Photo Courtesy of Assemblyman Weprin’s Office
Assemblyman Weprin joins advocates calling for ICE to end indefinite detentions of immigration detainees at an October 2018 press conference at the agency’s Varick Street facility in Manhattan.
By Forum Staff
Two borough elected officials, with support from Amnesty International, have introduced legislation aimed at ensuring that immigrants detained in county jails in New York are in accordance with legal detention standards, and limiting the expansion of immigration detention facilities in the Empire State—unless approval can be gained from the Legislature.
According to State Sen. John Liu (D-Bayside) and Assemblyman David Weprin (D-Richmond Hill), the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Oversight Act prohibits municipalities from using funds or resources for the construction of any new detention facility or the expansion of any existing detention facility without approval by the Legislature.
“ICE continuously flouts the law, with little or no regard for basic human rights,” Liu said. “The State of New York can and must legislate with all its power to reduce efforts of this reckless agency to use public funds for construction or expansion of facilities, existing municipal buildings or other resources for their purposes of federal detention.”
The ICE Oversight Act also would establish a committee on immigration detention supervision, which will consist of six members appointed by the governor, attorney general, comptroller, secretary of State, president pro-tempore of the Senate, and the speaker of the Assembly that will be tasked with ensuring detainees are safeguarded while in New York.
The idea for such a committee was spurred by reports of substandard conditions at immigration detention facilities nationwide as well as by visits by members of the Legislature, including by Assembly Correction Committee Chairman Weprin, to county jails in the state that house immigration detainees.
“As residents of the nation’s gateway, New Yorkers know the value of immigration and understand that the vast majority of those immigrating to our country are doing so for a better life and to contribute to our great country,” Weprin said. “We cannot continue to blindly comply with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency if it continues to violate the human rights of those seeking refuge in the United States. This bill will send a clear message that New York will not be complicit with the atrocities of the federal government and I look forward to its passage in our State’s Legislature.”
Sheetal Dhir, senior crisis campaigner at Amnesty International USA, added, “Amnesty International recognizes threats to the rights of asylum-seekers, migrants, and refugees as a crisis of global magnitude and has made it a movement-wide priority to address these threats. We are vigorously opposed to the Trump administration’s relentless attacks on said groups. We commend the efforts of New York State legislators David Weprin and John Liu, who are taking proactive measures to ensure that taxpayer funds are not allocated to the unconscionable practice of inessential immigrant detention. If passed, [the new law] will prohibit municipalities from using funds and/or resources for the construction of any new detention facility, or the expansion of any existing detention facility without approval by the Legislature — in addition to establishing a committee on immigration detention oversight. This legislation is a vital step toward helping to meet our nation’s obligations under international law, and we fully support it.”
