ICE agents ‘pounced’ on immigrant in Brooklyn courthouse: attorney
By Jennifer Bain and Emily Saul
November 28, 2017 | 3:21pm | Updated
Federal agents dragged an illegal immigrant out of a Brooklyn courthouse Tuesday, prompting a wild scuffle between his Legal Aid lawyer and court officers.
The plainclothes US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents pounced on Genaro Rojas Hernandez as he sat on the bench, speaking to his lawyer, Rebecca Kavanaugh, outside a criminal courtroom awaiting a hearing in his misdemeanor assault case.
Hernandez, a 30-year-old father of two originally from Mexico, is facing charges for allegedly assaulting his wife. He has lived in the states illegally for 15 years but has no prior arrests.
He was cuffed and dragged off by the ICE agents — but not before court officers pushed Kavanagh out of the way, she said.
The agents “suddenly pounced on him” before shoving her, Kavanagh told The Post. It was not immediately clear where the detained man was taken or if the agents had a warrant.
“They were pushing and shoving me out the door,” the lawyer said. “It was a silly misdemeanor case … on track to be dismissed.
“I couldn’t believe what was going on because court officers are not permitted to, should not be assisting ice agents in making arrests,” she said.
As of Monday, ICE agents have entered courthouses across the city 79 times since January, according to data provided by the state Office of Court Administration. Thirty-nine arrests have been made so far.
Across the state, there has been a 900 percent increase in ICE arrests at courthouses since the Trump administration ramped up enforcement against illegals, according to the advocacy group the Immigrant Defense Project.
State courts spokesman Lucien Chalfen refuted Kavanaugh’s account of the incident.
“Today’s incident in Brooklyn Criminal Court was predicated on four Legal Aid attorneys purposely interfering in an arrest situation, and only for the professionalism and restraint of the court officers involved, there were no injuries and the attorneys were not arrested for obstructing governmental administration,” Chalfen said.
“We do not facilitate or impede ICE agents when they effect an arrest inside New York State Courthouses.”
Court officers said Kavanagh yelled for Hernandez to “run,’’ but she adamantly denied this.
“The idea that I was attempting to interfere with an arrest is crazy. I’m an officer of the court. I’m a lawyer. I would never attempt to interfere on an arrest,” she said.
Public Defenders quickly gathered outside the downtown Brooklyn courthouse to protest.
“What do we want? ICE out! When do we want it? Now!” the group chanted.
An ICE spokeswoman did not return a message.
https://nypost.com/2017/11/28/ice-ag...ouse-attorney/
