Get ICE out of court. pic.twitter.com/FHj97zcS1p
— Adrienne Wells (@AdrienneLWells) November 28, 2017
Dozens of criminal defense attorneys staged a walkout at a New York City courthouse in order to protest an ongoing series of courthouse arrests made by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) officers.
This morning, after news broke that at least one legal aid client was being arrested by ICE, multiple attorneys filed out of the Kings County Criminal Court building in Brooklyn.
After that arrest, the attorneys began a sidewalk march to chants of “Hell no, ICE has got to go!” and “What do we want? ICE out. When do we want it? Now!” in front of the courthouse.
According to multiple attorneys on the scene, the arrests were being facilitated by officers with the Office of Court Administration (“OCA”). In the past, OCA officials have claimed their office has nothing to with ICE’s controversial pattern of courthouse arrests, however, this charge would seemingly contradict their prior stance.
Law & Crime reached out to OCA officials for comment but a response was not forthcoming at the time of publication.
There were also multiple reports of an attorney being physically assaulted by an officer while trying to speak with her client and invoke their Constitutional right to counsel. According to attorney Rage Kidvai, an unidentified sergeant shoved and pushed that attorney in order to prevent her from addressing her client as they were being arrested.
The Immigrant Defense Project noted, via Twitter, “We spoke to a witness who saw the @LegalAidNYC attorney trying to invoke her client’s rights & being shoved away from secure doors in the courthouse as agents disappeared behind them after the arrest.”
Requests to ICE officials for comment on the particular arrests were not returned at the time of publication.
[image via screengrab]
Follow Colin Kalmbacher on Twitter: @colinkalmbacher
