Queens rep introduces bill to keep migrants out of courthouses and away from feds

Queens Representative Grace Meng introduced legislation that would create a virtual option for migrants who need to appear in court.  AP file photo by Pamela Smith

By Ryan Schwach

A Queens representative proposed legislation that would give migrants the option to attend legally-mandated court appearances virtually and potentially avoid arrest by federal immigration officers. But the bill faces an uphill climb in the conservative legislature.

The Safe Check-Ins for Immigrants Act, proposed by Queens Congressmember Grace Meng would create the virtual option and make it far less likely a migrant is detained by federal law enforcement officials while checking in on their immigration status.

Meng said the bill is a step in protecting people who are just following the law when they head to the courthouse.

“They are following the law, and we're legislating that this be a better option for them,” Meng told the Eagle in a phone interview. “They don't have to go in and risk being detained for no reason at all when they were literally trying to follow the law.”

“We believe that it would help protect families,” she added.

Under the Trump administration, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has targeted immigration hearings, detaining migrants who attend them regardless of what a judge decides in the case.

In New York City, the arrests have predominantly occurred at the immigration court inside 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan.

Meng, who represents a large foreign-born contingent in her Central Queens district, said the most common question her office gets is from constituents asking if it's safe to go to a court check-in.

“We get calls, I would say, definitely every week, almost every day, from people who are asking if it's safe for them or someone they know to go in for a lawful check-in,” she said. “It's making our communities less safe. It's causing them not to trust law enforcement, and it's separating families.”

Meng introduced the bill in April, and it currently sits in committee.

The legislation has the support of many local immigration groups, including New Immigrant Community Empowerment, which is based in Queens, and the New York Immigration Coalition.

In a statement to the Eagle a spokesperson for the Department of Justice said that Meng’s bill was “reckless” and would “not become law under this administration.”

“Entering the United States illegally is a crime,” the spokesperson said. “While New York City continues to provide safe harbor to thousands of criminal aliens murdering, assaulting, and robbing New Yorkers, this Department of Justice will continue to work with our counterparts at DHS to deport illegal aliens and keep the American people safe.”

Meng’s proposal has an uphill battle, and is not likely to have success in the current legislature.

Meng and her Democratic colleagues in Washington have proposed other legislation that would reign in ICE and Trump’s heavy handed immigration enforcement and mass deportations.

Bills that would have required ICE to unmask, and wear badges and name tags like local law enforcement all failed to gain traction in the Republican-led House of Representatives.

Fights over ICE’s authority and funding ultimately resulted in the shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security that lasted a historic 76 days.

However, Meng argued the importance of continuing attempts to regulate and control Trump’s DHS.

“ICE is running around lawlessly,” she said. “They're not even following the rules that they were originally intended to follow. I've put a bunch of legislation out basically requiring that they follow basic rules, asking that they are following the same rules that other federal law enforcement have to follow.”