DAs, defense attorney condemn ICE arrests at Sonoma courthouse

Several district attorneys on Wednesday condemned U.S. Immigration and Customs agents for arresting at least three people in and around a Sonoma County courthouse the day before.

California is one of a handful of states that have passed laws in the last two years prohibiting immigration arrests inside courthouses without a warrant from a judge. However, the immigration service has not recognized the authority of such laws.

Officials at ICE in California did not respond to emails and phone calls seeking comment Wednesday. The agency has previously said they make arrests in public spaces to avoid sending agents into dangerous homes.

State Attorney General Xavier Becerra issued guidelines in 2018 to "assist California's superior courts in responding to immigration issues."

"State court judges have statutory and inherent authority to regulate the conduct of individuals within their immediate presence to facilitate the access to and ensure the administration of justice," California Code of Civil Procedure sections 128(a), 177 reads. "Courts can exercise that authority by enacting a policy establishing that detentions or arrests for immigration enforcement purposes within the courtroom disrupt court proceedings and deny access to justice."

Defense attorney Martin M. Woods of NorBayLaw, representing one of the men arrested, said his client is a carpenter who had just parked his car in the court parking lot Tuesday and was on his way to resolve his domestic violence and alcohol-related criminal case when agents detained him less than 100 yards from the courthouse.

"I don't know whether the law actually extends to the parking lot but I would think that it does," Woods said in a phone interview Wednesday. "Certainly the spirit of the law is to encourage people to come to court and not to leave cases open or to go into bench warrant status and so I would think the protection of undocumented immigrants extends to their being able to park their car and walk in the door. Otherwise where do you draw the line? Is it 10 feet from the door, or 100 yards, because he was within 100 yards of the entrance of the courthouse."

"This type of activity has a chilling effect on every aspect of the court system," Woods continued. "Prosecutors have to have witnesses that are undocumented and may be in fear of ICE being at the courthouse so they may not come and testify against someone in an extremely serious violent case. ... The problems for the defense are fairly obvious. Your clients are getting arrested and they're gone."

Sonoma County District Attorney Jill Ravitch said she previously signed a letter to former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions and former Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly objecting to immigration enforcement arrests in and around California courthouses.

Ravitch strongly condemned the ICE agents, saying they were using the court system as a tactic to take into custody immigrants who were accessing the courts.

"ICE detention actions have no place in the court building, where they have the effect of scaring away witnesses and victims, and undermines the district attorney's office's ability to hold the guilty accountable and protect crime victims," Ravitch said in a statement Tuesday.

Ravitch said she previously received a response from the then Acting Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Thomas D. Homan indicating that ICE would continue to conduct targeted immigration law enforcement actions around courthouses, and specifying courthouses are not sensitive locations under ICE policy.

San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin released a statement Wednesday also saying that ICE's actions undermine his ability to hold defendants accountable by "deterring undocumented victims and witnesses from cooperating with the justice system."

"These actions make all of us less safe. We have no reported incidents of ICE enforcement at either courthouse here in San Francisco. Nonetheless we must remain vigilant," Boudin said.