The New York police investigate why officers gave us authorities the sealed arrest record of a woman from New Jersey who was held last year – information that immigration officials now use to seek her deportation.
Under the state of New York law and department policy, sealed archives of arrests or summons cannot be released. But the police gave the documents to the Department of Homeland Security researchers who had asked them as part of what the researchers said that was a criminal investigation, said Commissioner Jessica Tisch and the woman’s lawyer on Tuesday.
The documents, the lawyer said, subsequently became part of the government’s case for deporting the woman, Leqaa Kordia, 32, who is Palestinian.
The case, For the first time reported by the Associated Press, When the Trump administration administration may arose, mayor Eric Adams crowded to collaborate with its deportation campaign. Commissioner Tisch has repeatedly said that the laws of New York’s sanctuary will prohibit police officers to work with federal officials on immigration cases, which are considered civil violations.
Mrs. Kordia, who has no valid visa, was arrested during a protest in April 2024, When dozens of protesters gathered at Columbia University to protest against the war in Gaza.
On Tuesday, Commissioner Tisch said at a press conference of the Town Hall that an official from research into domestic security in New Jersey asked for information about Mrs. Kordia and said she was being investigated in connection with money laundering.
Mrs. Kordia’s lawyer later said that the commissioner’s statement was the first that he or his client had heard of such an investigation.
Commissioner Tisch said that although the laws of the city do not prohibit the laws of the city from helping immigration authorities with civil deportation cases, criminal investigations are a different matter. The police handed over information, “all of which was done according to the procedure,” she said, without specifying exactly what was transferred to federal researchers.
“That is definitely an example in which we would share information,” she said, adding that the departmental officers would see how the record of the summons that was part of a sealed item was also provided.
Arthur ago, a lawyer in the Southern Poverty Law Center who represents Mrs. Kordia, said she was born in Jerusalem and raised on the West Bank. She went to the protest in Columbia for mourning family members who were killed in Gaza during the war, he said.
During the protest last year, Mrs. Kordia received a summons for disorderly behavior, Mr. Ago said. The case was rejected shortly thereafter, he said, and she was not accused of other violations.
After the arrest, Mrs. Kordia returned to New Jersey, where she had tried to start a company that selled candles and small gifts. It was unclear when the immigration authorities started building a case against her.
On March 13, immigration and customs enforcement officers in New Jersey arrested Mrs. Kordia. She was put on an airplane and sent to the detention facility of Praairieland in Alvarado, Texas, where she fights deportation, Mr. Ago said.
The next day, an officer who works for the police of the police Real Time Crime CenterA hub that provides detectives information gave Homeland Security a four -page report that was sealed. Mrs. Kordia stood with about 100 other protesters and blocked a gate on campus, according to the report, which said she had no record of criminal complaints or investigations.
Mr Ago said that he heard that federal officials had the report on his client’s protest judgment when he rated Mrs. Kordia’s immigration business file. Mr. Ago said that Mrs. Kordia had not posted nothing on social media and her arrest was not published, he said, raising questions about how federal officials had learned about her.
Mr Ago said in a statement that the Homeland Security Department “never communicated to us or stated before the court that Mrs. Kordia is being investigated for money laundering.”
“The statement comes as a complete surprise, is completely unfounded and we deny it categorically,” said Mr. Ago. “We are willing to combat this statement in court.”
Mr Ago said that federal officials had submitted documents to the Immigration Court that Mrs. Kordia described as “a low risk of danger and a low risk of flight.” But during the procedure described lawyers for the federal government her as a danger, although they did not provide any details, Mr. Ago said.
Homeland Security and Ice Officaries did not respond to repeated requests for comments on Tuesday.
The case suggests that the Trump government uses the pretext of criminal investigations to accelerate deportations, said Peter L. Markowitz, professor in the Immigration Act at the Cardozo School of Law that helped in drawing up the laws of the city.
He said it is good for the police to share information with federal authorities about criminal investigations that are not related to enforcement of immigration. But he said that the actions of the Trump administration mean that requests cannot be submitted at nominal value.
“Given the track record of the Trump administration to play quickly and separately with facts to bypass legal limitations, it is up to the police to do more in the future to confirm that they are not illegally entangled in the massive deportation programs of Trump,” Mr Markowitz said.
The government has chased aggressively people who participated in Gaza protests on campuses.
Mrs. Kordia arrived at a tourist visa in 2016 in the United States, Mr Ago said, but started taking lessons to improve her English and received a student visa within a year.
Shortly thereafter, Mrs. Kordia’s mother, a naturalized American citizen, asked for a I-1330 Visa – A document that would determine that Mrs. Kordia was her daughter and paved the way to citizenship, said Mr. Ago.
But in 2022, Mr. Ago said, Mrs. Kordia received bad advice from a school officer who told her that she could drop her student visa because she had received a message that her I-130 application had been approved.
That movement left her without a valid visa, Mr. Ago said. It is based on the fact that immigration officers have moved to have deported her, he said.
In March, officials from the Ministry of Interior Security were knocking on the front door of Mrs. Kordia’s house in New Jersey, said Mr. Ago. They spoke with her mother, who immediately called Mrs. Kordia at work, said Mr. Ago.
Mrs. Kordia spoke by telephone with the officials, who had to come to their office the next week. They didn’t say what they wanted, but Mrs. Kordia called a lawyer who agreed to go with her, said Mr. Ago.
When Mrs. Kordia appeared in the office on 13 March, officials told her lawyer to sit in the hallway while they spoke to her. Shortly thereafter they told the lawyer that Mrs. Kordia was being held.
Maia Coleman contributed reporting.
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