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.
Laranang’s client came to court. He sat in the back, waiting for the judge to call his case. But when he saw ICE officers outside, he thought of his wife and his one-year-old baby, Laranang said. Being separated. Living without them. By the time the judge called his case, he was gone.
Caught in the middle – Tuesday, June 24
ICE made five arrests Tuesday, the highest total of the five days. The interactions were rushed still, but initially lacked the aggression of recent days. Two individuals, both without lawyers, were detained and escorted out so quickly that hardly anyone noticed.
And in contrast with the confrontation between volunteers and ICE officers the day before, on Tuesday, a couple of people on each side chatted amicably.
One ICE officer explained that detentions take place in the courthouse, where everyone is screened at the entrance, to minimize security risks for officers.
“Here, I get the emotion of it,” he said of the courthouse arrests. “But it takes the factor of weapons out of it.”
Officers said it was administrative officials, and not them, making decisions. Immigration attorneys largely agreed.
“They are told to do this,” said Saint-Jeans. “They are not the enemy.”
But the back-and-forth quickly gave way to anguish when ICE officers began targeting an asylum-seeker who volunteers had aided long before his hearing date.
Court is open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., but on Tuesday, ICE officers lingered late outside of courtroom 9, waiting for the man to exit his hearing.
They ended up waiting over an hour after the court’s business day concluded. Asylum hearings are closed to the public due to privacy concerns, but one volunteer who had consent to observe told Times of San Diego that the individual had been persecuted in his home country.
When he walked out of the hearing with his attorney, he stood in the doorway as four ICE officers surrounded him. They argued with his attorney, who repeated that she just wanted to see a warrant for her client’s arrest.
And when the asylum-seeker asked to go to the bathroom, ICE officers instead took him to the elevator, leaving his attorney behind.
Officers surrounded the man, pushed him to the back of the elevator and handcuffed him. They stopped the attorney’s legal assistant from accompanying them.
“Why are you being so abusive?” yelled the attorney, who, alerted by volunteers, rushed to the elevator. “You grabbed him. You can cuff him, but you do not need to grab him like that.”
The aggression towards the man – who cooperated, mostly silently, except for asking to use the bathroom – is in many ways, not entirely novel.
What was novel was the fact that his arrest occurred after his asylum hearing and before the judge had decided whether or not to grant it.
It’s unclear whether he’ll have to go through the entire asylum process for a second time under a different judge or simply wait in detention until the court issues a decision on his existing claim.
