Nearly 180 Maine attorneys have sent a letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions and DHS Secretary John Kelly demanding an end to the arrests of immigrants at courthouses, following ICE sweeping up a 28-year-old immigrant as he was leaving a non-immigration related hearing:
The arrest of Abdi Ali last week at the Cumberland County Courthouse prompted 179 Maine attorneys to send a letter to U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly saying arrests at courthouses "undermine the fundamental constitutional guarantee" of the right to seek redress from the court system.
“No one should be afraid to seek justice because of his or her immigration status,” the letter says.
The lawyers said courthouses should be treated as schools, churches and other sensitive locations where federal agents avoid immigration-related arrests. “Courthouses are sacred to our democracy, and they should also be included on the … list of sensitive locations,” they wrote.
A newly-unshackled ICE disagreed, saying “the federal agency does not consider courts to be sensitive locations, although such arrests are avoided when possible.” Except ICE has not avoided making “such arrests,” in fact even drawing criticism from the chief justice of the Supreme Court of California, who in a letter accused the agency of using courthouses as “bait” in order to arrest undocumented immigrants.
Abdi Ali, the man arrested at Cumberland, “was being arraigned on a drunk driving charge when three ICE agents grabbed him, pushed him against the wall and handcuffed him before walking him out of the court:”
“It is very disturbing that someone coming to the courthouse for his scheduled court date and to get legal counsel is being dragged out in handcuffs,” said Nadeau.
Nadeau and the head of the court’s judicial marshals said that they had never heard of immigration agents detaining someone in the Maine courthouse before. The incident appears to signal that the Trump administration’s more aggressive immigration enforcement is being implemented here.
“I’d never seen this in Maine but I guess it’s here now,” said Nadeau, who is not representing Ali in the immigration case.
Advocates argue that no matter the reason why immigrants are at courthouses, ICE’s actions could set a dangerous precedent that has vast public safety repercussions:
“Lurking at courthouses to arrest immigrants, is shortsighted and not the best way to implement immigration laws,” said Portland City Councilor Pious Ali. “Acts like this will negatively affect the relationship between local law enforcement and the immigrant community and not in the best interest of our community and city.”