Masked ICE agents are showing up at courthouses. Immigrant groups call it 'flagrant' violation of due process [View all]
Source: The Independent
Sunday 25 May 2025 02:40 BST
A gang of nearly two dozen masked federal agents descended on a courthouse in Phoenix, Arizona over several days this week and arrested immigrants moments after they left their immigration court hearings. Issac Ortega, a Phoenix-based immigration attorney, said his client was arrested on Tuesday after a hearing that same morning. His client has no criminal history and entered the United States legally through the CBP One app. Ortega told the Arizona Mirror.
The incident in Phoenix was not isolated. Unidentified agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal agencies have made similar arrests inside and outside courthouses across the country in recent days, from Washington state to Virginia, as Donald Trump’s administration accelerates his deportation agenda. Inside Seattle Immigration Court, three people were arrested and escorted from the building on Wednesday morning immediately after their cases were dismissed, KUOW reported.
One woman was granted permission to apply for asylum, narrowly avoiding another agent who was waiting for her outside the courtroom. And in San Diego, a man was arrested for allegedly obstructing the detention of a Guatemalan man who was attending his immigration court hearing. His lawyer later said his client’s case had not yet been dismissed and that he had not violated any of the terms of his release. The American Immigration Lawyers Association says the incidents are a “flagrant betrayal of basic fairness and due process” for people who are simply following the rules.
“Immigration courts are being weaponized, judges are coordinating with ICE to dismiss cases and immediately funnel individuals into the fast-track deportation pipeline known as expedited removal,” the group said. “These are not fugitives,” the group added. “They are individuals, many who are seeking protection from torture in their countries, complying with the law.”
Read more: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/ice-arrests-immigration-courthouse-b2757355.html
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