Court dates become traps to detain migrants in US

The routine court appearances that undocumented migrants must attend to continue their regular immigration procedures have become traps. For the second day in a row, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents took advantage of migrants’ appearance in a Phoenix, Arizona, courtroom to arrest them. The departure from court produced dramatic images of men, women, and children being handcuffed and led into ICE vehicles. “They declared court over, we left and were going home when these guys approached, claiming to be from ICE,” a woman whose husband was detained told the television network Telemundo. The agents did not identify themselves or carry arrest warrants. The detainees were caught thinking they were doing the right thing, complying with the requirements of appearing in court to advance their legal status in the United States. The court date, however, turned into a setup, and they are now facing deportation.

The videos also show a young Colombian woman, looking scared and confused, being escorted by agents to one of their vans. It was her first time appearing before an immigration judge to present her asylum application, which was denied, and she ended up handcuffed without knowing where she was being taken. Others didn’t have the opportunity to present their cases before the judge because they were detained before doing so.

Dozens of people demonstrated outside the courthouse, chanting “ICE out!” and scuffles broke out with federal agents. They were protesting the anti-immigration policies of an administration that, despite its rhetoric, isn’t only arresting criminals, and they called it “fascist.” Some compared ICE agents to the Gestapo, the fearsome police force of the Third Reich.

Similar situations have occurred this week in immigration courts in California, New York, Texas, and Florida.

Three U.S. immigration officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the AP that prosecutors were ordered Monday to begin dismissing cases. This would give federal agents free rein to detain migrants outside the courthouse.

On January 21, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) sent a memorandum authorizing immigration enforcement to carry out arrests in and around courthouses. The Biden administration had banned this practice due to the negative consequences it had, a practice that was common during the Republican’s first term. The agents’ presence in courtrooms discouraged many witnesses from appearing in court and reporting crimes for fear of being detained, putting public safety at risk.

The DHS issued a statement saying that “Secretary Noem is empowering law enforcement to use common sense and remove illegal immigrants from American communities.” On Tuesday, Kristi Noem appeared confused about a right as basic as habeas corpus, which she defined as “a constitutional right that the president has to be able to remove people from this country and suspend their rights.” Habeas corpus, which is enshrined in the Constitution and which the administration has proposed eliminating, guarantees due process for detainees to prevent abuses of power.

Immigration courts hear hundreds of cases every day. Most hearings last less than five minutes and end with a judge ordering individuals to return in two years to defend their case against deportation. Now, however, ICE agents are moving in to detain as many migrants as they can. It’s all to meet the needs of the largest deportation drive in history, which the president desperately wants.

“From the beginning, the Trump administration has said they are going after the most dangerous criminals. However, ICE’s actions in Seattle, Santa Ana, and now Phoenix show otherwise. Agents showing up to detain people after their hearings is not only unprecedented, it’s absolutely reprehensible,” said Arizona State Senator Catherine Miranda.

Juan Serrano, a 28-year-old Colombian migrant with no criminal record, showed up for a hearing in immigration court in Miami on Wednesday that he thought would be quick. Upon leaving, five federal agents handcuffed him, escorted him and took him away in a van along with a dozen other detained migrants. Serrano entered the United States in September 2022 after fleeing his country due to threats he received while working as an advisor to a politician in Bogotá, his girlfriend told the AP, speaking on condition of anonymity. Serrano had filed an asylum application last year.

The couple slept on the streets when they moved to Miami, but scraped together enough money—she cleaned houses and he worked in construction—to buy a used car and rent a one-bedroom apartment for $1,400 a month. The woman said they appreciated any help as she reviewed her boyfriend’s passport, immigration papers, and IRS tax receipts. “Unfortunately, there aren’t many Americans who want to help us,” she added.

Arizona Republican Senator John Kavanagh, a supporter of Trump’s anti-immigration crusade, told Channel 12 News in response to the courthouse raids: “People who are illegal immigrants should be detained not just in the courthouse, but wherever they are.”

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