In their mass deportation war on undocumented immigrant families, unshackled Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have tested the limits of their power, flouting their own policy that dictates hospitals and schools are “sensitive locations” where arrests should happen only under “exigent circumstances.” While courthouses are not considered “sensitive locations,” judges, attorneys, and have advocates called on Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III and former Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly to adjust this policy, arguing that ICE arrests at courthouses trample on public trust of the justice system. But, as new data shows, Sessions, Kelly, and ICE don’t care:
Sightings of ICE agents at courthouses across the state have surged from 11 to 110, compared with last year, advocates say.
In 2016, the Immigrant Defense Project documented 11 arrests or attempted arrests by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents around the state. This year the number has spiked by 900%, with most in New York City — including one arrest on Tuesday in Brooklyn Criminal Court.
“The exponential increase in ICE courthouse arrests reflects a dangerous new era in enforcement and immigrant rights violations,” Immigrant Defense Project attorney Lee Wang said. “Immigrants seeking justice in the criminal, family and civil courts should not have to fear for their freedom when doing so.”
In one of the most despicable examples, ICE agents arrested a transgender woman in Texas as she attended court in order to secure a protective order against an abuser. According to the Immigrant Defense Project, 20 percent of the immigrants arrested in and around New York courthouses were there for traffic violations. “Some were appearing in court for traffic violations before immigration agents grabbed them. At least 16% of the immigrants were in court for desk appearance tickets, meaning their offenses did not merit an arrest. Arrests have occurred in family court and in one notorious case—at Queens Human Trafficking Court.”
Pointing to the case of the arrested transgender woman, this past August the American Bar Association (ABA) called on Congress to pass legislation making courthouses off-limit to mass deportation agents. As California Supreme Court Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye wrote in an op-ed urging the addition of courthouses to the list, “we encourage the vulnerable to come to our courthouses for help. But immigration arrests, or the fear of arrests at or near courthouses, disrupt court activities and the lives of those seeking justice.” And, wholly unacceptable and dangerous. Discouraging undocumented immigrant victims from pursuing justice will only enable abusers. But then again, this is an administration of abusers.
