WGXC-90.7 FM

State lawmakers considering bill to prevent ICE detention contracts with local jails

May 21, 2021 1:00 pm

Nick Reisman is reporting for State of Politics progressive legal groups are calling for the passage of a bill that would end contracts between local governments and federal immigration enforcement officials to detain immigrants. The New York Immigrant Family Unity Project, a coalition that includes the Legal Aid Society, Brooklyn Defender Services and The Bronx Defenders announced their support of the bill, which is meant to reduce the power of ICE to separate immigrant families, according to bill supporters. There are multiple local governments that have contracts with ICE for their jails in New York. “ICE enforcement and detention is racist, inhumane, and a danger to us all," the group said in a statement. "It separates families, subjects people to the extensive trauma and harms of incarceration, deprives people of basic human needs and rights and has killed hundreds of people. Yet in New York State, numerous county and city jails are paid by ICE to incarcerate people solely because of where they were born." The legislation is sponsored by Assemblymember Karines Reyes and state Sen. Julia Salazar. State lawmakers previously adopted measures intended to end law enforcement coordination with ICE, including a law that forbids the agency from making arrests in state courthouses without a warrant. Read the full story at nystateofpolitics [dot] com.