a big win for thousands of immigrants and their families across New York State who will no longer be sitting ducks in the courtroom," Terry Lawson, the director of Bronx Legal Services's Family and Immigration Unit, said in a statement.

Advocates have recorded a steep increase in ICE activity at courthouses under the Trump administration. The Immigrant Defense Project, an advocacy group, recorded 202 ICE arrests and sightings at courthouses across the state last year, up from 172 in 2017 and just 11 in 2016.

Opponents of the practice — including three of New York City's five district attorneys — have argued that it threatened to disrupt the functioning of the court system and made immigrants afraid to come to court as defendants or witnesses.

Office of Court Administration policy previously set out a protocol for law-enforcement activity in courthouses without specifically addressing ICE arrests. Amid pressure to bar ICE from the courts, the office said it had raised concerns with federal officials but did not change its policy until this week.

Asked to explain the change, OCA spokesman Lucian Chalfen said the office has discussed the issue with ICE officials and advocates for more than a year and “decided that this was an appropriate way to ensure that all parties would be accommodated and the integrity of the court system and its daily operations would not be adversely impacted.”

An ICE spokeswoman did not immediately comment on the move.

After advocates raised concerns about courthouse arrests, ICE issued a January 2018 policy saying agents would arrest immigrants charged with a crime when they come to court but not their family members or anyone appearing as a witness to a crime.

While they praised the state's policy shift, advocates maintained their call for state legislation to protect New Yorkers from civil arrests while they're at court or heading to or from the courthouse.

"In order for our judicial system to function properly, all immigrants — including our clients who have been accused of a crime, parents appearing in family court, and survivors of abuse, among others — must have unimpeded access to courts," Janet Sabel, the Legal Aid Society's attorney-in-chief, said in a statement.