Congressman Dan Goldman Demands Answers About Communication Between NYC Department of Correction and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Information Sharing

February 28, 2023

Cosigns Congresswoman Grace Meng’s Letter to City DOC Commissioner Molina

Read the Letter Here

New York, NY – Congressman Dan Goldman (NY-10) last week joined Congresswoman Grace Meng (NY-06) and Congressional colleagues in asking New York City’s Department of Correction (DOC) Commissioner Louis A. Molina to provide information about DOC’s communication practices and policies with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency.

New York City Councilmember Shahana Hanif recently led a joint hearing between the New York City Council Committees on Immigration and Criminal Justice, regarding email communications between ICE and DOC. The emails, obtained through a Freedom of Information Law request, initiated by the Immigrant Defense Project and Black Alliance for Justice Immigration, revealed a culture of cooperation between the two agencies. This cooperation included ‘scheduled release times to facilitate ICE pickups’ and ‘shared unsolicited information that could be used to expedite removals.’

In 2014, a NYC law established strict parameters detailing when DOC would honor an ICE request to detain an individual 48 hours beyond their scheduled release.

“The ongoing collusion between the New York City Department of Correction and ICE officers harms immigrant communities and undermines our commitment to being a welcoming city,” said Zach Ahmad, Senior Policy Counsel at the New York Civil Liberties Union. “People have always looked to New York City for a better future and it’s our duty to fix gaps in the city’s disentanglement laws — and put an end to ICE collaboration once and for all.”

"BAJI is neither shocked nor surprised that ICE and the Department of Correction are in cahoots with each other. These emails confirm the experiences of Black New Yorkers being handed over to ICE by agencies who were legally obligated to protect our loved ones," said Nana Gyamfi, the Executive Director of Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI). "We look forward to working with the community to demand justice, accountability, and restitution for all of those harmed by this collusion."

"For too long the Department of Correction and other NYC agencies have violated immigrant rights with impunity," said Rosa Cohen-Cruz, Director of Immigration Policy at The Bronx Defenders. "The Department's xenophobic and hateful email exchanges with ICE display a wanton disregard for existing NYC laws intended to protect immigrants and confirm a pattern of collusion that advocates have long suspected. It is clear that we need to pass clear laws that city agencies cannot circumvent, including mechanisms to hold agencies accountable if immigrant's rights are violated."

"It has been over 8 years since the passage of critical local laws intended to limit New York City from working as an extension of ICE. Yet, city agencies have flouted our existing laws and funneled people into the hands of ICE, irreparably harming them, their loved ones and their communities,” said Yasmine Farhang, Director of Advocacy with the Immigrant Defense Project. "The time is now for New York City to step up as a local leader and send a clear message to immigrant New Yorkers that our city will not be a pipeline to detention and deportation."

“No New Yorker should be anxious about living their daily life in public and interacting with government agencies simply because of their immigration status. New York City’s sanctuary laws were enacted to protect immigrant New Yorkers from the terror inflicted on our communities by federal immigration enforcement and to ensure that every New Yorker could live their lives freely without fear," said Taina Wagnac, Senior Manager of State and Local Policy at the New York Immigration Coalition. "However, recent evidence proves that NYC Department of Correction (DOC) officers have chosen to act illegally by colluding with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) with severe and harmful repercussions for our immigrant communities, including sowing fear and separating families. This collusion between local law enforcement and federal immigration enforcement needs to cease immediately. It is time that New York City truly lived up to its promise of being a welcoming city for all who call it home.”

"New York City cannot continue to fall behind in preventing any collusion between the NYPD, DOC, and ICE. Immigrant New Yorker's have a right to feel safe in the place they call home, without being subjugated to pervasive effects of the prison-to-deportation pipeline," said Luba Cortés, an Immigrant Defense Coordinator with Make The Road New York. "It is time to strengthen our detainer laws that clearly delineate and prevent any of these agencies from cooperating with each other.

The letter was signed by six other Members of Congress: Reps. Meng, Velázquez, Clarke, Nadler, Bowman and Ocasio-Cortez. It was endorsed by five organizations.

A copy of the letter can be viewed here and below.

Dear Commissioner Molina:

We write to express our concern over recent reports and documents demonstrating that Department of Correction (DOC) officers were cooperating with federal immigration enforcement officials to facilitate the arrest of immigrant New Yorkers being released from custody.

On February 15, 2023, the New York City Council Committee on Immigration and Committee on Criminal Justice led a joint hearing regarding New York City’s Detainer Laws. E-mail communications produced through Freedom of Information Law requests introduced at the hearing and publicly shared, show that DOC officers “scheduled release times to facilitate ICE pickups, preemptively scheduled pickups for ineligible immigrants in their custody and shared unsolicited information that could be used to expedite removals,” which violate local laws. The email correspondence also exposed a culture of cooperation with ICE, including messages from a DOC officer requesting that ICE pick up someone using the phrase “#teamsendthemback” and “You are my BOO FOR REAL.”

In 2014, New York City signed into law strict parameters detailing when DOC will honor an ICE request to detain an individual 48 hours beyond their scheduled release. Local Law 58 requires that ICE provides a judicial warrant as to probable cause and that the individual being detained has been convicted of a violent or serious felony within the last five years or is a possible match on a terrorist watch list. Additionally, Local Law 59 limited the New York Police Department’s (NYPD) ability to prolong detention of a noncitizen without the presence of similar guidelines.

The e-mail evidence suggests several instances of DOC officials communicating with ICE regarding individuals in DOC custody that did not have a conviction for a qualifying offense. As Members of Congress charged with overseeing federal immigration enforcement actions, we are incredibly concerned with the relationship these e-mails reveal despite local laws that narrow the scope of when local law enforcement cooperation with ICE may occur.

We ask that you respond to the following questions by March 10, 2023, so that we may better understand how to address the issue and ensure New York City remains a welcoming place to all New Yorkers:

Judicial Warrants:

How many judicial warrants signed by a federal judge have you received from ICE since 2014?

Honoring a detainer vs. Other Communications:

How does the DOC distinguish and define “honoring an ICE detainer” and other types of communication with ICE? Does the DOC consider providing notification of the release to honor an ICE detainer?
Since 2019, how frequently – and through what mediums – do DOC officials communicate with ICE officers over requests for holding detained individuals?
What documentation does DOC require to comply with detainer and/or a request for notification? What specific information must be included.

Illegal Communications:

If ICE sends a list of detained individuals with information about them to DOC, does DOC respond with any information about the individuals listed, if they do not have a qualifying conviction?
Does DOC ever initiate communication with ICE to affirmatively provide information about an immigrant New Yorker in their custody?
Does the DOC ICE Unit communicate with ICE about people with merely pending qualifying convictions?
How many cases did DOC reach out to ICE to ask for updated paperwork, including but not limited to a new detainer, I-200 warrant of arrest, or I-205 warrant of removal?
In how many cases has DOC notified ICE of release and coordinated transfer where the qualifying conviction is the case currently pending?
In those cases, how much time elapsed between the court sentencing and the custody transfer to ICE? Where did the custody transfer occur?
What oversight actions are taken to ensure DOC officials communication with ICE officers are not in violation of local laws?

Slowdowns or Delay of Release to Facilitate ICE Arrest:

Does the ICE unit schedule release times in coordination with ICE on cases where there is a qualifying conviction but no judicial warrant?
Does DOC ever delay release at all – whether by minutes, hours, or a day or more – in order to facilitate their arrest by ICE? If so, how does DOC document these delays in release, if at all?
What actions does DOC take to ensure its employees understand local law and, if officers are found in violation, what corrective actions does DOC take to rectify the violation?
Have DOC officials ever advised family members not to pay bail due to notification to ICE?

Demographics:

What are the racial demographics of individuals DOC has released to ICE as a result of coordination between the two agencies?

Thank you for your time and we look forward to hearing from you on this matter.

###

Issues:Congress