Persons not to be detained by the department of correction.

A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to persons not to be detained by the department of correction.

The federal Immigrations and Customs Enforcement Agency (“ICE”) files an “immigration detainer” with the Department of Correction (“DOC”) when they believe an individual in DOC custody is subject to removal from this country. In filing such immigration detainer, ICE makes a request that the DOC detain the individual for up to 48 hours beyond when they would otherwise be released so that custody of the individual may be transferred to ICE. This bill would significantly restrict the conditions under which the DOC complies with these ICE requests. The DOC would only be permitted to honor an immigration detainer if it was accompanied by a warrant from a federal judge, and also only if that person had not been convicted of a “violent or serious” crime during the last five years or was listed on a terrorist database. Further, the bill would prohibit DOC from allowing ICE to maintain an office on Rikers Island or any other DOC property and would restrict DOC personnel from communicating with ICE regarding an inmate’s release date, incarceration status, or court dates, unless the inmate is the subject of a detainer request that DOC may honor pursuant to the law.