Prohibits governmental entities from entering into agreements to house individuals in immigration detention facilities; requires governmental entities to terminate existing contracts for the detention of individuals in immigration detention facilities.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
 
BILL NUMBER: A4181
SPONSOR: Reyes
 
PURPOSE OF BILL:
Prohibit the entering, renewal, or continuation of immigration detention
contracts.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section one is the title of the bill.
Section two amends Article 1 Section 2 of correction law to include two
new subdivisions defining the terms "immigration detention facility" and
"immigration detention contract."
Section three adds a new article 29 to the correction law. This article
prohibits governmental entities from entering into or renewing an immi-
gration detention contract or receiving any payments related to immi-
gration detention. This article also prompts any governmental entities
with existing immigration detention contracts to exercise the termi-
nation provision in the contract no later than ninety days after this
law takes effect.
Section four contains a severability clause. Section five is the effec-
tive date.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
Immigration detention is dangerous, undermines public safety, and is a
threat to New Yorkers all over the state. Immigration detention harms
not only the individuals detained but also their loved ones and communi-
ties. The COVID-19 pandemic underscored the public health threats that
detention centers pose to detained individuals, their loved ones, and
the health of all New Yorkers. New York's contracts to profit from the
detention of immigrants fuel a larger deportation machine in which
people are separated from their loved ones and forced into cages.
ICE detention is inhumane and puts people's lives in danger. Many indi-
viduals in ICE detention have not been accused of or convicted of crimi-
nal offenses. People in ICE custody endure horrific conditions including
outbreaks of COVID-19, sexual abuse, denial of health care, harassment
by guards, and, unsanitary conditions. On November 28, 2022, ICE
released the private information of over 6,000 detained people fleeing
persecution and torture. We cannot wait for the Federal government to
end detention. States and local governments must lead the way.
Reducing bed-space and limiting detention capacity results in less
enforcement and detention. The Detention Watch Network Report, If You
Build it, They Will Fill it, demonstrates that immigrants in counties
with detention space and counties with an overall higher carceral capac-
ity are significantly more likely to be arrested and detained by ICE.
One of their key findings was that closing detention facilities is a
crucial shift to protecting immigrant communities by reducing enforce-
ment, detention, and deportation.
The Orange County Correctional Facility ("OCCF"), which incarcerates
most of the ICE detainees from New York City and has the largest, popu-
lation of people in ICE custody in New York outside of the Federal
detention center in Batavia, has been the subject of numerous
complaints2, City Council hearings, and investigations this past year in
response to ongoing outcry against the rampant abuses inside the facili-
ty.
People incarcerated at OCCF initiated a hunger strike on February 16,
2022, to protest conditions. Those who went on hunger strike reported
retaliation, including solitary confinement, confiscation of tablets,
and restricted access to commissary. On February 28, 2022, The New York
City Council Immigration Committee held an oversight hearing on COVID-19
in Immigration Detention, with a particular focus on the harms at Orange
County Correctional Facility. During the hearing, people who were
formerly or currently detained at the facility shared stories of the
abuse and harassment they suffer at the hands of guards, the low quality
of food, and lack of access to medical and mental health care, and '
compromised access to counsel. Although the reports on OCCF are the
worst in the State, there have been reports of other facilities that
detain immigrant New Yorkers that have caused harm through gross negli-
gence. Complaints have also been filed against Rensselaer County Jail in
response to egregious living conditions and medical negligence. After
their oversight hearing, the NYC Council adopted a resolution, Res '
0066-2022, on March 10, 2022, calling on the NYS Legislature to pass and
the Governor to sign the Dignity Not Detention bill.
In the furtherance of justice, public interest, and the safeguarding of
humane treatment for all individuals in New York, and in accordance with
the State legislature's authority over its counties and municipalities,
this legislation seeks to end current immigration detention contracts
and to indefinitely prohibit new contracts of the same.
It is already illegal in New York state for private enterprises to
profit from incarcerating people. New York passed this law because it
was widely recognized that it was neither a humane practice nor in the
public interest. And yet, the indirect profiteering from the same activ-
ity is still permitted in New York. It is the intent of the Legislature
that this bill declare that the state does not tolerate profiting from
the incarceration of people held in immigration detention. State and
local governments have no obligation to participate in immigration
enforcement as the enforcement of civil immigration laws is the exclu-
sive responsibility of the federal government.
As the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Second Department,
recently affirmed, the New York Criminal Procedure Law provides no
authority for police officers and peace officers in New York to make
arrests for civil immigrations violations absent a judicial warrant.
This legislation adds to these existing restrictions by prohibiting
governmental entities from entering, renewing, or continuing immigration
detention contracts. This bill is supported, among other organizations,
by the Committee on Immigration Representation of the NYS Bar Associ-
ation, the NY Civil Liberties Union, the NY Immigration Coalition, and
the Bronx Defenders.
 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2023-2024 - Referred to Correction 2021-2022 - Referred to Correction
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
TBD
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediately.
https://www.detentionwatchnetwork.org/
sites/default/files/IP/020TheyI/020 Build 96201t,%2010n20Will%20
Filr/0201TReport2022. pdf 2 https://www.law.nyu.edu/sites/default/
files/OCCP/020MultiOrganizationI/0 20DHS%2OCRC0/020ComplaintY020and%20
Index_2%2017%202022.pdf
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
4181
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 31, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. REYES, MITAYNES, MAMDANI, OTIS, SIMON, WEPRIN,
EPSTEIN, GALLAGHER, GONZALEZ-ROJAS, GLICK, CRUZ, KELLES, SEPTIMO,
TAYLOR, RIVERA, ROSENTHAL, R. CARROLL, CLARK, FORREST, SHRESTHA,
LEVENBERG, RAGA, BURDICK, HEVESI, CUNNINGHAM, MEEKS, BORES, JACKSON,
ALVAREZ, FALL, ZACCARO, TAPIA, ANDERSON, SIMONE, KIM, DE LOS SANTOS,
SEAWRIGHT, CHANDLER-WATERMAN -- read once and referred to the Commit-
tee on Correction
AN ACT to amend the correction law, in relation to enacting the "Dignity
Not Detention Act"
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "Dignity
2 Not Detention Act".
3 § 2. Section 2 of the correction law is amended by adding two new
4 subdivisions 35 and 36 to read as follows:
5 35. "Immigration detention facility" means any building, facility or
6 structure used, in whole or in part, to house or detain individuals for
7 civil immigration violations.
8 36. "Immigration detention agreement" means any contract, agreement,
9 intergovernmental service agreement or memorandum of understanding that
10 authorizes a state or local government to house or detain individuals
11 for civil immigration violations.
12 § 3. The correction law is amended by adding a new article 29 to read
13 as follows:
14 ARTICLE 29
15 IMMIGRATION DETENTION AGREEMENTS
16 Section 900. Immigration detention agreement.
17 § 900. Immigration detention agreement. 1. The state, county, munici-
18 pality, a unit of local government, a county sheriff, or an agency,
19 officer, employee, or agent of the state, county, municipality, or a
20 unit of local government shall not:
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD00485-01-5
A. 4181 2
1 (a) Enter into or renew an immigration detention agreement; or
2 (b) Receive any payment related to the detention of individuals in an
3 immigration detention facility.
4 2. The state, county, municipality, a unit of local government, a
5 county sheriff, or an agency, officer, employee, or agent of the state,
6 county, municipality, or a unit of local government shall not:
7 (a) enter into an agreement of any kind for the detention of individ-
8 uals in an immigration detention facility owned, managed or operated, in
9 whole or in part, by a private entity;
10 (b) pay, reimburse, subsidize, or defray in any way any costs related
11 to the sale, purchase, construction, development, ownership, management,
12 or operation of an immigration detention facility that is or will be
13 owned, managed, or operated, in whole or in part, by a private entity;
14 (c) receive any payment related to the detention of individuals in an
15 immigration detention facility owned, managed or operated, in whole or
16 in part, by a private entity;
17 (d) otherwise give any financial incentive or benefit to any private
18 entity or person in connection with the sale, purchase, construction,
19 development, ownership, management, or operation of an immigration
20 detention facility that is or will be owned, managed or operated, in
21 whole or in part, by a private entity; or
22 (e) approve a zoning variance or issue a permit for the construction
23 of a building or the reuse of existing buildings or structures by any
24 private entity for use as an immigration detention facility.
25 3. The state, county, municipality, a unit of local government, a
26 county sheriff, or an agency, officer, employee, or agent of the state,
27 county, municipality or a unit of local government with an existing
28 immigration detention agreement shall exercise the termination provision
29 contained in the immigration detention agreement no later than ninety
30 days from the date on which this article takes effect.
31 4. No person, business or private entity shall own or operate an immi-
32 gration detention facility within the state.
33 5. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary
34 contained in any general, special, or local laws, in any dispute over an
35 immigration detention agreement with the state, the provisions of this
36 section shall govern.
37 § 4. Severability clause. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivi-
38 sion, section or part of this act shall be adjudged by any court of
39 competent jurisdiction to be invalid, such judgment shall not affect,
40 impair, or invalidate the remainder thereof, but shall be confined in
41 its operation to the clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section
42 or part thereof directly involved in the controversy in which such judg-
43 ment shall have been rendered. It is hereby declared to be the intent of
44 the legislature that this act would have been enacted even if such
45 invalid provisions had not been included herein.
46 § 5. This act shall take effect immediately.