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The Alameda County Public Defender’s Office is urging local law enforcement agencies to help protect courthouses from immigration sweeps after one of its clients was picked up by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents earlier this month.
Public Defender Brendon Woods said Monday that the man was taken by ICE after a criminal court hearing in Oakland on Sept. 15 — the first such arrest by ICE inside an Alameda County courthouse.
“ICE raids at our courthouses must stop immediately,” Woods said. “People who follow a judge’s orders to attend court should not have to fear federal agents kidnapping them and dragging them away to detention centers. Our democracy cannot function if this continues.”
After leaving what Woods’ office described as a routine pre-trial hearing in front of a judge at the Wiley W. Manuel Courthouse, the man was “accosted” in a hallway by two plainclothes agents who said they were with ICE.
They took the man out of the building, put him into an unmarked vehicle and eventually deposited him at a detention facility, according to the Public Defender’s Office.
His detention doesn’t appear related to his criminal case and he doesn’t appear to have any criminal convictions, Public Defender’s Office officials said.
Woods is asking local law enforcement leaders — particularly Alameda County Sheriff Yesenia Sanchez, District Attorney Ursula Jones Dickson and Superior Court Presiding Judge Thomas Nixon — to help ensure the county’s courthouses are protected “as places of safety and due process.”
Woods suggested posting signs in courthouses requiring ICE and other law enforcement personnel to identify themselves and prohibiting local agencies from contacting ICE or sharing information about people’s court or probation appointments, case details or immigration status.
He also suggested that local agencies communicate with each other about any ICE enforcement activities at or near courthouses or the county jail.
“We cannot allow a racist, authoritarian regime to interfere with our local courts like this,” Woods said. “It’s time to pick a side. Either you allow this to happen to members of our community or you take action to prevent it.”
Nixon said he was “dismayed” that he only learned of the ICE activity in one of his courthouses on Tuesday, more than a week after the fact, and said he’d work with the sheriff to ensure the court is better informed about federal immigration activity.
“While we have no evidence that ICE agents operated in any non-public areas of the courthouse or that any of our employees assisted them in any way, neither I nor the Court’s Executive Officer were advised of their presence,” Nixon said.
The court already has “a policy of notification” regarding ICE agents in courthouses, which is consistent with guidelines from the California Attorney General’s Office that prohibit court employees from helping immigration officers and that ban enforcement activity in non-public areas of a courthouse or in a courtroom, he said.
“ICE activity in and around our courthouses has a chilling effect on justice when those in need of help are too afraid to seek it,” Nixon said.
A spokesperson for the Sheriff’s Office, which provides security for the court system, said deputies don’t coordinate with ICE on enforcement actions and weren’t involved in the Sept. 15 arrest but that the agency is legally prohibited from restricting access to public areas of courthouses.
“We do not have the authority to interfere with the lawful duties of another law enforcement agency,” according to a statement from Sgt. Roberto Morales.
“We will continue to engage with our county partners on how to best support those impacted by immigration enforcement actions in our county,” according to the statement.
Spokespeople for ICE and Dickson didn’t respond to requests for comment.
— Story by Kiley Russell, Bay City News
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