Alameda County Public Defender says ICE courthouse raids must stop immediately'

"ICE raids at our courthouses must stop immediately, Woods said in a news release issued on Monday. 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. Woods' statement comes in the wake of a Sept. 15 incident where a public defender client was reportedly taken from a Oakland courthouse by ICE and sent to a detention center."

"After the judge called his case and gave him a new court date, the client exited the courtroom, according to the news release. His public defender remained inside the courtroom. Two agents in plain clothes, who said they were from ICE, accosted him in a courthouse hallway and then took him out of the building, where an unmarked vehicle was waiting."

"The ICE detention apparently has nothing to do with with the individual's criminal case, according to the news release. No details about the pending criminal case, immigration status or possible reason behind the ICE arrest are being given by the public defender's office. The only thing that the office is pointing out is that the detainee does not appear to have any criminal convictions."

An ICE arrest occurred inside the Wiley Manuel Courthouse in Oakland on Sept. 15, when plain-clothed agents removed a public defender client after a routine pretrial hearing and placed him in an unmarked vehicle bound for a detention facility. The detention appears unrelated to the individual's criminal case; no details about immigration status, the pending criminal matter, or reasons for the arrest were released. The individual does not appear to have any criminal convictions. Courthouse visitors—including clients, victims, witnesses, staff, and lawyers—should be able to participate without fear. Such courthouse arrests undermine public confidence, threaten judicial legitimacy, and prompt demands for protection and an end to ICE raids at courthouses.

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