Mayorkas sharply limits immigration agents near courts

Immigration arrests in or near courthouses will be limited under a directive by Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas.

The interim policy, adopted by President Joe Biden's administration, appears intended to limit conflicts with immigrant advocates and judges, including California Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, who criticized the approach of President Donald Trump's administration.

A California law, signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2019, stated no one could be subject to civil arrest in a courthouse if they had legal business there.

The state law has been ignored by ICE agents, who arrested immigrants in the United States in and around courthouses anyway over the objections last year of Sonoma County District Attorney Jill Ravitch and San Francisco County District Attorney Chesa Boudin.

Mayorkas' interim directive supersedes a directive by former U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Acting Director Thomas Homan, who instructed agents in 2018 to conduct enforcement actions in and around courthouses "discreetly" to minimize any impact on court operations.

Instead, Mayorkas directed ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents to arrest immigrants in the country without permission only in certain circumstances. Arrests would be allowed if they involve a national security matter, there is an imminent risk of death or violence, the agents are in hot pursuit of someone who poses a public safety threat, or there is an imminent risk of the destruction of evidence in a criminal case.

"The expansion of civil immigration arrests at courthouses during the prior administration had a chilling effect on individuals' willingness to come to court or work cooperatively with law enforcement," Mayorkas said in a statement Tuesday.

Mayorkas added the guidance "is the latest step in our efforts to focus our civil immigration enforcement resources on threats to homeland security and public safety."

Cantil-Sakauye, who praised Homan's directive asking for discretion three years ago, hailed Mayorkas' directive in a statement.

"I am immensely gratified that the Department of Homeland Security has directed its enforcement arms to limit civil immigration enforcement actions in or near courthouses," she said. "This new immigration policy values the sanctity of our state courthouses, which is why I first asked the DHS to adopt this policy in 2017."

Supporters of ICE arrests in or near courthouses have said they make sense because immigrants in the country without permission are violating the law, and because it's safer for agents to pick them up once they have gone through security checkpoints. But opponents, including some prosecutors and judges, argue that awareness of an ICE presence at courthouses has discouraged people, including victims and witnesses of crimes, from showing up to court.

Naureen Shah, senior advocacy and policy counsel for the ACLU, in a statement called the new policy "a vital improvement" but said the Biden administration should go further. ICE and CBP agents shouldn't be at courthouses at all, she said, adding that they should also stay away from hospitals and schools.

While the debate has raged, neither side has presented any evidence that immigration arrests at or near courthouses increased during the Trump administration. An ICE spokesman said Thursday the agency does not keep records of civil immigration arrests at or near courthouses.