{"id":2068,"date":"2021-02-03T20:12:34","date_gmt":"2021-02-03T20:12:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/press\/?p=2068"},"modified":"2021-02-03T20:12:34","modified_gmt":"2021-02-03T20:12:34","slug":"speaker-johnson-and-immigration-committee-chair-menchaca-release-letter-to-homeland-security-secretary-mayorkas-calling-for-dismissal-of-the-ice-new-york-field-office-director","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/press\/2021\/02\/03\/2068\/","title":{"rendered":"Speaker Johnson and Immigration Committee Chair Menchaca Release Letter to Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas Calling for Dismissal of the ICE New York Field Office Director"},"content":{"rendered":"

Javier Castillo Maradiaga, a dreamer in danger of being deported, is cited as one example of the disgraceful work being carried out under Decker<\/em><\/p>\n

New\u00a0York,\u00a0NY \u2013\u00a0<\/strong>Below is a letter Speaker Corey Johnson and Chair of the Committee on Immigration, Carlos Menchaca, sent Tuesday\u00a0to Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, requesting the removal of Thomas Decker from his post as the director of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) New York Field Office. The letter\u00a0says that\u00a0Decker led an office whose enforcement agents \u201croutinely engage in dangerous, discriminatory, and legally dubious enforcement activities,\u201d\u00a0including\u00a0attacking the City\u2019s immigrant neighborhoods and small businesses\u00a0with\u00a0needless\u00a0raids.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The letter\u00a0cited the recent case of\u00a0Javier Castillo Maradiaga, a young New Yorker eligible for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program\u00a0who is in danger of being deported,\u00a0despite President Biden\u2019s\u00a0Executive Order calling for a halt on\u00a0deportation\u00a0for 100 days,\u00a0as one example of the\u00a0dangerous and disgraceful\u00a0work being carried out\u00a0at ICE\u00a0under\u00a0Decker.\u00a0This case\u00a0and years of disruptive\u00a0enforcement\u00a0show\u00a0that Director Decker\u00a0cannot be trusted to implement in good faith the\u00a0types of policies and procedures that\u00a0the Biden Administration has\u00a0already made clear\u00a0will be at the forefront of\u00a0its immigration work.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Below\u00a0is the full text of the\u00a0letter<\/a>:\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dear\u00a0Secretary\u00a0Mayorkas:\u00a0<\/p>\n

First, we want to congratulate you on your nomination as U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary. Given your vast experience, including serving as Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), we believe you are\u00a0well-positioned to enact swift change and are encouraged by your and President Biden\u2019s commitment to dismantling the punitive and inhumane immigration policies of the previous administration.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

To be clear, we firmly believe that ICE must be abolished but recognize that some changes may be faster to implement than others. For that reason, as an immediate first step, we respectfully request that Thomas Decker, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) New York Field Office Director, be removed from his post at the earliest opportunity.  <\/p>\n

As briefly summarized below, Director Decker has led an ICE field office whose Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) agents routinely engage in dangerous, discriminatory, and legally dubious enforcement activities. Just as we will hold to account the architects of the previous Administration\u2019s destructive immigration policies, we must also hold to account those who so zealously implemented them.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

In short, we believe Director Decker cannot be trusted to implement \u2013 in good faith \u2013 the guidelines set forth in President Biden\u2019s Executive Order entitled \u201cReview of and Interim Revision to Civil Immigration and Enforcement and Removal Policies and Priorities\u201d issued on January 20, 2021, and the correlating memorandum issued by Acting Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, David\u00a0Pekoske.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

We wish to highlight that our concern about ICE\u2019s willingness to comply with the text or spirit of President Biden\u2019s directives does not stem from hypothetical scenarios. Just last week, Javier Castillo Maradiaga, a young New Yorker eligible for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, was set to be deported in clear violation of the Biden administration\u2019s directive to halt deportations for one hundred days. It took significant media attention and advocacy from his attorney, elected officials, and community groups to pressure ICE into compliance \u2013 only to have ICE reschedule Javier\u2019s deportation for a few days later. Javier remains in limbo and, sadly, his case is just one of the many that demonstrate why we must not take ICE compliance for granted.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

As you well know, the previous Administration rejected long-standing immigration policies that prioritized individuals with serious criminal convictions for detention and deportation. Instead, ICE agents were permitted, if not encouraged, to seek out \u201clow hanging fruit\u201d \u2013 meaning easily identifiable immigrants that, normally, would not have been a priority for deportation. Nowhere was this\u00a0more true\u00a0than in New York City where many of the individuals detained by ICE had long-standing ties to the city, U.S. citizen family members, and clean criminal records. Determined to instill fear in immigrant communities and gain cheap political points by fearmongering, the previous administration frequently expressed that the city had been singled out as a prime target for drastically increased ICE enforcement.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

As part of ICE\u2019s attack on New York City\u2019s immigrant community, and under Director Decker\u2019s leadership, ICE agents targeted our city\u2019s immigrant neighborhoods for pre-dawn home raids \u2013 usually conducted\u00a0without\u00a0<\/em>a judicial warrant. ICE agents also frequently misrepresented themselves as local police investigating a crime. Similarly, immigrant small businesses owners experienced ICE agents bursting into their establishments during workplace raids and causing fear and confusion among employees and customers alike. ICE also increased its presence in government locations such as courthouses, a place where all New Yorkers should feel comfortable entering to request orders of protection, settle civil and family disputes, and seek justice.<\/p>\n

More egregious still were the reports of Director Decker\u2019s agents conducting enforcement activities in violation of ICE\u2019s own policies, specifically, their \u201csensitive locations memorandum.\u201d The memorandum prohibits ICE agents from engaging in enforcement activities in places like hospitals, schools, and places of worship. In fact, just last year, the City Council was forced to hold an emergency hearing on ICE\u2019s intimidation tactics and violence after a tourist with a\u00a0legal\u00a0<\/em>visa was shot in the face by an ICE agent during an arrest and was subsequently held in de facto detention in his hospital room, with no one allowed to visit to him, including lawyers. Even when lines were not technically crossed, it was clear Director Decker had given the agents under his command carte blanche to edge as close to it as possible, effectively producing the same chilling effect that the sensitive locations memorandum expressly seeks to prevent. Unquestionably, ICE\u2019s intimidation and physically violent tactics are abhorrent and cannot be left unchecked even one minute longer. Time is of the essence as, clearly, New Yorker\u2019s lives hang in the balance.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

As President Biden and Congress work to reverse the previous administration\u2019s harmful policies and re-envision a more fair and humane immigration framework for our nation, we must ensure that no further harm comes to New Yorkers at the hand of ICE generally, and Director Decker specifically. Therefore, we respectfully reiterate our request that Director Thomas Decker be dismissed immediately from his post as director of the New York Field Office of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

We appreciate your attention to this matter and look forward to working closely with you on reforms that eliminate unnecessary immigration arrests and detentions and remove roadblocks to citizenship and other lawful immigration status.\u00a0<\/p>\n

###<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Javier Castillo Maradiaga, a dreamer in danger of being deported, is cited as one example of the disgraceful work being carried out under Decker<\/em><\/p>\n

New\u00a0York,\u00a0NY \u2013\u00a0<\/strong>Below is a letter Speaker Corey Johnson and Chair of the Committee on Immigration, Carlos Menchaca, sent Tuesday\u00a0to Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, requesting the removal of Thomas Decker from his post as the director of the U.S.<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

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