Three members of New York City's congressional delegation are seeking to stop federal agents from arresting immigrants as they show up for court-ordered appearances. 

Democrats Dan Goldman, Adriano Espaillat and Nydia Velázquez said Monday their bill is meant to stop U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers from harassing and imprisoning immigrants. 

It comes on the heels of a new study by the University of California at Berkeley's Deportation Data Project that shows that more than one-third of the people arrested by ICE during the first nine months of the second Trump administration had no criminal records. 

"You cannot sandbag people who are trying to do this the right way"

Goldman, Espaillat and Velázquez said their bill would stop ICE agents, many of whom they say wear masks while patrolling outside immigration courtrooms, from arresting immigrants who show up for routine check-ins, unless they have a warrant for a specific person's arrest. 

"You cannot sandbag people who are trying to do this the right way," Goldman said outside the federal immigration courthouse in Lower Manhattan. 

The congressmembers claim the Department of Homeland Security is making people afraid to come to court.   

"This is not Germany, 1939. This is the United States of America," said Velázquez. "Immigration court is supposed to be a place where people can follow the law, show up when they are required to and have their case heard fairly. It should not be a place where people are afraid they will enter and never leave." 

"Eighty percent of the people are not showing up. That's what Trump wants. He wants a crisis," Espaillat said. 

Velázquez, 72, is the first Puerto Rican woman ever elected to Congress. She announced last month she will not seek reelection to a 17th term in 2026.

ICE arrested tens of thousands with no criminal records, study says

UC Berkeley's Deportation Data Project found out of 220,000 people arrested by ICE agents from Jan. 20, 2025, to Oct. 15, 2025, nearly 75,000 had no criminal records. 

"In doing this immigration dragnet, they are sweeping up U.S. citizens, they are are arresting U.S. citizens, and often refusing to believe them when they say they are U.S. citizens," Goldman said. 

The Department of Homeland Security has not responded to CBS News New York's request for comment.   

Mamdani posts ICE interaction instructional video

New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani posted a video over the weekend instructing immigrants about their rights and how ICE agents must have official paperwork when they come knocking. 

"If ICE does not have a judicial warrant signed by a judge, you have the right to say, 'I do not consent to entry,' and the right to keep your door closed," Mamdani said.

The mayor-elect released the statement after a recent incident where protesters clashed with ICE agents trying to arrest people on Canal Street. It also came two days after a federal judge ruled ICE agents illegally detained a woman a LaGuardia Airport and held her for two weeks. 

Mamdani said in his video that he will uphold New Yorkers' rights to protest ICE arrests when he takes office.