US EditionN.Y. Attorney General Letitia James Starts New Effort to Observe ICE Activities
The Legal Observation Project will deploy trained observers in purple vests to document ICE enforcement across New York, aiming to protect civil rights and inform legal action.
- On Tuesday, New York Attorney General Letitia James announced her office will deploy trained legal observers wearing purple OAG-branded vests to monitor ICE and Border Patrol starting February 3, 2026.
- Citing Minnesota operations, James said, 'We have seen in Minnesota how quickly and tragically federal operations can escalate in the absence of transparency and accountability,' according to Sophie Hamlin.
- The OAG explained that legal observers will serve as neutral witnesses, documenting enforcement and protests in real time while urging New Yorkers to submit videos via a secure online portal.
- James' office said records from observers could assist legal review and litigation, describing this as the first time an attorney general’s office staffs lawyers for real-time ICE response.
- Locally, volunteer OAG lawyers and state employees will be deployed in the coming weeks, with Nassau County holding more than 2,200 detainees and Suffolk County detaining more than 1,000 last year.
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New York to Deploy Legal Observers From Attorney General James’s Office to Monitor Federal Immigration Agents
New York is launching a new initiative to monitor immigration enforcement in the state, Attorney General Letitia James said Tuesday. Her announcement comes amid heightened tensions and increasing protests, threats, and violence against federal agents carrying out arrests of illegal aliens. As part of James’s initiative, her office will deploy legal observers to document immigration enforcement in New York. The attorney general said the Legal Obs…
New York Introduces Legal Observers to Monitor Federal Immigration Enforcement
New York Introduces Legal Observers to Monitor Federal Immigration Enforcement New York is stepping up efforts to monitor federal immigration enforcement by deploying a team of legal observers. These observers, identified by their purple vests, will document the actions of immigration officers under the Trump administration as they carry out detentions and deportations. The initiative comes in response to escalated tensions and violence in citie…
The aim of the initiative is to investigate the actions of the Federal Staff and to examine "whether they remain within the framework of the laws"
The Philadelphia Tribune
Niagara GazetteLetitia James to deploy legal observers to monitor federal immigration agents
NEW YORK — New York's attorney general announced plans Tuesday to deploy legal observers to monitor federal immigration enforcement actions in the state.
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