As the New York State Legislature re-opens this week, join the #ICEOutofCourts Coalition in advocating for the #ProtectOurCourts Act!

After an approximately 10-week hiatus, the New York State Legislature has finally come back into session this week. This represents a unique opportunity for the #ICEOutofCourts Coalition to make another push in support of the #ProtectOurCourts Act (S425/A2176), critical legislation that would protect immigrant New Yorkers from being targeted by ICE in and around New York State courthouses, and we need your help!

Below, check out how you can support the ICE Out of Courts Coalition and get updated on our most recent work. If you're new to this issue, jump all the way to the bottom for an explainer on the Protect Our Courts Act and how it relates to the COVID-19 crisis.

Interested in helping the ICE Out of Courts Coalition advocate for the Protect Our Courts Act? Join our campaign by:

• Sign our petition encouraging the Senate Majority Leader and Speaker of the Assembly to bring the Protect Our Courts Act to the floor for a vote! Make sure to share the petition with your networks afterward!
   
• Join the #ProtectOurCourts and #ICEOutofCourts conversations on social media! Check out this sample toolkit for inspiration (or feel free to use the content as written, that's what it's for)!

IDP has been working on a few things for the last several weeks to ensure we would be ready for the State legislature to re-open:

• An op-ed in the New York Daily News by New York City Councilmember Carlos Menchaca on the impact COVID-19 has had on immigrant communities, and why now is the time to pass the #ProtectOurCourts Act and stand with immigrant New Yorkers.
   
• An updated Letter of Support for the Protect Our Courts Act from the #ICEOutofCourts Coalition, now signed by 70+ organizations from across New York State.

*Note that as more of our work becomes public this week and next, we will send another update!

COVID-19 and the Protect Our Courts Act: a brief explainer

The Protect Our Courts Act (S425/A2176) is vital to the protection of the immigrant community during and emerging from this pandemic. Immigrant communities have been devastated by COVID-19, and ICE will continue to intimidate people out of accessing critical services at the courthouse unless New York acts now.

Immigrant neighborhoods are at the epicenter of the outbreak and have experienced an enormous loss of life. Many are essential workers facing heightened risks to pull our state through this crisis. While immigrants have been excluded from economic relief, they are additionally marginalized from accessing the variety of rights and remedies that are available through the court system, where ICE targets people for arrest. 

As COVID-19 was ravaging communities across the state, ICE arrested an individual outside a Long Island courthouse on March 16th, the day Suffolk County schools were closed. With USCIS’s announcement that it will reopen offices on June 4th and the gradual re-opening of New York Courts, we can assume that ICE will ramp up its enforcement activities. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, ICE had clearly targeted NYC—ICE raids in NYC increased 400% in the first 11 weeks of 2020 compared to the last 11 weeks of 2019.  
Advocates report that survivors of domestic violence are scared that, if they or their family members are arrested or detained by ICE, it will equal a death sentence. When faced with the choice of risking detention, deportation, and a very high risk of contracting COVID-19 in ICE custody, survivors will stay home and stay away from courts. With Governor Cuomo reporting a dramatic increase of domestic violence incidents, legislators must seize this opportunity to signal to survivors that the courts are a safe place to go. 

ICE policing at NYS courts only adds another layer of distress to immigrants who seek access to an institution in which every resident has a right to use. New York State has the opportunity to make immigrant communities feel safer during this pandemic, so they can access state services.