NEW YORK, CMC – The New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC) is calling for an end to all arrests of Caribbean and other immigrants at United States immigration courts by officers from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency.
NYIC, an umbrella policy and advocacy organization that represents over 200 immigrant and refugee rights groups throughout New York, made the call after the South Korean student at Purdue University, Yeonsoo Go, was released from ICE custody on Monday, five days after she was detained during a routine court hearing.
NYIC said that Go was abruptly detained at her visa hearing by ICE agents and that, despite following the proper legal process, she was sent to a US federal detention facility in Louisiana.
Murad Awawdeh
“All families belong together. We are pleased to know that Yeonsoo is now home, reunited with her family and community where she belongs,” NYIC President and chief executive officer, Murad Awawdeh, told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC).
“Yeonsoo’s release comes after a traumatic and unjust detention that should never have happened. She was taken by ICE simply for doing what the law requires, attending her immigration court hearing to move forward with her immigration application.
“Yeonsoo’s unjust detention is another example of the Trump administration supercharging its mass deportation machine to criminalize, kidnap, and tear apart immigrant families,” Awawdeh said, adding that the Trump administration’s aggressive and inhumane enforcement operations inside New York’s immigration courthouses undermine the country’s commitment to due process and the rule of law.
“ICE must immediately end courthouse enforcement operations and shut down the detention center….Every person still detained inside 26 Federal Plaza and beyond must be released now,” Awawdeh demanded.
Late last month, he said a newly-released video showed what immigrant New Yorkers have been telling their families and attorneys for months: “The 10th Floor of 26 Federal Plaza is an ICE detention facility.
He said that since June 8, US Congressmembers Nydia Velázquez, Adriano Espaillat, Dan Goldman, and Jerry Nadler have been “categorically denied their legal authority” to view the detention facility on multiple attempted visits.
Awawdeh said all members of Congress have the authority to “conduct unannounced inspections of detention facilities holding individuals in federal immigration custody”.
Velázquez said the building has become “the epicenter of the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign in New York City.
“Since May, ICE has been snatching New Yorkers off the streets and out of immigration court and taking them to this floor. They’ve claimed it’s not a detention facility, just a ‘processing center,’ to block Members of Congress from exercising our legal right to conduct oversight.
“They’ve also dismissed repeated reports of overcrowding and inhumane conditions,” said Velázquez, adding, “this video confirms what we’ve feared all along: ICE has been lying and locking us out to hide what’s happening inside”.
Congressman Espaillat, who was born in the Dominican Republic, said the conditions at the building are “a blatant violation of human rights and due process, and I was deeply alarmed by recently uncovered video footage showing immigrants detained by ICE forced to sleep on filthy floors, share a single bathroom among nearly 30 people, and endure inhumane treatment.
“The environment in which these individuals are being forced to remain is indicative of the Trump administration’s sentiment towards immigrants as disposable and serves as further justification to continue to demand oversight and accountability at these facilities,” he added.
Lander, a staunch critic of President Trump’s mass deportation policy, was arrested while trying to steer an immigrant man past ICE agents stationed in the hallway of the courthouse.
“The arrest of the NYC Comptroller is an outrageous abuse of power and a dangerous obstruction of justice,” Awawdeh said.
“This is not just an attack on one of our city’s elected leaders; this is an attack on all New Yorkers who believe in due process and the fundamental rights of immigrant communities,” he added.“
New York Governor Kathy Hochul described Lander’s arrest as “a sorry day for New York and our country.”
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