If you were undocumented immigrant who witnessed a crime, and you were called to testify, would you? Would you testify knowing that ICE agents were waiting at the courthouse to arrest you?
This is not a hypothetical question. In Brooklyn ICE agents threw an immigrant leaving the courthouse against the wall, then hustled him into a car with no license plates. Bystanders thought he had been kidnapped, and in a way he had been. That was just one of many examples presented in a lawsuit filed by New York State authorities.
On Wednesday a federal District Court judge in Manhattan ordered ICE to stop arresting people on the grounds of any New York State courthouse or as they travel to a courthouse as a party or witness to a lawsuit.
However, I think ICE can still do that in Pennsylvania and other states.
See Benjamin Weiser, “Federal Judge Rules Against Immigration Arrests at New York Courts,” New York Times, (June 11, 2020), A18.
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