Immigration
After Wisconsin judge arrest, NY lawmakers look to strengthen immigrant protections in courthouses
ICE is largely prevented from making arrests in and around courthouses in the state, but officials want to shore up the Protect Our Courts Act in light of recent news.
State Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal, a sponsor of the 2020 Protect Our Courts Act, is now looking for ways to strengthen the law. NYS Senate Media Services
The arrest of a judge in Wisconsin for allegedly helping an undocumented immigrant evade arrest by federal officials made national headlines last week. In New York, some lawmakers troubled by what they saw are hoping to strengthen the state’s law that largely prevents U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from arresting people in and around courthouses.
Last week, the FBI arrested Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan after she allegedly directed Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, an undocumented immigrant who had appeared in her courtroom, down a private hallway in a bid to help him avoid ICE agents waiting in the courthouse hallway. Immigration officials still arrested Flores-Ruiz outside the courthouse. Roughly a week after he was taken into ICE custody, the FBI arrested Dugan. It was the first arrest of its kind, drawing outrage both from local officials in Wisconsin and immigrant advocates around the country, who say it represents a gross overstep by federal authorities that will have a chilling effect on immigrant communities who may need to interact with the court system.
Wisconsin currently doesn’t have laws or official policies in place that would protect immigrants from warrantless civil arrests in courthouses, though lawmakers in the state are now calling for new measures of protection. New York is ahead of the curve, having passed the Protect Our Courts Act in 2020, which prevents ICE arrests in and near courthouses, barring a judicial warrant. Many immigration agents use administrative warrants to apprehend immigrants, which are not signed by a judge. The ICE agents who arrested Flores-Ruiz in the Wisconsin courthouse reportedly only had an administrative warrant, not a judicial warrant.
State Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal sponsored the Protect Our Courts Act when it passed, and he expressed confidence that it will protect both immigrants and judges in the state. “In New York, I'm happy to say that this arrest would not have happened because of our bill, the Protect Our Courts Act,” Hoylman-Sigal said. At the same time, he said that there is room to strengthen the law, a prospect he is currently exploring. “Raising penalties on federal officers who violate the law is something that should be considered,” he said. “We have to create the appropriate disincentive and impose the correct penalty on Trump administration officials who are breaking our laws.”
Hoylman-Sigal is working with Assembly Member Micah Lasher to introduce new legislation to strengthen the existing law some time soon. Lasher said he and his state Senate counterpart are exploring multiple paths on how to shore up New York’s law in the face of the mass deportation efforts by President Donald Trump. “There's a question of what it takes to deter this conduct on the part of federal officials, and there are also difficult legal questions related to federal preemption,” Lasher said. He said they’re considering “paths to civil remedies” at the state level if federal officials violate the Fourth Amendment. Lasher believes that such an approach would address both the preemption issue and federal employees’ liability.
The Department of Homeland Security released a directive in January stating that ICE agents can make arrests “in or near courthouses” if they have “credible information” that a targeted person will be there. The directive has a caveat, however, stating that agents can only make arrests “where such action is not precluded by laws” passed locally. As written, that would seem to bar ICE agents from arresting immigrants in New York courthouses, given the Protect Our Courts Act.
However, state Chief Administrative Judge Joseph Zayas issued a court-wide memo earlier this year directing court officers not to interfere with ICE arrests in their courthouses, even if the agents don’t have a signed judicial warrant. Although Zayas testified to state lawmakers in February that the state court system remains committed to upholding the Protect Our Court Act, the memo issued the same month likely sought to preempt a potential arrest of a judge or court official, similar to what happened in Wisconsin.
A spokesperson for the Office of Court Administration did not return a request for comment on how New York’s court system may be impacted by the unprecedented judicial arrest in the midwest.