Editorial | ICE lawlessness puts us all at risk | amNewYork

ICE agents entered immigration courtrooms wearing masks and arrested immigrants who attended hearings as required by court orders and had no criminal record. ICE treated illegal presence in the U.S. as sufficient grounds for arrest. After a federal judge issued an order, ICE still detained a man from Honduras, and later evidence showed he had a sealed criminal record with no outstanding crimes. Lawyers sought release, and a judge granted it, finding the public threat was overstated. The central issue was ICE’s disregard for the judge’s order barring arrests. A legal advocate confronted an agent, who said, “We don’t care.” The crackdown created a catch-22 for undocumented residents, discouraging court compliance and increasing fear without improving safety. A federal judge ruled ICE’s actions violated constitutional rights and prohibited further courthouse crackdowns.

"For nearly a year, ICE agents many donning masks to hide their true identities skulked the halls of immigration courtrooms and arrested immigrants who merely abided by court orders to attend hearings and did not have a criminal record. According to ICE's logic, they broke the law just by being in the U.S. illegally, and thus deserved arrest."

"One day after Castel's order was handed down, ICE agents detained a 21-year-old man from Honduras. Hours after his arrest, it was revealed that he had a sealed criminal record to his name, but no outstanding crimes. ICE dubbed him a threat; his lawyers disagreed. They applied for his release, which a federal judge later granted evidence that the man's freedom was not as big a threat to the public as ICE claimed."

"The bigger problem, however, was the blatant disregard ICE agents demonstrated to Castel's order that barred them from making arrests. When a legal advocate confronted them about it Tuesday, one agent was quoted as saying, We don't care. Those three words constitute the most damning indictment of ICE regarding its actions in Lower Manhattan over the past year."

"Their crackdown has created a catch-22 for the city's undocumented community that gave them the choice of two bad options: Attend a court-ordered hearing and possibly be deported, or duck the order, stay in the shadows and risk certain deportation if caught. In fact, there has been a steady reduction of immigrants complying with court orders because of the fear ICE has instilled. That doesn't make our city or country safer. Yet ICE does not care."

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