Since the Trump administration ramped up immigration enforcement last May to meet an arbitrary daily arrest quota, ICE has ambushed and arrested people at mandatory court hearings and check-in appointments across Northern and Central California.
In the past month, we sued the administration twice to stop these illegal arrests. Our courthouse arrests case challenges where ICE can arrest people, and the use of temporary holding rooms for long-term detention at the San Francisco ICE office. The government should not force immigrants to choose between showing up at court and risking detention or missing their hearing and receiving a deportation order.
The second case concerns why ICE can arrest people whom the government previously released after concluding they were neither dangerous nor a flight risk. For decades, people who met these criteria were allowed to remain free while their immigration case proceeded if they complied with their conditions of release.
This policy provided some stability for people escaping volatile and unsafe situations while they rebuilt their lives. They found jobs, enrolled in school, had children, and forged strong ties with their communities.
People trusted the system, followed the rules, and did everything the government asked them to do to lawfully pursue their immigration case. In a cruel act of betrayal, ICE is now arresting them, without warning or legal justification.
Americans want a humane and fair immigration system that treats people with dignity and respect, not one that tears families apart. Until Congress summons the political will to approve a pathway to legal status, we will continue to fight ICE in court.
