snippet from the Washington Post:
California’s top judge criticized federal immigration agents for using courthouses as “bait” — a place for “stalking” immigrants who “pose no risk to public safety.”
Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye wrote a letter Thursday to Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Department of Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly amid reports of federal agents going to courthouses and scouting for immigrants who are not in the country legally.
Such incidents have been reported in
California,
Texas,
Oregon,
Colorado and
Arizona.
In the
letter, Cantil-Sakauye requested that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents stop arresting immigrants at courthouses.
“I am deeply concerned about reports from some of our trial courts that immigration agents appear to be stalking undocumented immigrants in our courthouses to make arrests,” she wrote. “… Courthouses should not be used as bait in the necessary enforcement of our country’s immigration laws.”
ICE spokeswoman Virginia Kice said immigration officers make arrests at courthouses only after exhausting other options.
“It’s important to note that many of the arrest targets ICE has sought out at or near courthouses are foreign nationals who have prior criminal convictions in the U.S.,” Kice said in a statement. “In years past, most of these individuals would have been turned over to ICE by local authorities upon their release from jail based on ICE detainers. … In such instances where deportation officers seek to conduct an arrest at a courthouse, every effort is made to take the person into custody in a secure area, out of public view, but this is not always possible.”
Kice said making an arrest at a courthouse eliminates the safety risks of detaining someone on the street.
California chief justice to ICE: Stop ‘stalking’ immigrants at courthouses
This is the Chief justice on the California Supreme Court. I would say it depends on the individual, are we talking about a violent person or a mother of 3 who is herself a victim. Look, the law is the law, and if local officials were turning over illegals to ICE like they should then all this stuff at the courthouse wouldn't be happening.