A group of U.S. Congressmen introduced a bill Monday to prevent Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from arresting people present in federal court for immigration appointments unless the agency has a warrant.
New York Congressmen Nydia Velazquez, Adriano Espaillar and Dan Goldman, along with California’s Robert Garcia, a member of the House Oversight Committee, introduced the legislation in front of the controversial 26 Federal Plaza building in the Big Apple, which houses a courthouse and local ICE headquarters.
Want to ban ICE arrests at immigration appointments
“In the last year, we have shockingly and repeatedly seen ICE and DHS(Department of Homeland Security) agents detain non-violent, non-criminal immigrants immediately after their mandatory court hearings, in many cases even though they were active and viable,” Goldman charged.
Goldman noted that “80% of people with court hearings are not coming forward out of fear” and “there is an automatic deportation order as soon as they don’t show up,” Goldman said.
Congressman Goldman has been detained several times while trying to access the detention center of this building denounced for its unsanitary conditions, according to the AmNY newspaper.
The legislation they are proposing, called the ‘Immigration Due Process Protection Act,’ seeks to prohibit officers from detaining persons present in court to attend or participate in a hearing related to an immigration proceeding, and to protect those who do not have a final order of deportation.
The congressmen denounced the Donald Trump administration’s campaign of arrests in immigration courts across the country to “meet mass deportation quotas,” and which have affected immigrants with no criminal histories, including asylum seekers or students.
The bill has a low probability of making it through, as both U.S. legislative chambers are controlled by Republicans, but Goldman urged them to support it, at the risk of midterm elections yielding Democratic victories due to opposition to Trump’s immigration policy.
Filed under: ICE Arrests on Immigration Appointments
With information from EFE
