A lawsuit filed on Wednesday challenges the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) recent “unlawful and unconstitutional” policy authorizing civil immigration arrests in and around state courthouses and pits the state government against President Donald Trump.

ICE’s Courthouse Civil Arrest Directive, which was implemented in 2018, “disrupts the effective functioning of our courts, deters victims and witnesses from assisting law enforcement and vindicating their rights, hinders criminal prosecution and undermines public safety,” says the lawsuit, which was filed in federal court by the state Attorney General Letitia James and Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez.

The lawsuit mentions a specific incident in Yonkers in July 2019, when ICE agents arrested a defendant entering city court for a court hearing.

“A team of ICE agents approached the man as he walked up to the front door of the courthouse building. When the man began opening the courthouse door, one of the agents stopped the door with his foot, breaking the glass on the door,” the lawsuit says.

(Photo: Carucha L. Meuse/The Journal New)

Local lawmakers and activists attend a rally for the Immigrant Protection Act at the legislative chambers in White Plains March 12, 2018. County lawmakers will vote Monday on a bill that would give protections to undocumented immigrants in Westchester. 

The agents ultimately arrested the man, and court officers had to temporarily restrict entry into the courthouse, according to the legal action.

There were two other Westchester incidents mentioned in the lawsuit.

The first took place in June 2018 in Westchester County Family Court, when a litigant was arrested while he was waiting for his case and couldn’t speak to his family or lawyer, according to the incident.

In March 2019, ICE agents arrested a defendant who was scheduled to appear in Westchester County Supreme Court.

Incidents like the ones in Yonkers and Westchester County have skyrocketed since ICE’s Courthouse Civil Arrest Directive and have been happening all over the state. ICE courthouse operations in and around state courthouses increased by 1,700% in 2018 compared to 2016, according to the lawsuit.

(Photo: Tania Savayan/The Journal News)

New York Attorney General Letitia James. 

The effect, the legal action says, “significantly chilled participation” in state court.

Victims fear ICE will arrest them if they report crimes, defendants are afraid to defend their cases, plaintiffs worry about filing legal action and witnesses refuse to cooperate, according to the lawsuit.

Westchester County District Attorney Anthony Scarpino is quoted in the state’s lawsuit as saying, “When ICE uses our local courthouses to make civil immigration arrests, both immigrants who are victims of or witnesses to domestic violence, scams, wage theft or violent crimes are now fearful that coming to court may lead to arrest by ICE.

“I have cases with witnesses who are scared to death about coming forward and participating in these trials now,” he said.

“The administration of justice and public safety are among the most important functions of the state, and I will be relentless in their defense,” Attorney General James said in a statement. “When ICE targets witnesses and victims for arrests, it deters noncitizens and immigrants from assisting in state and local law enforcement efforts or protecting their own rights in court. This is a disastrous and dangerous break from previous policy and that’s why we are fighting to force them to end this practice.”

The attorney general and Brooklyn district attorney filed this lawsuit to vacate and prohibit the Courthouse Civil Arrest Directive. The genesis of this policy was Trump’s Jan. 25, 2017 executive order that sought to dramatically increase immigration enforcement. The president’s press secretary said at the time that the executive order was to “take the shackles off” ICE agents and other immigration officers, the lawsuit says.

On the same day, The Legal Aid Society and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP filed a separate lawsuit against ICE, seeking a permanent injunction ordering the half of ICE courthouse enforcement on behalf of an specific, unnamed plaintiff.

The plaintiff in the second lawsuit is a noncitizen domestic violence survivor who needed to appear in court for an order of protection but feared the risk an an ICE arrest.

Twitter: @ChrisEberhart2