City Hall has stepped into an escalating immigration case, filing a legal brief in support of a 20-year-old Venezuelan man and former Queens student who was arrested by federal agents outside a Manhattan courthouse last month.
On Monday, the city submitted an amicus brief backing the ongoing petition for release filed by Jose Luis Rojas Figuera, a former Pan American High School student from Elmhurst, who has been held in an upstate detention center since June 2. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained him following an immigration hearing in Lower Manhattan, despite his lack of a criminal record and his pursuit of a green card, city officials said.
In what has become a familiar scene at 26 Federal Plaza, ICE agents apprehended Rojas Figuera as he exited the court, unrepresented by counsel. According to the brief, the judge had denied a motion to dismiss his removal proceedings and set a new date for his case.
In its filing to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, the city asserts that Rojas Figuera is now being detained without cause and in violation of his right to due process.
Queens student caught in ICE ‘trap’
The brief supports Rojas Figuera’s ongoing petition for a writ of habeas corpus and argues that such tactics “undermine the public interest” and create a culture of fear that discourages participation in all court matters, not just immigration.
“Free access to courts is a pillar of the rule of law,” City Corporation Counsel Muriel Goode-Trufant states in the brief. “Our judicial system cannot work as it should, as it must, if courthouses are treated as convenient places to spring traps.”
Paige Austin, supervising litigation Attorney at Make the Road New York and counsel for Rojas Figuera, said her team fully agrees with the city’s stance, calling ICE’s courthouse arrest practices “immensely cruel and harmful.”
“It harms people like Mr. Rojas Figuera who are literally disappeared from their families with no explanation or notice and whisked off to jails sometimes thousands of miles away; it harms the family members left behind trying to pick up the pieces, care for children, and afford rent without their loved one; and it harms huge numbers of New Yorkers who now live in fear that if they try to follow the rules, attend court, and avail themselves of lawful paths to status, they too may be handcuffed, detained and jailed,” Austin told amNewYork.
Austin added that her team will continue fighting for Rojas Figuera’s release in both federal and immigration court, “in the hope that he can return home as soon as possible.”
‘A culture of fear’
Goode-Trufant and city attorneys emphasize that Rojas Figuera, who arrived in New York in October 2023, had been participating in city institutions, including public school and the City’s asylum help centers, demonstrating a “commitment to building a future in the United States.”
His immigration application includes a request for Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS), a legal route available to youth who have faced abuse or abandonment. His detention, officials say, has disrupted that process.
He reportedly left school last fall to work and support his mother as her primary support and caretaker.
The city’s brief warns that arresting individuals in or near courthouses, especially after court appearances, could drive immigrants away from critical judicial forums. In one cited report, 17 out of roughly 24 immigrants scheduled for court in Manhattan failed to appear on a single day in June, allegedly due to fears of being detained.
“As detailed in our brief, creating a culture of fear around court appearances deters people from participating in judicial proceedings — and not just immigration proceedings, but all manner of court proceedings that depend on cooperation from members of the public, whatever their legal status may be,” Muriel Goode-Trufant said of the brief. “These tactics undermine the public trust and violate the principles of fairness and justice. We urge the court to grant Jose’s writ of habeas corpus.”
Mayor Eric Adams — who has come under fire for not taking a stronger stance against the Trump administration and ICE over immigrant arrests in New York City, often deferring to federal authority — voiced support for the city’s legal filing, stating that the city would use “every legal means possible” to protect the many immigrants living in fear of being detained or deported.
“I have always said that our immigrant New Yorkers should be able to go to court, send their children to school, seek medical care at our hospitals, and ask for help from our police officers when they are in need,” Adams said in a statement. “That is what it means to be a safe city, and we will continue to fight to ensure that our public resources are safe, and that people who was going through the legal process that we encourage for new arrivals, are protected under the law.”
The amicus brief filed by City Hall follows a similar action in support of 20-year-old Bronx student Dylan Lopez Contreras, who was suddenly taken away by federal agents on May 21 while attending a mandatory immigration hearing.
