Federal judge blocks ICE from arresting immigrants who show up for court appointments in Northern California

"This circumstance presents noncitizens in removal proceedings with a Hobson's choice between two irreparable harms, Judge P. Casey Pitts wrote in his Christmas Eve decision. First, they may appear in immigration court and face likely arrest and detention, the judge wrote. Alternatively, noncitizens may choose not to appear and instead to forego their opportunity to pursue their claims for asylum or other relief from removal."

"Authorities have long curbed arrests at sensitive locations such as hospitals, houses of worship and schools putting them out of reach of most civil immigration enforcement. The designation was first established decades ago under ICE's predecessor agency, Immigration and Naturalization Services. ICE absorbed the prohibitions when the agency was formed in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks. Courts were added to the list under President Obama."

A federal judge barred ICE and the Justice Department from conducting sweeping civil arrests at immigration courthouses across Northern California, prompting an appellate challenge. The ruling found noncitizens in removal proceedings face either appearing and risking arrest and detention or skipping hearings and forfeiting opportunities to pursue asylum or other relief. The decision blocks lying-in-wait arrests at routine hearings and effectively restores longstanding prohibitions on most courthouse arrests. Authorities historically limited arrests at sensitive locations such as hospitals, houses of worship, schools and courthouses; those protections trace to the INS and were reinstated under President Biden.

Read at www.latimes.com