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Chief Judge Janet DiFiore.[/caption] As U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents continue to make arrests at New York state courthouses, the New York City Bar Association is calling on Chief Judge Janet DiFiore to use her authority to keep New York courthouses from being a preferred destination for agents to round up immigrants.In a report released on Wednesday, the city bar said the chief judge should issue administrative rules requiring agents to have judicial, rather than administrative, warrants when making arrests at courthouses; and should require judges and judicial officers to notify ICE targets in their courtrooms if agents are present waiting to make an arrest.DiFiore should also issue administrative rules to limit court officers’ cooperation and assistance with ICE agents, to reduce the number of appearances that potential ICE targets need to appear in court and make information about ICE enforcement activities available for public review. It the situation intensifies, the city bar warned, defendants and witnesses may stop coming to court altogether, which could create a class of residents who are effectively shut out of the justice system, and which could adversely affect prosecutions and waste judicial resources. “Unsurprisingly, lawyers continue to report that their noncitizen clients are fearful of going to court and many are opting to stay away altogether,” the report stated. “Lawyers further report that, if their noncitizen clients are arrested in the courthouse by ICE, it is becoming more common for the arrestees to be transferred to a detention facility out-of-state where they are not able to access counsel. Detention can last for months.” ICE has mostly gone after defendants with cases in Criminal Court, the report stated, but last year agents arrested immigrants in Family Court, in a Human Trafficking Court and in a domestic violence matter. But, the city bar noted, there have been reports of ICE agents rounding up litigants with no prior criminal record. In January, ICE issued a directive for agents making courthouse arrests to spare friends and family members and to avoid areas of courthouses dedicated to noncriminal proceedings, like family courts or small claims courts.But since the formal policy was issued, the report notes, it “clearly contemplates” arrests in other courts -- and, in some upstate courthouses, criminal and non-criminal parts occupy the same building. In an addition to due process concerns, the report states, the arrests have also raised concerns about federalism, as federal agents have disrupted the ability of the state courts to administer justice.