Opinion: To keep New York safe, Albany must protect victims and witnesses from ICE

Brooklyn has made historic gains in public safety. In 2025, the borough recorded its fewest homicides and shootings ever, with a homicide rate lower than Vermont's recent statewide numbers and lower than every state in the South. Those gains came from a proven strategy: strong accountability for people who commit violence, relentless focus on the small number of individuals driving the most serious crime and sustained community engagement to break cycles of violence before they claim more victims. 

But our continued progress depends on trust. When people believe the justice system will protect them and treat them fairly, they report crimes, cooperate with investigations and testify in court. When they fear that asking for help or assisting law enforcement as a witness could expose them or their families to deportation without due process, many stay silent. Violent offenders count on that silence, and public safety suffers. 

That is why New York lawmakers must act. State leaders are considering legislation that would keep local law enforcement focused on crime rather than civil immigration enforcement – ensuring that defendants who have harmed New Yorkers remain here to face justice, while protecting victims and witnesses who come forward regardless of immigration status. To investigate and prosecute crimes, it is critical for local police, prosecutors and federal authorities to work together. But the law should draw a clear line: local law enforcement should never enforce civil immigration law or allow victims and witnesses to be turned into targets for civil immigration arrests.

As Brooklyn’s district attorney and the president and CEO of the New York Immigration Coalition, we’ve seen these barriers to safety and justice before. When federal agents began arresting noncitizens in and around New York courthouses in 2019, the DA's office recorded a measurable decline in witness cooperation. People with every reason to seek protection suddenly had a reason to stay away. The DA and state Attorney General's offices sued the federal government over that policy and won an injunction halting courthouse arrests in New York state, because justice cannot function when the act of coming forward carries its own dangers.

But now, those dangers are intensifying, with people arrested at immigration courts, students detained shortly after filing asylum applications and masked officers taking people into custody at local government offices. Each of these examples sends a message to entire communities that engaging with any government agency may not be safe.

Victims and witnesses rarely distinguish between a local police precinct and a federal office, or between a courthouse and a detention facility. The fear spreads until people stop calling the police, stop meeting with prosecutors and stop showing up to testify – and the people who rely on intimidation to avoid criminal consequences are the ones who benefit. 

That is the backslide in trust and public safety these proposals are meant to prevent. Local law enforcement should be able to investigate crimes and pursue accountability without federal immigration enforcement turning every interaction with a victim or witness into a potential liability. The state has a direct interest in protecting the people whose cooperation makes prosecution possible, and right now that interest is going unprotected.Brooklyn's progress was built by every victim who came forward, every witness who testified and every community member who trusted that the system would protect them. State leaders have the power to ensure that trust is not weaponized against them, and we encourage them to act now.