By Ali Sidiki | Communications Associate, WITNESS
As the Trump administration continues to crack down on immigrants’ rights and crank up its deportation machine, migrant communities everywhere are seeking protection from so-called "zero tolerance" policies and developing new methods of mutual protection.
While some cities have attempted to craft protective policies to minimize Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) interference, these agents are relentlessly finding loopholes to exploit these communities. In New York City, where local officials have declared that the city would resist the White House’s crackdown, ICE raids are still happening. A new battlefront for these officers has become the courthouses of the city. In 2017, there was a 1200% increase in reports of ICE arrests and attempted arrests at New York courthouses.
In an effort to educate and inform people that they have the right to film and document ICE officials, WITNESS along with Immigrant Defense Project, and New York Civil Liberties Union created a new resource informing people of their rights to film at courthouses.
The information in this resource is specific to a New York City-based audience, but many aspects can be applied to communities in other spaces. It offers important information about our rights and best practices for documenting an incident, and always remind people who might film to always use their best judgment and assess risks to themselves and those they are filming before hitting “record”.
We think that this is a very important resource as ICE has publicly declared that it will not refrain from arresting witnesses and survivors of crime at court appearances. ICE’s presence in and around courthouses further creates a climate of fear and panic for immigrant communities as people are reluctant to testify as witnesses, show up for court dates or scheduled immigration check-ins.
In many cases, individuals arrested in and around courthouses were facing a first-time arrest for a traffic violation, and most immigrants were reporting to court on low-level offenses. In some cases, charges were even dismissed, but ICE still proceeded with the arrest. Several of those arrested had documented mental health issues, and/or were survivors of family violence.
Friend, as ICE continues to rip families apart, we hope that you will continue to support us so we can reach immigrant communities far and wide across the U.S. and make sure that they are always equipped with resources like these that will expose the truth.
Human rights are for everyone, regardless of citizenship status.
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