Overview
Immigration officers have been arresting individuals outside federal courtrooms since May, a development that has radically altered day-to-day operations in San Diego Immigration Court. Times of San Diego observed proceedings that were open to the public, along with multiple arrests in the court’s hallways, from June 17-24. This story documents scenes from those five days.
Father Scott Santarosa from Our Lady of Guadalupe waited with a woman who’d asked him to accompany her. The last time she went to court she had fainted from fear. Her case wasn’t dismissed so she wasn’t at risk of being detained, but Santarosa saw the terror in her eyes every time she looked out the door.
Silent unease – Friday, June 20
Immigration court was dark on Thursday, closed for Juneteenth. It re-opened Friday, and for the first time in exactly a month since courtroom arrests began, the hallways were quiet.
The cluster of ICE agents present around 8:30 a.m. dispersed minutes after a dozen San Diego religious leaders, led by Michael Pham, then San Diego’s Catholic Bishop-elect, visited the fourth floor.
Santarosa was one of the multi-faith leaders present.
“We provided (a) nice presence for the people in the courtroom that day, a supportive, warm, loving presence,” Santarosa said.
There were no arrests on Friday.
The day was a reminder of what used to be, what the downtown building felt like before ICE started roaming the hallways.
“Things were supposed to be normal,” said Saint-Jeans. “Going to court was not a subject of traumatization for my clients.”
Memories of the daily mayhem over from the previous month, though, left people uneasy. The silence wasn’t much comfort.
A few volunteers, worried that ICE would return, stayed until later in the day. Some clergy also remained, with the Rev. Hung Nguyen from Our Lady of Guadalupe escorting a Haitian asylum-seeker to her court hearing in the afternoon.
