NEW YORK – Assemblyman David I. Weprin (D – Fresh Meadows, Richmond Hill), Assembly Correction Committee Chair, joined the New York Immigration Coalition, Legal Action Center, Chhaya CDC, affected family members, and others at the ICE Varick Street Detention Facility to call on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the United States Department of Justice (USDOJ) to end the indefinite detentions of asylum seekers and other immigrants being held on administrative violations.

Weprin, who visited and met with immigrant detainees at the Albany County Jail on Monday, joined supporters and family members of detainees to share details of several instances where undocumented immigrants and asylum seekers have been held for extended periods while awaiting court proceedings or additional instructions; despite either having demonstrated a credible fear and being deemed eligible for asylum, having already volunteered for deportation or being held as a result of  administrative violations.

“I’m calling for the unequivocal end of the indefinite detention of asylum seekers and other immigration detainees in New York State jails,” said Assemblyman David I. Weprin, Assembly Correction Committee Chair. “Roughly 270 individuals, guilty of no felony, are being held at the Albany County Jail at the behest of ICE and the US Department of Justice without being given concrete court dates or release dates. The Federal Government must expedite these cases, add more judges, provide for hearing in Albany, or simply, just release these individuals. People should not have to wait weeks on end in a jail. This is an injustice to all Americans.”