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The U.S. Department of Homeland Security on Thursday defended its policy of having Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arrest people at their immigration court hearings after a class-action lawsuit was filed that seeks to stop the practice.
The lawsuit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against the agency and ICE says the arrests of thousands of people at court have stripped them of rights afforded to them under immigration law and the U.S. Constitution.
Tricia McLaughlin, Homeland Security assistant secretary for public affairs, told The Associated Press on Thursday that arresting people at immigration court is safer for law enforcement officers because the immigrants have gone through security and were screened for weapons.
It also conserves law enforcement resources “because they already know where a target will be,” she said.
“We aren’t some medieval kingdom, there are no legal sanctuaries where you can hide and avoid the consequences for breaking the law,” McLaughlin said in an email. “Nothing in the constitution prohibits arresting a lawbreaker where you find them.”
The large-scale immigration court arrests that began in May have unleashed fear among asylum-seekers and immigrants. In what has become a familiar scene, a judge will grant a government lawyer’s request to dismiss deportation proceedings against an immigrant while ICE officers wait in the hallway to take them into custody. They’re then moved to an expedited removal process.
Keren Zwick, director of the National Immigrant Justice Center, one of the organizations that filed the lawsuit, said the immigrants who are being arrested at courts are following the law by appearing at their required hearings. Instead, they face detention for abiding by the rules.
If a person fails to show up for their court hearing, the judge will issue an order for them to be removed in absentia.
The lawsuit represents 12 people who have been arrested at court hearings, along with the Immigrant Advocates Response Collaborative and American Gateways, which provide legal services to people who face potential arrest and deportation when attending court.
The immigrants, identified in the lawsuit by their initials, came to the U.S. from Venezuela, the Chechen Republic, Cuba, Ecuador, Liberia and the Republic of Guinea. Many faced persecution, political retaliation, or were kidnapped and assaulted. They had sought asylum through the legal process, but their requests were quashed when the government lawyer dismissed their case and they were placed on expeditated removal.
Homeland Security officials say if a person has a credible fear claim, they can continue their immigration proceedings in detention, but if the claim is found uncredible, they’ll be subject to swift deportation.
Edna Yang, co-executive director of American Gateways, said the lawsuit seeks to challenge the unconstitutional practice of arresting these immigrants and defend their right to be heard in a court of law.
