The Bronx Defenders’ Cohen-Cruz Speaks Against ICE Presence on Rikers Deporting Dangerous Criminals: These Are Core Values to Our City

EXCERPT:

COHEN-CRUZ: “DOC in the past was sending emails to ICE officers using the hashtag TeamSendThemBack, alerting ICE as to when people were going to be released in violation of our sanctuary laws. We cannot forget that it is intentional that the mayor has chosen to allow ICE to resume an office with an agency that is known to violate our sanctuary laws. We have caught them red-handed. A couple years ago, they testified that they have transferred people to ICE and they have never been presented with a judicial warrant. Of all agencies, it is not an accident that the first agency that ICE is aggressively trying to reconnect with is one that they can rely on to violate the law. So I am so grateful to City Council. I am so grateful to see real leadership at this moment when New York City needs it. I am so grateful to my partners and Amiki that we can stand together and continue to say New York -- all New Yorkers, regardless of where they were born, regardless of when they came to this country, regardless of when they became a New Yorker, all of them deserve dignity, full access to due process and justice. And we must stand against the mayor and the Trump administration's attempt to erode these core values to our city and to this country. Thank you.”