A new report indicates that law enforcement for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are arresting illegal immigrants inside and outside of courthouses.
While millions of Americans voted for a President who promised to enforce our immigration laws and protect our borders, not everyone is happy about it.
The tactic is being criticized by prosecutors and attorneys who say such actions discourage illegals from testifying as witnesses in other criminal cases.
ICE agents claim they are only doing so in cases where all other avenues to attain the illegal individual have been exhausted.
Via CBS Los Angeles:
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have been going to courthouses and arresting people in America illegally, sparking outrage from prosecutors and attorneys.
They worry such tactic will discourage undocumented immigrants from appearing in court to testify as witnesses for prosecutors.
Criminal defense lawyer Octavio Chaidez said his client is among those taken into custody by ICE agents, who arrested him at the Los Angeles Superior Court in Pasadena.
The report specifically cites one lawyer who was dismayed that his client, an illegal immigrant, was swept away by agents following a criminal court case.
The lawyer refused to state whether his client had a criminal history, but seeing as he’s currently in court for a criminal case and he clearly broke the law as an illegal immigrant, it seems reasonable that ICE was right to go in and detain the person in question.
Jazz Shaw at Hot Air writes, “There is absolutely nothing illegal about having an ICE agent show up at a courthouse where they know or suspect that an illegal alien will be and take them into custody if no better opportunity presents itself.”
One key defense for ICE’s actions is that these criminals previously would have been turned over to officials by local law enforcement, but many are not because of ‘sanctuary’ policies implemented by bleeding-heart liberals.
“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,” ICE spokeswoman Virginia Kice said. “Now that many law enforcement agencies no longer honor ICE detainers, these individuals, who often have significant criminal histories, are released onto the street, presenting a potential public safety threat.”
Now it appears under President Trump’s enforcement of immigration laws, ICE is no longer content to watch them be released onto the streets, and are instead picking them up right at the courthouse.
Comment: Do you support or oppose this new tactic by ICE? Share your thoughts below.
