When Icefield Agents Wait Outside Court

Earlier this month, on the second floor of a deli near Federal Plaza, a 28-year-old Mercedes anxiously awaits the possibility of her arrest. She is with her eleven-year-old daughter, Jhuliana, who has just been in sixth grade in the Bronx, while her little one was born in New York shortly after Mercedes and Jhuliana crossed the U.S.-Mexican border in the summer of 2023. Coffee in and out and breakfast. “The other day, I saw some people in Tiktok ice Mercedes smiled nervously and said, “Come to a restaurant and send everyone around, but they just eat something. The kid ran back into his arms.

Just before eight in the morning. Mercedes was scheduled for her immigration case at Nine. Master hearings are usually the first court hearing, in which case the judge explains the respondent’s rights and responsibilities, assumes the complaint, and sets a date for a future hearing, when the respondent asks the shelter for any evidence. However, since the spring, federal agents have been flaunting the corridors and lobbying of 26 Federal Plaza, 290 Broadway and 201 Warrick Street, waiting for the arrest of immigrants. Initially, in what is perhaps the most common setting, the Department of Homeland Security lawyers would ask for the rejection of the respondent’s immigration cases; the Department of Justice encouraged its immigration judges to quickly approve these requirements, allowing immigrants to quickly detain and deport immigrants and customs law enforcement personnel to wait outside. Now, no matter their status in the case, many immigrants are in custody. “I just can’t really suggest someone to go to Federal Plaza.” New York-based immigration attorney Nuala O’Doherty-Naranjo is also a well-known community organizer in Queens just days before the Mercedes booked appearance. “Two weeks ago, I might have said. But now? There’s no way.”

A few months ago, after the Trump administration began being arrested at the Court Cathedral, an anti-registration advocacy group called the New Shelter Alliance began sending observers to accompany immigrants to their federal hearings. “We don’t believe that anyone should be deported,” the Ph.D. The student and new shelter volunteer called Brian told me that when he arrived at the deli he told me before 8:30 yes. Brian doesn’t speak Spanish, he handed Mercedes to your rights leaflet. When he asked her to sign a privacy breach, I translated it to authorize the new shelter to access her information and records in case she was detained ice. Two other new asylum volunteers will accompany Mercedes-Jessica (ESL) teacher Jessica and film editor Amelia, both arriving shortly after Brian. I asked the three of them if they had spoken on behalf of immigrants during the process. They said no. “It will actually do more harm than good,” Amelia said. Their support is largely moral, for companionship and comfort. They didn’t help much.

I plan to observe the hearing, too. Earlier this year, I wrote about Mercedes and her family in this magazine Changed the road From rural areas of South America, life in the United States will be considered and how they stay in touch with their families once they arrive here. I have been in touch with Mercedes since the story was published and helped her connect with some local community organizations that provide free social services to recently arrived immigrants. In the weeks before she booked her hearing, I joined Mercedes twice to a free legal clinic in Queens, doing the basement of Voces Latinas every Tuesday in the basement of one of these nonprofits. There, Nuala O’Doherty-Naranjo conducted a walk-in consultation with immigrants who could not afford their own legal representation. During her first visit, Mercedes was one of dozens of immigrants who were patiently awaiting them. months ago ice Having entered the organization’s basement, obviously looking for someone, so now the waiting room window is tapered with cardboard and the door is automatically locked from the inside.

Nearly three hours later, Mercedes entered O’Doherty-Naranjo’s small office. O’Doherty-Naranjo told Mercedes in Spanish in the United States that the judge assigned to her case was “difficult”, but that her asylum application was based on amazing claims about sexual violence, stalking and death threats, and death threats, as well as indifference due to her Kichwa-puruhá Unigensis intimities entimities stroment-westernity-westernect and ecuador. Mercedes’ native language is Kichwa, who is only ten years old and about ten years old, and it is difficult to understand a lawyer. “She talked very quickly,” Mercedes said, somewhat confused as we left the consultation. Later, VOCES Latino staff helped her make a motion, hardly attending her master’s hearing in person, which would allow her to continue the case. ice. A few days later, the court denied her request. Unless there is a medical emergency or out-of-state move, Mercedes will have to show up. “Bring the kids,” O’Doherty-Naranjo told Mercedes during his second visit to the clinic three weeks later. She hopes that ice Due to the limitations of detaining children with adults, agents may be less willing to detain mothers with children. “So many immigrants are sleeping on the floor now and they won’t put their kids there,” she continued. “They actually have to give her a hotel room and then put one ice The door is at the door. And there is no time or money to do it. “O’Doherty-Naranjo sighed, though, “You really don’t know these days.” ”

We were both upset when we left the deli at quarter to nine o’clock and headed for federal court. We were delayed for a few minutes as Jhuliana wanted to buy a bag of Welch’s fruit snacks for her sister and fished out the five-dollar bill from her yellow school backpack. “I’m nervous,” Mercedes told me.

Together with Jhuliana, she pushed the baby’s stroller down the street, passed through the metal detector, placed her belongings in an X-ray machine downstairs, and rode the elevator to a man in business outfit seemed to observe us. We walked into a long corridor with several sheets of pink paper sticking to the wall listing the names and hearing hours of the respondents and below their designated judges and the corresponding court number. New Sanctuary volunteers eager to help begin to double-check the list. Meanwhile, Jhuliana, who remembered the judge’s name, found the case file almost immediately and found their names near the end of the corridor.

“Here,” she said quietly in Spanish. “Twentieth floor.”

As we got off the elevator, two masked federal agents stood at the entrance to the waiting room. Both wore Gate masks, covering their faces. Both wore “New York” baseball caps, and a letter was written in horrible Gothic font. Mercedes and Jhuliana held their breath as they walked in. Mercedes checked in with a court employee at a small table in front, who told her to sit down and wait for her hearing. There are already dozens of people sitting on blue chairs. Many of them appear to be observers or volunteer partners. They are older most of the time, one with Kamala Harris 2024 tote bag. The rest are immigrant respondents and their families, waiting for their own hearings and dressing up as much as possible. A family has two children about Jhuliana’s age, a boy and a girl, dressed in Shalwar Kameez. A short, thin young man in a collared T-shirt with his accent sounded Venezuelan, attending with his wife and children. Mercedes was wearing a light blue short-sleeved shirt with a gold necklace.

this ice Agents wore Army green T-shirts under tactical vests, their large arms covered with visible tattoos and were equipped with flashlights, handcuffs and belts for guns. They walked around the length of the room, occasionally stopping to look at the people in the seats. They stared at Jhuliana for a while, and then Jessica sat next to her and began to talk to her. A man has a paper bag, presumably the name, photos and other information of the respondent, and when he surveys the crowd, he seems to be researching it.

Once, they stood near the court security officer, a black man with the Alliance’s universal security badge, and the three of them started to joke and laugh. I wanted to hear what they were saying, so I got closer.

“Set an example”, one of them ice Agent said.

Another said, “I’ve been waiting to arrest one of the bastards so they can back down.”

It’s not clear who they are talking about, but I can only imagine what they mean by the observer. The Immigration Court is a public space that is open to everyone. A few minutes later, the hearing was called. Respondents first entered the courtroom, followed by observers, some of whom were turned away for lack of space. The security officer made an announcement before the closing: If any observer “hinders” the court proceedings in any way, he will evacuate us from the building and be charged with trespassing. “No more games,” he said. He sounded serious. In addition to immigration, the New York Immigration Court also detained several observers. Arguably the most eye-catching arrest, the city’s auditor-general and democratic mayoral candidate Brad Lander was detained for several hours on 26 Federal Plaza after accompanying the immigrants during a hearing that accompanied him.