New York Attorney General Letitia James will deploy legal observers to monitor and document federal immigration enforcement activity, her office announced Tuesday.
The move marks a significant escalation in tension between states and the federal government over immigration policy.
“As Attorney General, I am proud to protect New Yorkers’ constitutional rights to speak freely, protest peacefully, and go about their lives without fear of unlawful federal action,” James said in a statement. “We have seen in Minnesota how quickly and tragically federal operations can escalate in the absence of transparency and accountability.”
Dubbed the “Legal Observation Project,” the initiative is meant to help determine whether federal actions comply with the law.
The project will see teams of state-trained legal observers — acting as independent witnesses — travel to reported locations of immigration enforcement activity and record interactions between federal officers and New Yorkers. The state’s observers will wear purple safety vests.
James will deploy legal observers in the coming weeks to oversee federal agent actions where they occur. For the moment, the Department of Homeland Security hasn’t announced any major enforcement surge in the state, but border czar Tom Homan said in November that Immigration and Customs Enforcement would increase its presence in New York City due to its status as a sanctuary city.
James’ office stressed that observers won’t interfere with immigration operations, but rather document federal conduct.
News of the project comes weeks after Trump’s DHS launched another federal immigration operation in Minneapolis, Minnesota, deploying thousands of federal immigration officers to the area. Renee Good and Alex Pretti, two U.S. citizens, were killed by federal immigration officers during the operation. Good was described by local officials and her family’s attorneys as a “legal observer” at the time of her death, and Pretti was recording officers’ actions on a phone when he was fatally shot.
Erum Salam is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW, with a focus on how global events and foreign policy shape U.S. politics. She previously was a breaking news reporter for The Guardian.