Immigration lawyer cited after security protest

One Buffalo immigration lawyer is calling foul on the Federal Protective Services after he was cited for protesting the immigration court’s security proceedings.  

Matthew Borowski has been an immigration lawyer in Buffalo since 2013. Wednesday, in Buffalo, he was cited for disorderly conduct, moments before his client's asylum case.

Borowski says anyone going through security is forced to look at a picture of President Trump and Attorney General Jeff sessions.

7 Eyewitness News was not allowed to photograph the area, but security screening is done in a small hallway on the fourth floor of 130 Delaware Avenue.

For a while, Borowski accepted looking at the pictures. But, he doesn't see eye-to-eye with the administration’s policies on immigration and didn't want to look at the portraits every time he went to court. So, for a while, he would stand on one side or the other of the pictures.

On Tuesday, he says, he was asked to stand directly in front of them. That didn’t sit well with him. 

On Wednesday, in protest, he brought a poster board to hold up while security checked him with their metal detecting wand. According to Borowski, the security officers wouldn't let him hold the poster up, saying his hands need to be empty.

“I was just going to hold it up like that, while they were going to run the metal detector on me,” said Borowski. ”I asked them a few follow up questions, asked them again nicely, please. And then I put it down and said fine and they said, ‘nope, too late.’”

Borowski was cited by federal protective services for disorderly conduct. 

A statement from FPS read in part: "The individual was not following the directed screening procedures."

Borowski says he may file a federal civil rights suit against the FPS officers.

This is an anti-Trump protest. But, Borowski says he's standing up for any type of protest.

“I'm fighting for your right, too. I'm fighting for your right to go out there and say you support Donald Trump. I'm fighting for your right to go out there and protest against Chuck Schumer, if that's your thing,” said Borowski.

Since Borowski, wasn't able to enter the court, the case he was working on for an asylum seeker may be moved back an additional 4-6 months.