ICE arrests at Phoenix immigration court an ‘all-out assault on due process,’ advocates say

When an Arizona mom arrived for a routine immigration check-in at the downtown Phoenix immigration court on Wednesday, she had no reason to believe anything was out of the ordinary. 

But within hours, she was arrested by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers and placed into a white van. She will presumably be transferred to Eloy or Florence, according to Alejandra Espinoza, a programs coordinator with the Borderland Resource Initiative Group, an organization that advocates for humane asylum policies.

Espinoza spoke with the mom as she entered the courthouse. The woman, who’s been in the US for fewer than two years, said she believed she was attending a standard court hearing and planned to celebrate her daughter’s eighth grade graduation later in the day.

Instead, her case was dismissed against her wishes and she was promptly detained by ICE and Homeland Security officers.

Her arrest appears to be part of a nationwide trend this week in which individuals have shown up for their immigration court hearings only to have their cases dismissed by judges at the request of government prosecutors, and for ICE agents to then arrest them on courthouse grounds.

The woman was one of around a dozen immigrants who were handcuffed and taken away in vans after showing up for their hearings on Wednesday. Earlier in the day, a family of five, including two children, were apprehended by ICE and loaded into a white vehicle for transport.

Advocates warned that the Trump administration’s scheme to dismiss the immigrants’ cases only to arrest them immediately after effectively bypasses typical immigration court process and is a brazen violation of due process.

“Due Process is a very basic idea: if the government wants to infringe on your liberty, they better have a damn good reason, and they have to prove their case,” said Alex Alvarez, Executive Director for Progress Arizona. “Without it, anyone can be disappeared with impunity, citizen and non-citizen alike. Today, ICE, acting as modern-day Gestapo, continued the Trump regime’s all-out assault on due process, ripping community members, who were following typical legal proceedings, away from their families.”

ICE and Homeland Security officers — most with their faces covered — detained the woman after a group of them distracted protesters by exiting the facility and taking a separate route, while other agents attempted to discreetly move the woman into the van.

Espinoza and members of her group tried to intervene to protect the mother, but ICE agents pulled her away.

“I can’t imagine the amount of shame and hardship that it is going to be — not just not having your mom there — of losing somebody who was a formidable role model in your life, and just having them disappear on a day that was supposed to be a regular appointment,” said Maria Teresa Mybry, co-executive director of the Arizona Democracy Resource Center.

“You are not alone!” a protestor shouted to the mother as the van drove her off.

Groups including Puente Human Rights Movement, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, One Arizona, Progress Arizona and others gathered outside the courtroom to draw attention to and protest ICE tactics.

On-site interpreters, hired by affiliated advocacy groups, stood outside the courtroom and approached immigrants entering the building to inform them about what could happen after their hearings. Organizations such as CAIR Arizona and PSL distributed “Know Your Rights” flyers in both English and Spanish to families going inside.

Democratic State Reps. Analise Ortiz, Catherine Miranda, Brian Garcia, and Aaron Márquez were also present at the protest. The lawmakers later entered the courtroom to use their positions to advocate for the immigrants and push back against the Trump administration’s immigration agenda.

At around 2 p.m., a dozen ICE agents walked out two young men from the immigration court and transferred them into a white van as protesters looked on. The scene escalated into chaos at one point, as agents got physical with one of the protestors.

“Shame on you for carrying out the orders of a fascist regime!” Rep. Ortiz shouted at the agents.

The groups plan to return to the downtown Phoenix immigration court at 7:30 a.m. on Thursday to support community members and protest immigration enforcement actions tied to the Trump administration’s deportation policies.