Prohibits civil arrest in hospital, shelter, food bank, and crisis center settings; except to address an imminent safety situation or if they have an appropriate judicial warrant or judicial order.
STATE OF NEW YORK
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7859
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
April 11, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. DE LOS SANTOS -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Codes
AN ACT to amend the civil rights law, in relation to prohibiting civil
arrest in hospitals, shelters, food banks and crisis centers
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may be cited as
2 the "ICE ban in hospitals and shelters act".
3 § 2. The civil rights law is amended by adding a new section 29 to
4 read as follows:
5 § 29. Civil arrest; protection in certain settings. 1. A person
6 attending, employed at, or otherwise lawfully present at a hospital,
7 shelter, food bank and crisis center, is privileged from civil arrest
8 while at such premises.
9 2. No civil arrest shall be executed on hospital, shelter, food bank
10 or crisis center premises unless supported by a judicial warrant author-
11 izing such an arrest or detainment.
12 3. No other document shall be sufficient for the execution of any
13 civil arrest including an administrative warrant or immigration detain-
14 er.
15 4. It shall be considered unlawful and constitute false imprisonment
16 for any person to willfully violate this section by executing or assist-
17 ing in an arrest prohibited under this section.
18 5. A person whose rights under this section are violated may bring a
19 civil action for equitable and declaratory relief. Additionally, the
20 attorney general may bring a civil action in the name of the state to
21 enforce compliance.
22 6. Any successful action pursuant to this section may result in the
23 recovery of costs and reasonable attorney's fees.
24 7. As used in this section:
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD11435-01-5
A. 7859 2
1 (a) "Judicial warrant or order" shall mean a warrant or order that is
2 signed by a United States district judge or federal magistrate judge and
3 demonstrates probable cause to believe an individual has committed a
4 crime or offense.
5 (b) "Administrative warrant" shall mean a warrant that is prepared and
6 issued by federal immigration authorities and directs federal officials
7 to arrest a noncitizen for removal or removal proceedings.
8 (c) "Immigration detainer" shall mean a request, typically issued by
9 federal immigration authorities to local law enforcement agencies, to
10 keep an individual in custody for up to forty-eight hours beyond when
11 the individual is scheduled for release.
12 § 3. Severability. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, section or part
13 of this act shall be adjudged by any court of competent jurisdiction to
14 be invalid and after exhaustion of all further judicial review, the
15 judgment shall not affect, impair or invalidate the remainder thereof,
16 but shall be confined in its operation to the clause, sentence, para-
17 graph, section or part of this act directly involved in the controversy
18 in which the judgment shall have been rendered.
19 § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.
