Two Massachusetts district attorneys have sued Immigration and Customs Enforcement over the arrests of immigrants at courthouses, arguing that the practice is “greatly impeding access to justice and undermining the administration of justice in these communities.”
Last year, ICE formalized courthouse arrests, despite calls from advocates and legal experts for ICE to consider courthouses off-limits to enforcement. “We encourage the vulnerable to come to our courthouses for help,” California Supreme Court Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye wrote in 2017. “But immigration arrests, or the fear of arrests at or near courthouses, disrupt court activities and the lives of those seeking justice.”
One advocacy group, Her Justice, said that one client had filed for a special visa given to victims of crime but then withdrew that application “because she was afraid of ICE enforcement in the courts,” something noted in the lawsuit filed by Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan and Suffolk District Attorney Rachael Rollins.
“[C]ivil litigants seeking relief such as restraining orders against violent partners, unpaid wages from an unscrupulous employer, or remedies from landlords providing illegal housing are forced to tolerate domestic violence, illegal working conditions, and unsafe living conditions to avoid ICE civil arrest,” the lawsuit states.
Other localities have taken action to block unshackled mass deportation agents from courthouses. Earlier this month, New York’s Office of Court Administration ruled that ICE can’t make arrests inside courthouses in the state unless it has a federal judicial warrant or order. “Every state should enact this reform,” tweeted Slate’s Mark Joseph Stern, writing that “ICE's courthouse ambushes have a horribly detrimental effect on the state judiciary's administration of justice.”
from Daily Kos http://bit.ly/2V7BrXd
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