ICE Agents Are Camped Outside Immigration Courts to Make Arrests 

Agents from U S Immigration and Customs Enforcement have begun waiting outside immigration courts in federal buildings across the country to arrest people instantly after judges dismiss their immigration cases The ICE tactic appears to be a shift aimed at increasing the pace of deportations At New York s Varick Immigration Court ICE agents on Wednesday began checking the documents of everyone who left according to a source present who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of professional retaliation The court is under the jurisdiction of the Department of Justice s Executive Office for Immigration Review They are indeed checking individuals off lists and attempting to detain them once they leave court they stated According to the source ICE detained at least two people after they left the courtroom I ve dependably advised clients that immigration court is the one place you can expect ICE not to be because everybody wants you to go to immigration court and if you don t go it s an automatic deportation mentioned Matt Cameron an immigration attorney in Boston I am very concerned that people might hear this and decide not to go to court because they think it s unsafe But if you don t go to court it s automatic deportation and that gives ICE an excuse to come for you a lot faster They re basically circumventing due process In a declaration to The Intercept ICE noted it issued guidance in January permitting its officers to conduct operations near courthouses discreetly and that doing so was in the interest of society safety Arrests of illegal aliens in courthouses is safer for law enforcement and the general population because these criminals have gone through shield and been verified as unarmed ICE spokesperson Marie Ferguson disclosed in a report to The Intercept ICE will make thoughtful decisions in each occurrence and do whatever is the bulk likely to keep the American people safe Camille Mackler founder and executive director of Immigrant Arc a group of legal advocates working on immigration issues reported she d heard that ICE was conducting targeted operations in several jurisdictions across New York and other states including Maryland Arizona California Texas and Illinois Cameron the Boston attorney declared he d heard reports of more than immigration officers half undercover and half in full tactical gear swarm a court in California Related ICE Duped a Federal Judge Into Allowing Raid on Columbia Pupil Dorms Reports began circulating on social media on Tuesday that ICE had begun efforts to get cases dismissed that had been pending for less than two years so that the agency could promptly apprehend immigrants and force them into an expedited removal process effectively side-stepping the typical immigration court process They re moving to end those cases so they can move forward with a more aggressive form of deportation without the requirement to see a judge or request asylum Mackler stated They re basically circumventing due process ICE s operation is creating an unnecessary surroundings of fear revealed Deborah Lee the head attorney at the immigration law unit of the Legal Aid Society a New York inhabitants defense group It is deeply disturbing to see ICE agents taking people into custody or staking out immigration courts in New York and other states over the past two days Lee announced These actions create a atmosphere of fear and intimidation targeting individuals seeking due process and safety Immigration courts should be spaces of justice not traps This aggressive enforcement undermines trust in our legal system and endangers the rights and dignity of vulnerable communities Immigration courts should be spaces of justice not traps On Tuesday immigration advocates stated they saw ICE agents at immigration courts in Los Angeles detaining people after their cases were dismissed There were two ICE officers inside the courtrooms who would notify the officers sitting in the hallway when a matter was dismissed Lindsay Toczylowski co-founder of legal advocacy group Immigrant Defenders Law Center wrote on BlueSky This is something I ve been concerned about for a while that they re going to find a way to circumvent removal proceedings Cameron declared This appears to be one strategy for doing that Something I ve been seeing already play out in the last couple of weeks that they started they re trying to dismiss cases including cases that aren t eligible for expedited removal and they re trying to put them in expedited removal he stated That s my real concern that whatever due process is left will be killed when they start circumventing removal proceedings A day after President Donald Trump s inauguration the Department of Homeland Shield issued a guidance allowing ICE officers to conduct arrests at protected areas including courthouses This reversed a Biden-era directive that limited arrests at sensitive locations According to the guidance officers must first receive approval from ICE s Office of the Principal Legal Advisor to conduct arrests at courthouses The guidance also instructs ICE to arrest people discreetly at non-public areas of the courts and to use the non-public entrances and exits Read Our Complete Coverage The War on Immigrants The Department of Justice did not instantly respond to a request for comment The FBI arrested a judge in Wisconsin last month for obstructing an immigration arrest operation According to the FBI s criminal complaint Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan allegedly advised an immigrant to use the jury door to exit the courtroom after agents working with ICE arrived to arrest him Update May p m ETThis story has been updated to include comments from Matt Cameron an immigration attorney in Boston and Deborah Lee of the inhabitants defense group Legal Aid Society The post ICE Agents Are Camped Outside Immigration Courts to Make Arrests appeared first on The Intercept