"When communities understand that a single arrest, even one resolved in court, can trigger a handoff to ICE, trust collapses. Survivors of domestic violence hesitate to seek support. Parents avoid schools and hospitals. Public safety suffers."
"The governor has suggested that immigration enforcement is not fundamentally flawed, only that it must be more targeted. Implicit in that view is the idea that we can separate immigrants into categories-those who deserve protection and those who do not-because at bottom we can trust our immigration system to deliver fair results. After over a decade defending New Yorkers in immigration court, I can tell you: that premise does not hold up in real life."
"New York invested in his rehabilitation-and it worked. But the day he was released at 18, instead of walking into community programs lined up to support him, Adam was transferred directly to ICE custody."
Governor Hochul's proposal to ban 287(g) agreements and end ICE detention contracts in local jails addresses important harms but reflects a flawed assumption that immigration enforcement can be made fair through targeting. The immigration system cannot reliably separate deserving from undeserving immigrants. An immigration attorney's decade of experience reveals systemic failures: a rehabilitated young man named Adam, who successfully reformed while incarcerated as a juvenile, was transferred directly to ICE custody upon release despite New York's investment in his rehabilitation. This case exemplifies how local entanglement with federal immigration enforcement causes severe harm to communities, discourages vulnerable populations from seeking support, and ultimately undermines public safety.
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