Opinion: We can protect our immigrant neighbors. What are we waiting for?

Every public defender in New York City is, by necessity, also an immigration lawyer. When I meet a client for the first time in court, one of the first questions I ask is: where were you born? That’s because local criminal courts – like Bronx Criminal Court, where I’ve practiced for the past 10 years – are where criminal and immigration law converge and where federal immigration policy plays out in real people’s lives every single day across New York state. 

The question about where a person was born is central to the work of public defenders because missing an immigration issue can be the difference between a person going home and spending months in detention. A criminal conviction can mean deportation; it can mean families torn apart and children left without a parent. A mere accusation can lead to life-altering consequences for people who aren’t citizens, including legal permanent residents. Advising clients of their rights and the legal consequences of their immigration status is not a separate part of the job. It is the job. The Supreme Court recognized this reality in Padilla v. Kentucky. 

The threat to immigrant New Yorkers has always been real. But what we are facing now is something altogether different. In New York City, ICE street arrests have surged more than 200%. In Morningside Heights, where I live, ICE agents have entered Columbia University residential buildings without judicial warrants, lying to security guards and detaining students in their homes. 

Two-thirds of New Yorkers say these raids create fear and chaos. They’re right. In the 25 years since its creation, ICE has become a violent, rogue agency. 

ICE’s presence in legal proceedings undermines due process, upends the presumption of innocence for people charged with crimes, and erodes faith in our basic democratic institutions. Even prosecutors from across the country have expressed concern with the chaos, distrust and disruptions to the judicial process and meaningful accountability. Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch recently testified that ICE’s presence “makes (the NYPD’s) job harder and our communities less safe.” 

The New York state Legislature has the power to act to protect New York residents. The question is whether it will.

The New York for All Act, first introduced in 2020, is the most comprehensive solution on the table to fight back against the federal deportation machine. It would prohibit state and local agencies from colluding with and assisting ICE in most cases. But Gov. Kathy Hochul has not voiced support for the measure, and her proposal in the Executive Budget fails to meet the moment. While the governor’s proposal would ban formal 287(g) agreements (agreements with the federal government that essentially allow local law enforcement to act as ICE agents) and prevent authorities from entering sensitive locations without a warrant, localities around the state would still be free to informally collude with ICE. 

That’s what happened last month in Buffalo, when Border Patrol agents left Nurul Amin Shah Alam, a Rohingya refugee who was nearly blind and didn’t speak English, at a closed coffee house on a frigid winter night miles from his home. Instead of being reunited with this family, he was left to die in the cold. 

This tragedy was the result of informal collusion between local law enforcement and ICE, not a formal agreement that deputized the Erie County Sheriff's office to enforce federal immigration laws. A 287(g) ban would not have prevented this. New York for All would have. 

Drawing clear and principled lines between our state and federal immigration enforcement is more important now than ever. The Constitution makes clear that the federal government cannot commandeer a state’s police powers for its own purposes against the state’s will. It is simply not the job of local law enforcement to enforce the federal government’s civil immigration agenda. It is also incumbent on the state to protect New Yorkers’ First and Fourth Amendment rights. The rights to free speech, due process and to be free from unconstitutional searches and seizures, however, are not self-enforcing. They require legislation with teeth. 

New York state – and especially our community on the Upper West Side – has always stood as a bulwark of progressive values; speaking up, showing up and leading with integrity, compassion and resolve. That conscience is needed now more than ever. It is time to take action. New York must lead the way in advancing the strongest protections in the country for our immigrant neighbors. It starts with New York for All.