Whitney Bronstein of Immigrant Defense Project testifies on DOC and NYPD gaps
Whitney Bronstein of Immigrant Defense Project says DOC has allowed ICE to detain New Yorkers from Rikers without judicial warrants and misreads the statute on convictions. She says NYPD reporting compliance is good but non-reporting elements and 911 call incidents remain unaddressed, urging passage of the Trust Act and Intros 395 and 396.
Good morning and thank you to the Committee on Immigration and Chair Encarnacion for holding this hearing.
My name is Whitney Bronstein.
I am Senior Attorney for Community Defense at the Immigrant Defense Project, which is an organization focused on fighting for justice for all immigrants, including those targeted by the criminal and immigration legal systems.
Executive Order 13 has taken critical steps in auditing city agencies and their compliance with local laws around communication and collaboration with ICE.
However, I would like to highlight key issues yet unaddressed by the report which have undermined due process and caused irreversible harm to New Yorkers.
First, the Department of Corrections is squarely prohibited by our laws from transferring New Yorkers to ICE custody absent a judgment of enumerated conviction for one of the 178 laws within our very serious crimes carve-out and a judicial warrant.
However, DOC has routinely allowed ICE to show up at Rikers to detain New Yorkers directly from their cells without a moment of freedom, without a judicial warrant, under a mythical distinction that they are not honoring a detainer but solely communicating with ICE.
Communication that is not obligated for them to do and has the effect of separating families on the precipice of being reunited.
Additionally, under Statute 9131, as well as DOC's own 2019 operations order, when DOC is considering honoring a detainer, convictions of relevance are those that precede the instant arrest.
DOC has long misinterpreted this to allow them to take into account
charges flowing from the instant arrest, which can include people who have no conviction at all, certainly not ones that precede the current incarceration that they're experiencing.
This is the basic misreading of this.
statute that must be addressed.
Second, I'd like to address the report's recommendations regarding the NYPD.
It was great to hear from the committee and from Commissioner Ali earlier this morning that NYPD is up to date on its reporting and compliance with those requirements under our local law 10-178.
However, non-reporting elements of that section have not been
addressed, such as the use of resources or taking direction from the Department of Homeland Security, primarily in furtherance of immigration enforcement, were not addressed.
With regard to 911 calls, we heard earlier this morning about the way in which reporting requirements have been implemented by the OMPD, which is great to hear.
However, incidents such as the May 2026
rate at the Wyckoff Medical Center continue to occur.
We need recommendations that address actions, not solely reporting.
For this reason, we urge the Council to pass the New York City Trust Act and the not yet reintroduced bills 395 and 396 to ensure that our laws are enforced in order to protect the rights of immigrant New Yorkers.
Thank you.