ICE shows up at courthouses to intimidate witnesses, restraining order seekers, and arrest petty criminals

["David Farber" <farber () gmail com>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Kimi Wei <kimi () thewei com>
Subject: ICE shows up at courthouses to intimidate witnesses, restraining order seekers, and arrest petty criminals
Date: March 19, 2017 at 9:13:17 AM EDT

California chief justice to ICE: Stop ‘stalking’ immigrants at courthouses

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2017/03/17/california-chief-justice-to-ice-stop-stalking-immigrants-at-courthouses/?tid=sm_fb&utm_term=.e121f6108e55

By Kristine Phillips, March 17 2017

California’s top judge criticized federal immigration agents for using courthouses as “bait” — a place for “stalking” 
immigrants who “pose no risk to public safety.”

Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye wrote a letter Thursday to Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Department of Homeland 
Security Secretary John F. Kelly amid reports of federal agents going to courthouses and scouting for immigrants who 
are not in the country legally.

Such incidents have been reported in California, Texas, Oregon, Colorado and Arizona.

In the letter, Cantil-Sakauye requested that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents stop arresting immigrants at 
courthouses.

“I am deeply concerned about reports from some of our trial courts that immigration agents appear to be stalking 
undocumented immigrants in our courthouses to make arrests,” she wrote. “… Courthouses should not be used as bait in 
the necessary enforcement of our country’s immigration laws.”

ICE spokeswoman Virginia Kice said immigration officers make arrests at courthouses only after exhausting other options.

“It’s important to note that many of the arrest targets ICE has sought out at or near courthouses are foreign nationals 
who have prior criminal convictions in the U.S.,” Kice said in a statement. “In years past, most of these individuals 
would have been turned over to ICE by local authorities upon their release from jail based on ICE detainers. … In such 
instances where deportation officers seek to conduct an arrest at a courthouse, every effort is made to take the person 
into custody in a secure area, out of public view, but this is not always possible.”

Kice said making an arrest at a courthouse eliminates the safety risks of detaining someone on the street.

“These individuals, who often have significant criminal histories, are released onto the street, presenting a potential 
public safety threat,” she said. “When ICE Fugitive Operations officers have to go out into the community to 
proactively locate these criminal aliens, regardless of the precautions they take, it needlessly puts our personnel and 
potentially innocent bystanders in harm’s way. … Because courthouse visitors are typically screened upon entry to 
search for weapons and other contraband, the safety risks for the arresting officers and for the arrestee are 
substantially diminished.”

Tracking down fugitives, Kice said, requires significant resources because many of them use aliases and don’t have 
viable addresses or places of employment.

“A courthouse may afford the most likely opportunity to locate a target and take him or her into custody,” Kice said.

A Department of Justice spokesman declined to comment, beyond noting that the agency will review the letter.

Cantil-Sakauye’s letter echoes concerns raised across the country by some local and state officials who fear that ICE’s 
increased presence at courthouses may deter immigrants from coming to court for legal matters, such as testifying or 
seeking protective orders from alleged abusers.

San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon called the approach “very shortsighted” and said it has a “chilling 
impact” on the community, according to the Los Angeles Times.

In El Paso, county officials said federal agents made false or misleading claims when they arrested a transgender woman 
who had just obtained a protective order against her live-in partner, local media reported. Federal officials said in 
an affidavit that they detained Irvin Gonzalez on the street, but surveillance videos showed men in casual clothing 
detaining Gonzalez just outside the courtroom.

“I knew what the truth was when every witness — the lawyers and the judge — said that ICE was there,” El Paso County 
Judge Veronica Escobar said last month, the El Paso Times reported. “Then the video left absolutely no room for doubt. 
You see his hand on her arm. She was not free to go. She was in his custody.”

El Paso County Attorney Jo Anne Bernal said Gonzalez’s detention was alarming and could wind up keeping other domestic 
violence victims from coming forward.

“Our clients come to us at the lowest point of their lives,” Bernal said, according to the El Paso newspaper. “Many of 
them are so frightened of coming to us because of possible immigration concerns.”

After the incident in Texas, officials in Oregon’s Multnomah County asked for the public’s help in reporting ICE raids 
at courthouses.

“The possible increase in these incidents across the country is concerning,” county officials said in a statement last 
month. “Abusers often use threats of deportation to prevent their victims from seeking help. Courthouses should be safe 
locations for people to access justice, particularly people who are fleeing violent relationships.”

In Denver, ICE agents in plain clothes were seen outside a courtroom waiting to pick up a Mexican national who was in 
court for a sentencing hearing for stealing tools in 2015, according to NBC affiliate KUSA.

In Portland, Ore., three ICE agents, also in plain clothes, watched a Mexican national inside the Multnomah County 
courthouse for several minutes before one of the man’s attorneys told the agents he would cooperate. Ivan Rodriguez 
Resendiz told the Oregonian that he went to court because he’d violated his probation by driving under the influence.


...


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