NEW YORK - About 1,000 Latino demonstrators marched across the Brooklyn Bridge to City Hall today, demanding New York City stop supporting the Federal deportation of immigrants.
They charge that each year, the NYC Department of Corrections transfers between 3,000-4,000 inmates to the Federal Immigration and Customs Enforecement (ICE). This, they say, breaks up families and is unwarranted. A spokesperson for the protesters said they want the City to "pass new legislation requiring the Department of Corrections (DOC) to affirmatively assist in executing ICE's civil immigration detainers only on those individuals who pose a serious rick to our communities and to opt-out of the misnamed federal 'secure communities' program."
The protestors also charged that NYC asylum seekers, many victims of human trafficking, long term permanent residents, juveniles, persons seeking protection under the Violence Against Women Act, and people with no criminal record are routinely sent by DOC into immigration detention.
