City Councilman Wants to Ban Contracts with ICE Enforcement, but There Aren't Any

New York City Immigrant Affairs Commissioner Bitta Mostofi told a city council committee Thursday that the city doesn't have any contracts with the enforcement arm of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The agency has come under fierce criticism since President Donald Trump took office, for increasing arrests of undocumented immigrants including those with no criminal records. A movement to abolish ICE is gathering steam in progressive circles.

City Council Immigration Committee Chair Carlos Menchaca has introduced legislation to ban all contracts with ICE and any other agencies involved in immigration enforcement. But on Thursday, Mostofi said her staffers had only been able to find two contracts with the ICE and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and they have nothing to do with civil immigration enforcement.

Mostofi said the NYPD lets Homeland Security Investigations (a division of ICE) use land in the Bronx for firearms training, just as it does with other federal agencies. The five-year contract is worth $139,000 to pay for a police officer to be present. Mostofi said HSI agents target human traffickers and aren't involved in civil immigration enforcement.

"They're not the officers that you're hearing about that are going to courthouses or that are conducting raids," she told the council committee. "It's a different, if you will, part of the agency."

Mostofi said the only other contract with DHS is to use a city lab that tests the air for bioterrorism. She said a state park on the Hudson River has a contract with ICE, for parking cars, but that's not controlled by the city.

After the hearing, Menchaca said he'll still introduce a bill to ban any future contracts with ICE or other agencies involved immigration enforcement, because of the message it sends in support of immigrants.

"This is not just about dollars and cents, about a contract with revenue," he said, "but also a message to a community that needs us to stand up and say no.

"We are not going to be in the business of doing anything that helps immigration enforcement agencies do their work."

Hudson County announced on Thursday that it will end its contract to detain immigrants for ICE by 2020. ICE also has contracts with Essex, Bergen and Orange counties to detain immigrants in their local jails.

The city council's immigration committee will vote on Menchaca's bill next Wednesday. It will also take up a resolution in support of Congressional efforts to abolish ICE.

On Thursday, Council Speaker Cory Johnson threw his support behind the resolution. He said ICE had become a "deportation and detention machine." However, he said he's not calling for an end to national security investigations that keep us safe.

Mostofi said Mayor Bill de Blasio's administration agrees that ICE should be replaced with a more humane immigration system.

Queens Councilman Robert Holden, however, noted that ICE removes criminals who pose a threat to city residents. "Don't throw the baby out with the bath water," he warned.

Correction: This story has been clarified to reflect that the NYPD contract is with a division of ICE, not DHS.