ICE agents inside 26 Federal Plaza.
Photo by Dean Moses
State Attorney General Letitia James said Tuesday she is launching a dedicated team in her office that will keep careful eyes on ICE agent activities around New York.
According to James, the operation — dubbed the Legal Observation Project — will be tasked with gathering information stemming from what she called “significant enforcement actions” throughout the Empire State while also sending personnel to observe and document ICE and protest activity.
The attorney general said these observers will serve as neutral witnesses, recording information that may inform future legal action. Their efforts will help ensure that accurate, real-time information is collected and preserved, and that any violations of law are identified, she noted.
The unit was formed in response to the ongoing ICE activity in Minnesota, where masked agents have killed two U.S. citizen protesters, barged into homes without warrants, pepper-sprayed and arrested observers and protesters, arrested Native Americans, and even taken children leaving school.
“As Attorney General, I am proud to protect New Yorkers’ constitutional rights to speak freely, protest peacefully, and go about their lives without fear of unlawful federal action,” James said. “We have seen in Minnesota how quickly and tragically federal operations can escalate in the absence of transparency and accountability. My office is launching the Legal Observation Project to examine federal enforcement activity in New York and whether it remains within the bounds of the law.”
James shared that the Observation Project will begin rolling out in the next few weeks and will be staffed by her employees on a voluntary basis. They will be dressed in purple Attorney General-branded safety vests and will be ordered not to interfere with ICE operations, merely to document.
FILE – New York Attorney General Letitia JamesPhoto by Dean Moses
This comes as New York braces for an escalation in immigration crackdown.
Over the weekend, elected officials canvassed the Lower East Side, going storefront to storefront to inform business owners of their legal rights should they encounter the Feds. Assembly Member Grace Lee (D-Manhattan) told amNewYork that she and fellow politicians are preparing for the possibility of ICE coming to the Big Apple in force.
“We’ve seen everything that’s happening in Minneapolis and how ICE is terrorizing communities, to know that they are starting to build up an operation on the Lower East Side is terrifying. It’s terrifying for the communities. It’s terrifying for employees, for businesses, for the neighbors, and we need to make sure that we protect New Yorkers,” Lee said.
In addition to the Legal Observation Project, Attorney General James is also calling upon New Yorkers to submit videos of federal immigration enforcement actions directly to her office through an online portal at ag.ny.gov/federal-actions-form. Reports submitted through the portal will help OAG assess activity and determine whether further investigation is warranted.