Opinion: ICE has no place in our communities

Imagine one of your neighbors, a person you would consider a friend, goes to their scheduled check-in at their appointed federal immigration court. They’ve done everything by the book: they immigrated to this country as a refugee, have held steady employment and have been an upstanding member of our community. On the way out of their appointment, they get taken by ICE with no explanation or due process and shipped out to a holding facility. Now, it will take the combined efforts of local officials, legal representatives and all their friends and family just to give them a chance at due process. If these efforts fail, they face the grim reality of being sent to inhumane holding sites or to a country that threatens their very way of life.

This situation is not hypothetical. This case, alongside many others, are what my constituents are experiencing here in the Bronx and Westchester.

As a state senator representing some of New York’s most vibrant immigrant communities, I am outraged by the toll of the Trump administration’s callous approach to immigration enforcement. There is no due process, no humanity – just prejudice and force used against our neighbors who are simply seeking the opportunity to work and support their families.

Just last week, the U.S. Supreme Court added fuel to this fire, ruling that ICE can use race and ethnicity as a basis for making arrests. This gives federal agents the green light to target people based on the color of their skin and the language they speak. It legitimizes racial profiling and rolls back decades of progress we have made to address the injustices in this country. For our Black and Brown immigrant communities, this ruling is a threat to their livelihoods.

So here we are, at a new low of deeply xenophobic ideologies, policies and actions. We have seen random abductions at immigration court proceedings, detention centers surrounded by crocodiles and so-called “terrorism confinement centers” in El Salvador that more closely resemble modern-day concentration camps. If that were not enough, all of this is funded by millions of U.S. taxpayer dollars.

These are not just obscure news clippings. Here at home, ICE activity is ramping up in neighborhoods like the Bronx and New Rochelle. These actions are not about safety; they’re about instilling fear. When agents hover near courts, parks and community centers, they aren’t protecting public safety; they are driving families into hiding. Everyone loses when parents are too afraid to pick up their children or when workers vanish from their jobs out of fear.

New York has long stood as a beacon for immigrants. The words at the base of the Statue of Liberty – “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free” – are not just symbols; they are a promise we are called to keep.

We must reaffirm our commitment to that promise. While we are doing our best to increase access and funding for free legal resources, more must be done. That means passing stronger legislation like the New York for All Act to protect immigrant families from federal overreach, investing in legal defense funds and making sure that New York’s leaders never stay silent in the face of injustice. We must protect the members of our community to stop even one more friend from being taken unjustly and without due process.