ICE Targets Migrants at Court Hearings Across the US

A controversial Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) strategy of arresting migrants attending scheduled court hearings has ignited legal challenges and ethical debates across the nation. 

The escalating enforcement tactic, documented in federal courthouses from Texas to California, is raising critical questions about due process, access to justice, and the fundamental principles of the US immigration system. Attorneys and eyewitnesses confirm that ICE agents have been actively arresting migrants appearing for court hearings, signalling a significant shift in immigration enforcement priorities. These actions are allegedly part of a larger initiative to expedite the removal of migrants who have entered the country within the past two years.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) defends this approach, asserting that it is a necessary reversal of the previous administration's policies, which they describe as "catch-and-release." DHS maintains that the current administration is simply enforcing existing laws mandating expedited removal for those who have illegally entered the U.S. within the past two years. However, legal experts and immigration advocates vehemently condemn these tactics as an aggressive and unprecedented use of DHS's authority. 

They argue that arresting migrants actively engaged in seeking legal relief from deportation undermines the fundamental principles of due process. Moreover, the arrests may deter individuals from exercising their right to be heard in court. The chilling effect of these arrests extends far beyond those directly affected, creating a climate of fear and distrust that could deter other migrants from pursuing their legal claims.

Reports indicate a coordinated effort involving ICE attorneys seeking to dismiss cases against certain migrants, thereby stripping them of temporary protected status and rendering them immediately vulnerable to arrest and deportation.

In Dallas, immigration attorney Haim Vasquez notes that the Board of Immigration Appeals had recently approved this approach under a provision related to the arrest and deportation of "arriving aliens." CBS News Texas witnessed two such arrests at the Dallas federal courthouse, with witnesses reporting several other detentions that same morning.

The DHS, in its statement to CBS News Texas, claimed that the current administration is merely "implementing the rule of law" and reversing what they termed as the prior administration's policies that led to "millions of unvetted illegal aliens" being released into the country. According to the DHS, those with "valid credible fear claims would continue through immigration proceedings, whereas those without would face "swift deportation."

Paul Hunker, a former chief counsel for ICE in Dallas, calls the development an "aggressive" use of DHS's arrest and removal authority, noting that the Department of Homeland Security is taking individuals out of removal proceedings, many of whom have pending relief applications, and expeditiously removing them. Hunker describes it as "unprecedented for them to programmatically work with ICE attorneys and immigration judges to dismiss cases and remove people under expedited proceedings."

In San Diego, the impact of these policies is particularly evident. Attorneys report that ICE agents arrested 11 individuals after their court hearings on Thursday, as part of the nationwide operation. Michelle Celleri, an attorney and legal rights director of Alliance San Diego, emphasises that "going to immigration court is your chance to be heard," and arresting people who show up for their hearings would discourage others from coming to immigration courts.

In an attempt to fast-track deportations, attorneys representing the US government requested that immigration judges close cases of some people who had been in the US for less than two years and who had shown up without attorneys. Though typically a closed immigration court case means the government is no longer seeking to deport someone, ICE officers waited outside courtrooms to arrest these people and put them into expedited proceedings that do not require a judge.

Ginger Jacobs, a private immigration attorney in San Diego, explains that in expedited removal, an immigration officer, rather than a judge, gives the deportation order. She also notes that President Trump's executive order in January called for officers to use the process on anyone who has been in the US for less than two years, stating, "With expedited removal, they can deport them tonight...They’re short-cutting the due process these folks came here to receive in immigration court."

However, not everyone detained in San Diego on Thursday had closed cases. ICE arrested several people who had received future hearings dates from the immigration judges they appeared before, according to their attorneys and friends. One volunteer with the grassroots group Detention Resistance accompanied her friend from Colombia to court, where he was later arrested by ICE officers despite his upcoming hearing and asylum application.

In one particularly troubling incident, ICE officers mistakenly attempted to arrest an individual who was accompanied by an attorney from the American Bar Association Immigration Justice Project. Despite the attorney's objections and presentation of documentation proving the mistake, ICE officers proceeded to detain the man, leading to a medical emergency. 

The arrests in Dallas and San Diego are not isolated incidents; similar arrests have been reported in immigration courts across the country, including Santa Ana, Las Vegas, Chicago, Phoenix, and Miami.