City accused of holding over 20,000 people past release dates to comply with ICE requests between 1997-2012.
In the past, federal immigration agents regularly found undocumented immigrants in New York City jails for deportation purposes. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers would target immigrants in police custody or serving short jail sentences, asking the city to hold them for up to 48 hours after their release. The city’s cooperation, which sometimes led to prolonged detention, resulted in a class-action lawsuit settled on Wednesday with the city agreeing to pay up to $92.5 million in damages. The lawsuit, filed over a decade ago, claimed that the city unlawfully detained over 20,000 individuals after their release dates between 1997 and 2012 due to ICE requests. These immigrants can now claim a portion of the settlement, one of the city’s largest, with payouts potentially reaching tens of thousands of dollars. The city’s Law Department stated that officials believed compliance with ICE detainers was required by federal law.
Source: The NY Times
