'Escalation:' Federal agents now detaining people with active immigration cases

USA Today

7 hours ago

Advocates describe courthouse arrests as a "Catch-22." Migrants have to come to court but are arrested when they do.
NEW YORK − They were free to leave the windowless courtroom. But the only way out was through a hallway lined with masked immigration agents.
Before heading out, several men cried. Women made the sign of the cross.
Federal officials arrested a handful of them before they could reach the far end of the hall. The detainees were forced into a fire exit, away from press and a small group of New York lawmakers.
This was the scene earlier this month outside a 12th-floor courtroom at a Manhattan federal building. But immigration attorneys say similar events are playing out across the country, as federal agents detain immigrants who thought they followed all the rules.
To fulfill a campaign process, President Donald Trump has overturned the asylum process set up by his predecessor and determined that tens of thousands of people who followed a Biden administration process are in the United States illegally.
"Most aliens who illegally entered the United States within the past two years are subject to expedited removals," Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, said in a statement. "ICE is now following the law and placing these illegal aliens in expedited removal, as they always should have been."
In late May, DHS began asking courts to dismiss cases against these recent migrants ‒ and then arrested them on their way out of courtrooms. More recently, even migrants with active asylum cases and no criminal history have been taken into custody.
'They're seemingly just taking everyone,' Alexa Avilés, a New York City councilmember from Brooklyn who chairs the city's immigration committee, said after a July 3 hearing. 'It feels like an utter escalation, a very violent one.'
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If a migrant can prove that they would be in danger if they returned to their country, they will continue in immigration proceedings, McLaughlin said. But if their so-called credible fear claim isn't valid, as determined by an immigration court judge, they will swiftly be deported, she said.
The American Immigration Lawyers Association, which represents some 17,000 attorneys across the country, confirmed that they have seen more of their clients detained when they showed up for routine court hearings.
'These are people that are showing up for their court proceedings like the U.S. government has asked them to, which is exactly what we want them to do,' said Vanessa Dojaquez-Torres, practice and policy counsel for the association.
Most people being detained, she added, have neither criminal nor immigration court histories.
'They are simply wanting a fair chance to request whatever they're going to request, whether it's asylum or another form of relief,' Dojaquez-Torres said. 'They're just wanting the opportunity to do that in court.'
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Showing up to court or not: 'a Catch-22'
Asylum cases can still proceed when an immigrant is in detention, Dojaquez-Torres said, but the removal process moves much faster and it's harder to access a lawyer while in detention.
So many people simply aren't showing up for their court dates, Dojaquez-Torres said. Then, they are subject to even more certain arrest and deportation.
'It's sort of a Catch-22,' said Nikolai Mischler, an organizer for Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, a New York City-based nonprofit that brings observers to watch court proceedings and accompany migrants to and from hearings.
'It's completely understandable for people to be scared to go to court,' he said, though it puts them at even greater risk.
His group has encouraged people to opt for virtual hearings if they can, though not all judges permit this. He noted on July 11 that agents have detained people even before they enter courtrooms.
People never leave court building
The early July hearing was scheduled to explain the law to a group of migrants considering applying for asylum. The judge set dates for the migrants to return, and instructed them on the basic process toward an asylum claim. None appeared to be represented by an attorney.
As court adjourned, the migrants first had to walk through the tunnel of armed agents, most of whom donned neck gators covering their faces. Their tactical vests included insignia for Border Patrol, Homeland Security and the Treasury Department.
USA TODAY observed agents looking at papers to identify some of the people, though reporters have also seen agents using facial recognition technology to identify people.
State Assemblymember Grace Lee, a Democrat whose lower Manhattan district bordered the building, said it was hard to imagine the fear people must have walking in and out of court. 'You can just read it in their eyes,' she said in a windowless hallway, feet from agents standing by.
Among those taken was a Venezuelan man living in Queens. Right behind him, his brother was allowed to walk free. But the brother, who lives in Tennessee, told USA TODAY that he had his belongings in the man's apartment. He was left trying to ask a security guard to get the apartment keys, to no avail.
Another man, wearing a white traditional robe, cried in the waiting room. Reporters later watched federal agents escort him away.
Outside, the courthouse small groups huddled together on the sidewalk, some sobbing. Others paced, waiting in vain for those who weren't allowed to leave the building.
Eduardo Cuevas is based in New York City. Reach him by email at [e-mail] or on Signal at emcuevas.01.