Ellen Pachnanda, Director of the Immigration Practice, presented before The New York City Council Committee on Immigration Oversight regarding Protection for Immigrant Communities.

"In my time at BDS, I have witnessed firsthand the direct, harmful results of the entanglement between the criminal and immigration legal systems. ICE has long relied on local and state law enforcement to target, arrest, and deport people, tearing people from their families and their communities. Today, we call on the City Council to strengthen the New York City detainer laws and support pending New York State legislation designed to protect immigrant New Yorkers.

"The detainer laws were intended to prevent non-citizens detained in DOC and NYPD custody from being transferred to immigration detention. Yet, given ICE’s aggressive apprehension, detention policies, and enforcement priorities, it is evident that our criminal legal system continues to cause non-citizens to be apprehended by ICE. The vast majority of New York City residents detained by ICE have had contact with the criminal legal system. This is especially concerning given the provisions of the Laken Riley Act, now pending before the U.S. Senate, that would allow for mandatory detention of those merely accused of crimes.

"Immigrant communities are facing the threat of increased ICE detention - coupled with the threat to go beyond the basis of criminal legal contact to detention near our schools, churches and shelters. The City can and should do more to ensure that residents are not unnecessarily targeted for detention or deportation because of some action or failure to act by the City."

Read the full testimony here.

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