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News > World

Undocumented Immigrant Arrests at Courthouses Spark Fury

  • An Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in an undated image courtesy of the agency.

    An Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in an undated image courtesy of the agency. | Photo: Reuters

Published 16 March 2017
Opinion

The new action is setting a terrifying precedent for undocumented immigrants.

Criminal defense lawyer Octavio Chaidez was finishing up a criminal court appearance at the Los Angeles Superior Court in Pasadena when four agents swooped in and took his client away.

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His client was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents inside a courthouse, for a reason that had nothing to do with the proceeding.

“It was very shocking,” recalled Chaidez, speaking to CBS Los Angeles.

He said the move is setting a concerning precedent.

“(Undocumented immigrants) may refuse to contact the police. They may refuse to give testimony as a witness. They may refuse to show up in court, and that affects the entire system,” the attorney explained.

Chaidez, who has worked as a defense attorney in Los Angeles County for almost 15 years, said he had never seen any arrests made inside the confines of a courthouse.

ICE officials have come out to defend the tactic, saying this is their last-resort option. Many are suggesting that this recent action has been driven by an increase in the number of local law enforcement agencies that have committed to refusing to comply with ICE.

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Still, the directive is not entirely new — ICE has made arrests in courthouses before, but stopped after the tactic drew strong condemnation in California after a series of raids.

The policy of arresting in courthouses, however, may also set up instances where people are afraid to appear in court at all — no matter what danger they may be in.

On Feb. 9, a woman seeking a restraining order against her abusive husband was arrested by an undercover ICE agent who was seated in the courthouse, explained Lucila Flores Camarena, an assistant county attorney in El Paso, to the LA Times.

Flores Camarena said she was concerned that the presence of ICE agents in courthouses might cause some women to stay with their abusers. She explained that several other women withdrew their requests to seek protective orders; two of them specifically cited the February arrest.

“It’s a really horrific position to find yourself in,” Flores Camarena said. “I can’t feel safe in seeking help from the justice system because I now have this very real threat that I might be deported.”

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