Courtroom arrest renews calls to curb ICE activity

An arrest by immigration officials in a Sacramento courtroom has prompted a chorus of objections, but it did not seem to be a new tactic or one that necessarily violated existing policy.

Yovanny Ontiveros-Cebreros was being arraigned on charges of drug possession and possession for sale in Superior Court Judge Lawrence Brown’s courtroom Wednesday morning when the deputy sheriff who normally sits at a desk walked to the rear of the courtroom and blocked the door, according to Ontiveros-Cebreros’ attorney, Charles Pacheco of Pacheco & Reamer in Sacramento.

“It became obvious that he was helping the immigration guy make the arrest,” he said.

A man in plain clothes then crossed to the court side of the bar while Pacheco and his client were still at the podium and handcuffed Ontiveros-Cebreros, Pacheco said.

Pacheco said he asked what the man was doing and that he identified himself as a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who was arresting his client for illegal reentry to the U.S. after deportation, a felony.

Pacheco said when he asked the judge what he intended to do about the incident, Brown looked puzzled before having Ontiveros-Cebreros placed in a holding cell in the courtroom. Pacheco said the judge finished the rest of his calendar, went to his chambers, returned and announced he would allow the arrest to go forward.

The episode was not the first instance of ICE agents making an arrest in a California courthouse, a practice which prompted California Chief Justice Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye last year to write to U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions in protest.

Cantil-Sakauye on Monday in an emailed statement decried the practice of arrests in courthouses and courtrooms but did not allude to it breaking any laws or policies:

“Continuing to make immigration arrests at state courts and especially in our courtrooms is disruptive, shortsighted, and counterproductive. It is damaging to community safety and disrespects the state court system. Last year I asked federal immigration authorities to treat courthouses as ‘sensitive areas,’ much as schools, churches, and hospitals are treated. My position has not changed.”

In an email, Sacramento County Presiding Judge Judge David De Alba described the arrest as detrimental to witnesses and victims coming to court.

“As the presiding judge of the Sacramento County Superior Court, I do not like what happened last week and will work with the local sheriff and, if necessary, with ICE representatives, to avoid this from happening again. Judges should decide what happens in their courtrooms, not ICE,” De Alba wrote.

“If ICE deems arrests and apprehensions in a courtroom necessary, meaningful notice to local law enforcement and the court should be given,” he added.

“Courtroom arrests are common not only by ICE, but also by most other law enforcement agencies,” wrote Matt O’Brien, a former ICE immigration court prosecutor and now director of research at the nonprofit Federation for American Immigration Reform, which advocates for cuts to immigration into the United States.

“The claim that the Sacramento courtroom arrest was the first of its kind in the state of California is beyond absurd,” O’Brien added.

In an email, ICE spokesperson Richard Rocha confirmed the agency made a criminal arrest at the Sacramento courthouse on Wednesday pursuant to a criminal arrest warrant issued by a federal magistrate judge.

“Federal, state, and local law enforcement officials routinely engage in enforcement activity in courthouses throughout the country, as many individuals appearing in courthouses are wanted for unrelated criminal or civil violations.” Rocha wrote. “ICE’s enforcement activities in these same courthouses are wholly consistent with longstanding law enforcement practices nationwide.”

Rocha did not directly address a question about how frequently ICE makes arrests in courtrooms and referred instead to an ICE policy that does not list courthouses as “sensitive locations” like schools and hospitals where ICE avoids making arrests

People who have re-entered the country illegally after being deported are listed on ICE’s website as a specific category of individuals who could be subject to courthouse arrests.

The incident also raised questions about a state judge’s power inside the courtroom to prevent an arrest.

“The judge obviously has a lot of discretion over the way everyone comports themselves inside the courtroom and that is true of law enforcement officers,” said César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández, an immigration expert and professor at the University Of Denver Sturm College Of Law.

He acknowledged the fear some immigrants and advocates had that the practice would deter immigrants fearing deportation from going to court but said he doubted the judiciary would push back against ICE agents more than it already had. “Is it likely that a judge is going to stand between a law enforcement officer and someone they’re trying to arrest? No.”