When ICE Agents Act Like Thugs, America Loses

By Leah Breevoort, Ali Sheets, and Rachel Goodman

In a video shot on February 16, 2017, Whitney Leeds, a Denver attorney, approaches individuals standing in the hallway outside of courtroom 5C. “Are you here with ICE?” she asks. “Are you here to arrest someone?” The answer to both questions is an audible “yes” followed up by a disclaimer that they cannot speak with her. All three men are dressed in plain clothes, making them unidentifiable as ICE agents [1]. Although one admits he is there to make a warrantless arrest, the other two avoid giving a clear answer. The video then cuts off, but others detail what likely happened next—individuals being apprehended inside the courthouse as they appear for their cases [2]. In one documented instance, the man is brutally held down on the floor as ICE officers attempt to handcuff him. A woman in the background yells, “He can’t breathe, you’re hurting him!” as courthouse security guards and police stand nearby looking on [3]. Each of these videos has more than 10,000 views and was broadcast on multiple Denver news channels. 
 

The anti-immigration narrative feels as palpable as ever in the United States under the Trump administration. However, policies dating back to the 1960s invented and institutionalized the concept of ‘criminal aliens’, further justifying the racialized policing and in-securing of communities occurring today. When the Twin Towers fell on September, 11, 2001, criminal anxieties about migrants deepened. Gilberto Rosas describes the intensification:

“Nightmares of immigrants turned terrorists have rendered simple acts of undocumented migration as acts of warfare. This ideological shift has been termed the ‘weaponization’ of migration and marks a shift in emphasis from moral obligations to offer hospitality and asylum towards criminalizing or dehumanizing migrants as weapons against purportedly homogenous and ethno-nationalist bases of national power [4].”

Most recently, the “Show me Your Papers” law of 2009 and the Department of Homeland Security’s “Secure Communities” policy (reinstated under Trump) asserted that targets of deportation were dangerous individuals, including gang members, sex offenders, and murderers [5] [6]. In reality, immigrants were being deported for minor offenses like traffic violations. Some 27 percent of ICE detainees under Secure Communities had no criminal convictions at all [7]. 
 

Over the past ten weeks, our team has conducted qualitative research in the Denver metro area to better understand the impact of ICE within the justice system. We conducted our research as part of a qualitative research methods course taught by Dr. Rebecca Galemba at the University of Denver. Working under the direction of Dr. Galemba, our goal was to investigate both the real and perceived fear of ICE within the immigrant community and how this is affecting individuals’ due process rights. Through interviews with attorneys and immigrant advocates, our findings contradict a general understanding among local officials that ICE is not interfering in the criminal justice system.
 

Immigrant advocates and attorneys who represent immigrants expressed that regardless of ICE’s prevalence in courthouses, anecdotal stories and videos spread through social media cause a pervasive sense of fear within the community. One interviewee stated, “When I go out and talk to the migrant communities, there is a palpable fear that raising their head up is going to lead to them being deported.” This sense of fear extends beyond the doors of the courthouse to other formal city buildings where people pay parking tickets, apply for permits, and even report crimes. Data from the Rapid Response Network hotline supports these findings. An interviewee familiar with the calls coming in noted an increase in the number reporting ICE’s presence in the courthouse. A court accompaniment program was established in an attempt to mitigate the widespread fear. 
 

In 2015, Colorado became the first state in the nation where every county officially rejected the use of unconstitutional ICE detainer requests [8]. As a result of decreasing cooperation between law enforcement, ICE began to explore other means of identifying deportable individuals, including apprehending them in court [9]. Our research shows that ICE officials wait in court hallways in plain clothes. When they identify an individual, they may present them with an I-200 administrative arrest warrant. Immigration advocates say this is not a legal warrant because it is not signed by a judge, but rather a fabricated document used to manipulate individuals who may not know their rights. 
 

ICE tactics are not only keeping defendants from appearing at court, but victims and witnesses as well. One interviewee noted that particularly after the Trump Administration came into office, ICE began picking up individuals who were not on their primary radar, including victims and witnesses, once it became known these people were undocumented. The interviewee pointed to a sharp increase in domestic violence victims who declined to pursue their case out of fear of interacting with ICE. She told us only eight individuals declined to do so in all of 2017, while a total of 30 victims declined in fall of 2018 alone. To mitigate this issue, immigrant advocates and attorneys wrote a letter signed by city officials asking ICE to treat courthouses like sanctuary locations. ICE officials declined the request. 
 

If courts—the very institutions of justice—are no longer safe spaces, we all have reason to be afraid. It’s terrifying for undocumented immigrants who are forced to make a choice between appearing for a case or being deported, possibly before they’ve had the opportunity to prove their innocence. Simultaneously, these abuses of power should provoke a chilling factor among the American people. When courthouses are no longer sacrosanct places, an individual’s Fifth Amendment right to due process no longer exists. Collectively, we are witnessing the erosion of our Constitution as we once again cherry-pick who is deserving of rights based on their skin color. By allowing ICE to act like thugs, we all lose.