New phase of Trump deportation push: ICE arrests at immigration court
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Sarah Matusek Staff writer
As the president pushes for mass deportations, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has a new strategy for arresting immigrants.
First, ICE lawyers terminate people鈥檚 cases in immigration court. Then ICE officers arrest them at or just outside the courthouse. As a result, immigrants who may be trying to gain legal status in the United States are instead targeted for rapid removal.
Dozens of these immigration court arrests by masked, plainclothes law enforcement were reported across the country last week, including in Texas, Arizona, Nevada, and New York. Those included a in the Bronx, who Chalkbeat reports entered the country lawfully, and asylum-seeking men in Las Vegas.
Why We Wrote This
President Donald Trump pledged to deport millions of unauthorized immigrants. A new arrest tactic to advance that goal is ringing due process alarms among immigration attorneys.
ICE officers in at least 22 states have been told to arrest people right after a judge has ordered them to be deported or prosecutors have moved to drop their case, The Washington Post, citing internal documents. Immigration attorneys tell the Monitor that several of these dismissals took place at initial hearings, before the merits of cases were heard.
To expand fast-track deportations, the Trump administration is seeking a backdoor to a backlogged system. It can take years for an immigration case to resolve, as there are more than 3.6 million cases in immigration court, which is run by the Justice Department. White House officials, including President Donald Trump, have minimized and openly challenged immigrants鈥� rights to mount a defense against detention and removal. The president instead focuses on security risks that he says these individuals pose.
Immigrant advocates are denouncing what they see as the Trump administration raising barriers to constitutional due process rights provided to immigrants, such as court hearings. Lawyers say they鈥檙e fielding concerns from clients of arrest at immigration courts, which may intimidate immigrants from showing up. The emerging enforcement strategy underscores the government鈥檚 sweeping crackdown on unauthorized immigrants, including those seeking lawful ways to stay.
Immigration court arrests are part of the administration鈥檚 鈥渙verall shock-and-awe enforcement strategies,鈥� says Doris Meissner, a senior fellow at the Migration Policy Institute.
鈥淲e鈥檒l see whether they鈥檙e actually able to sustain operations like that, because they are resource-intensive,鈥� she says. What could complicate enforcement more broadly, she adds, is if showing up to court becomes seen as an 鈥渆ntrapment situation, rather than compliance.鈥�
Expanding who can be arrested 鈥� and where
ICE carried out courthouse arrests during the first Trump term, a practice that the . But coordinated arrests specifically at immigration courts emerged as a distinct tactic last week.
鈥淲hat they鈥檙e doing now is very new,鈥� says Paul Hunker, who for two decades served as chief counsel for ICE in Dallas. Legally, in some cases, the government鈥檚 actions may be covered by law, he says.
Still, 鈥淚 think it鈥檚 a bad practice,鈥� says Mr. Hunker. 鈥淚t鈥檚 important to allow people to pursue the relief they鈥檙e eligible for in immigration court.鈥�
ICE has defended courthouse arrests as a way to reduce safety risks to the public, its personnel, and immigrants themselves. That鈥檚 because law enforcement typically screens people entering courthouses for weapons. While some states like and prohibit such arrests, ICE has also described them as a workaround to 鈥渟anctuary鈥� policies that otherwise limit the agency鈥檚 enforcement.
Courthouse arrests are often necessary due to 鈥渦nwillingness of jurisdictions to cooperate with ICE in the transfer of custody of aliens from their prisons and jails,鈥� says a 2018 from the agency. 鈥淏order czar鈥� Tom Homan signed the document while serving as a senior ICE official.
Immigrant advocates, meanwhile, have called out the tactic as intimidating 鈥� particularly as people show up to court dates assigned by the government. Immigrants whom the government wants to deport are generally entitled to a hearing in immigration court, where they can mount a defense against deportation.
The tactic 鈥渉as the effect or may even have been designed to create a culture of fear,鈥� says Michael Kagan, director of the Immigration Clinic at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. 鈥淥perations like this are putting people in a position where they will feel trapped, that they can鈥檛 access the legal process.鈥�
His clinic is offering representation to six immigrants who, he says, had been seeking asylum ahead of their May 20 arrests at a Las Vegas immigration court. Under U.S. law, people may apply for asylum within their first year of arrival, even if they entered illegally between official ports of entry.
The detained men are from several Latin American countries, says Mr. Kagan, and had their cases dismissed during their first appearance. None had attorneys.
Fast-tracking 鈥渆xpedited removals鈥�
The Department of Homeland Security says most immigrants who illegally entered the U.S. within the past two years are subject to a process called 鈥渆xpedited removal,鈥� a fast-track deportation option.
Former President Joe Biden 鈥渋gnored this legal fact and chose to release millions of illegal aliens, including violent criminals, into the country with a notice to appear before an immigration judge,鈥� says an emailed statement from a senior DHS spokesperson.
Expedited removal, a provision of U.S. law since 1996, the government to deport certain immigrants without guaranteed access to an immigration judge.
Typically, expedited removal has been applied to recent arrivals at the border. And in the early days, such removal was focused on airports, says Ms. Meissner, former commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service.
Not only were resources limited for expedited removal arrests in the U.S. interior, but also those individuals weren鈥檛 always prioritized as public safety threats, she says. It also 鈥渞aised very difficult questions of determining who actually had been here less than two years,鈥� she says.
But the Trump administration now appears to be applying this fast-track option to immigrants beyond recent border arrivals. The move is part of a broader pattern of enforcing rarely used laws to ramp up deportations.
Even in expedited removal, an immigrant may claim fear of deportation 鈥� and pass what鈥檚 known as a credible fear interview. When they do, they鈥檙e supposed to be taken out of expedited removal so they may proceed in immigration court.
Given new fears of arrest, attorneys are thinking through how best to advise their clients about upcoming court dates. They say it鈥檚 important to seek guidance from reputable, licensed counsel.
鈥淥ur advice to people is to go to court,鈥� says Mr. Kagan in Las Vegas. Because if noncitizens fail to appear at an immigration court date, they鈥檙e generally ordered deported in their absence.
鈥淎lso consider whether to bring friends or family with you who can observe,鈥� says Mr. Kagan.
Now an immigration attorney himself, Mr. Hunker, formerly of ICE, expects more lawyers to seek an option popularized by the pandemic.
If immigrants are afraid to go in person, he says, 鈥淢aybe we can ask the court that we appear via Webex,鈥� a virtual meetings app.
Others are working on case-specific strategies. That includes Sonia Rodriguez, staff attorney at Thrive International in Tacoma, Washington, who witnessed immigration court arrests in Seattle last week.
During past administrations, says Ms. Rodriguez, the government targeted immigrants who were criminals and 鈥渢he worst of the worst.鈥�
That鈥檚 changed, she says. 鈥淓veryone鈥檚 a priority right now.鈥�
