New York City Passes Groundbreaking Detainer Reform Laws

November 18, 2014

On Oct. 22, 2014, the New York City Council passed groundbreaking legislation dramatically expanding existing city laws that limit the circumstances under which the New York City Police Department (“NYPD”) (Int 0487-2014) and Department of Correction (“DOC”) (Int 0486-2014) will honor an U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) detainer. The bills were signed into law on Friday, November 14th and will take effect thirty (30) days later, on or about Dec. 14, 2014. These new laws will greatly benefit future noncitizen criminal defendants and could also potentially prevent noncitizens currently detained in DOC custody from being transferred to immigration detention. Once in force, the new laws will mean that very few, if any, individuals will be transferred from NYPD and DOC to immigration detention. Thousands of New Yorkers each year will be spared from deportation.

Under the new detainer discretion laws, the NYPD and DOC may no longer honor detainer requests issued by ICE unless two criteria are satisfied. ICE must present the City with a warrant from an Article III federal judge (or a federal magistrate judge) that establishes that there is probable cause that the individual sought is subject to arrest by ICE. Additionally, even if ICE possesses a judicial warrant, the NYPD and DOC will only honor a detainer if the person has been convicted within the last five years of a violent or serious crime or is found to be a possible match on the terrorist watch list.

The laws include several additional measures to protect immigrant New Yorkers. ICE is no longer allowed to keep an office on Rikers Island. Additionally, DOC cannot expend resources assisting in civil immigration enforcement, including sharing information about clients with ICE, except as required by federal law or under other limited circumstances. NYPD has no limits on information sharing; therefore there is still a risk that ICE will appear at the court or at people’s homes. Lastly, the NYC Department of Probation announced that it will issue a policy consistent with this legislation in the near future.

For more information, the Immigrant Defense Project and Cardozo School of Law have created a detailed chart and practice advisory here.

Courtesy of the New York State Defenders Association.

EXECUTIVE ACTION ON IMMIGRATION COULD HAPPEN AS SOON AS THIS WEEK

November 21, 2014November 17, 2014

NOVEMBER 17, 2014
EXECUTIVE ACTION ON IMMIGRATION COULD HAPPEN AS SOON AS THIS WEEK
While nothing has been confirmed, President Obama has indicated that he intends to announce a broad overhaul of the current immigration enforcement system by the end of this year. He may take executive action as soon as this coming week to help up to five million unauthorized immigrants. Sources indicate that his plan would help undocumented parents of children who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents by giving them authorization to work legally and protecting them from deportation, which would relieve many families’ fears of being separated.

Please keep checking our Facebook page and Twitter feed for updates on any White House announcements, further details of the plan, and any public information events that we will host.

Thank you for attending our 26th Annual Dinner Dance

November 5, 2014

From all of us here at Emerald Isle, we would like to say thank you to all those who joined us on Friday, October 24, 2014 for our 26th Annual Dinner Dance. For those who could not be there but chose to support our work in the form of taking a journal ad we are also grateful.

We are looking forward to continuing our service provision to the community at large in the year ahead and we couldn’t start that work without the support of our loyal and generous benefactors.

Photos from the event can be found here.

Join us on Facebook, Twitter or check our website for further details on our future events and our continued work and varied programs in the Tri-state area.

Siobhan Dennehy

EIIC, Executive Director