Courthouse arrests ‘weaponize,’ ‘sabotage’ immigration process, advocates say
Immigration advocates had a firm message for federal authorities on Wednesday: Stop arresting people at the immigration court in downtown Sacramento.
“We refuse to allow the legal system to become weaponized against those whom it is supposed to serve,” Marcus Tang, executive director at the legal-aid organization California Immigration Project, said at a press conference outside the court. “Due process rights should not disappear across courthouse doors. Immigrants should not fear going to court.”
The public denouncement was in direct response to accounts of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers detaining people in recent days at immigration courts across the country. The Washington Post, citing internal documents, reported last week that the arrests were part of a coordinated, and new, strategy to increase deportations.
It also came a day after federal authorities in plain clothes took three people into custody at Sacramento Immigration Court. They were the first arrests inside the court so far this year that Tang and his organization are aware of.
Giselle Garcia, a volunteer for the activist organization NorCal Resist, said the federal government was “sabotaging lawful immigration proceedings.”
Advocates also planned to hold a press conference outside San Francisco Immigration Court on Wednesday, where ICE agents have recently arrested people, according to representatives for Northern California immigration groups.
The nationwide reports described authorities taking people into custody after government attorneys had moved to dismiss their cases. But the three men who were detained in Sacramento’s court on Tuesday still had pending cases, according to volunteer lawyer Jessie De Haven, who witnessed the detentions.
De Haven was eagerly waiting to hear updates from the men, who she said are from Venezuela and Haiti. She declined to provide their names.
Richard Beam, an ICE spokesperson, declined to comment on the recent arrests at immigration courts.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, did not specifically respond to the criticisms of the courthouse arrests.
But a statement from DHS said former President Joe Biden “allowed millions of unvetted illegal aliens to be let loose on American streets. This Administration is once again implementing the rule of law.”
Those at the press conference argued otherwise.
“The tactics employed by ICE and DHS that threaten, intimidate, coerce or deceive the people of this country violate the Constitution,” said former California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, a Sacramento native who was the secretary of Health and Human Services under Biden. “And we must stand up against that tyranny.”
Sacramento City Councilmember Mai Vang also delivered a direct message to ICE: “You’re weaponizing the courts to harm and to separate our families.”
It is not clear if the message was received. A court security guard said the ICE office was closed until Wednesday afternoon.
This story was originally published May 28, 2025 at 2:45 PM.
