ICE Targets Unauthorized Immigrants Attending Court, Caught in ‘Collateral Arrests’

What’s the story?

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, has formalized a policy to send agents into federal, state, and local courthouses to make arrests.

Meanwhile, lawyers in California are raising concerns about "collateral arrests"—the Trump administration’s term for unauthorized immigrants who are not original targets but are swept up during law enforcement actions.

Court Arrests

As Reuters summarized, "under the new guidelines ICE will continue to target immigrants in the country illegally at courthouses but would avoid arresting their friends and family members unless they pose a threat to public safety or interfere with ICE actions."

In a not-so-subtle jab against "sanctuary cities," ICE Acting Director Thomas Homan wrote in the directive that:

"Courthouse arrests are often necessitated by the unwillingness of jurisdictions to cooperate with ICE in the transfer of custody of aliens from their prisons and jails."

The policy dismisses complaints from judges and advocacy groups who claim the arrests deter attendance at hearings and discourage witnesses from testifying.

"A growing number of victims have expressed reluctance to move forward with criminal prosecutions due to fear of being deported," New York’s Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said in a statement in August.

Collateral Arrests

Under the Obama administration, unauthorized immigrants convicted of crimes were prioritized for deportations. In February 2017, the Department of Homeland Security issued memorandums that stripped all deportation priorities.

"Since then," the L.A. Times reported, “immigrants have been arrested while accompanying family members to ICE check-ins, waiting with co-workers for rides to work and sleeping in the same home as a law enforcement target.”

Lawyers and advocates told the paper that the "arrest everyone first, ask questions later" approach amounts to racial profiling and violates immigrants’ rights.

Eva Bitran, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union who is representing someone caught up in a collateral raid, told the Times:

"The worry is that worksite raids have already increased in frequency and will continue to do so; that collateral arrests will continue to increase…; and that in their haste to carry out this policy of renewed worksite raids, ICE officers will disregard the law."

Homan, the acting ICE director, said in October that given California’s sanctuary laws, "ICE will have no choice but to conduct at-large arrests in local neighborhoods and at worksites, which will inevitably result in additional collateral arrests, instead of focusing on arrests at jails and prisons where transfers are safer for ICE officers and the community."

What do you think?

Do you support ICE raids on courthouses? What about collateral arrests? Hit Take Action and tell your reps, then share your thoughts below.

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—Josh Herman

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(Photo courtesy U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement)