Eight people, all from Colombia, were arrested at their immigration court hearings on Friday morning in downtown San Francisco.
It was the highest number of arrests out of a single courtroom in one morning, according to Milli Atkinson of the San Francisco Bar Association.
In all eight cases, the Department of Homeland Security attorney and immigration judge followed a now-common routine: The federal attorney submitted a “motion to dismiss” the asylum seekers’ cases, a way to fast-track deportations.
The judge, neither granting nor denying the motion, gave each asylum seeker 10 days to respond.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents waiting in the hallways of 630 Sansome St. arrested them all, regardless.
In one case, a young man and woman, ages 26 and 27, respectively, held hands on a bench in the back of the courtroom dressed in matching black hoodies and dark jeans.
They were called to the stand by Judge Joseph Park, who presided over the courtroom via Webex.
The DHS attorney spoke aloud in a thick Latinx accent, signaling a “motion to dismiss” the couple’s case, and did the same for six individuals who followed.
The couple met an attorney of the day and a legal caseworker at the back of the courtroom who gathered their emergency contact information and explained to them that they would likely be detained in the hallway outside.
The pair had a friend waiting for them outside the court building, the man said, handing his car keys and a credit card to the caseworker. His wife cried silently beside him.
At the same time, an older Colombian man in a black-and-white varsity jacket went up before the judge. He was living in New York before he moved to California, he said, and presented evidence by showing proof of his car’s registration. The DHS attorney filed a motion to dismiss his case, too.
After meeting with the attorneys of the day, the young couple and older man prepared to exit the courtroom. The woman shook hands with the older man, telling him in Spanish, “The faster we leave, the faster they’ll hopefully get us out of here,” referring to the attorneys.
After this, a well-dressed middle-aged woman took the stand. She carried a folder with her 2024 tax returns and California driver’s license, proudly telling Judge Park that she recently found a stable job and was hopeful in finding an attorney.
DHS moved to dismiss her asylum case.
Next, two young men and another woman took the stand, consecutively. Following the same pattern, DHS tried to dismiss their cases, all three met with attorneys of the day, and ICE arrested them after they left the courtroom.
The last asylum-seeker was a 21-year-old woman. DHS also tried to dismiss her case, and she walked out of the courtroom and down the hall to the elevators with her arm around one of the caseworkers.
Two ICE agents took notice and quickly followed them down the hall, with one repeatedly asking the woman for her name. When she refused to answer, the legal caseworker and attorney of the day asked the agents to provide a warrant.
One agent made a phone call requesting the warrant and saying, “We have a pretty obvious match here.”
Minutes later, a third agent arrived with a warrant in hand. ICE presented it to the attorney of the day, who walked down the hall towards the courtroom with the ICE agents and the Colombian woman, where she was arrested.
ICE is immoral, expensive, and wasting everyone’s time. Thank MissionLoc@l for being the only local outlet covering this. We all need to speak out against the injustice, that is ICE.
@ Big Picture
In fact, ICE is arresting people who are here legally. That’s really what the courthouse arrests are all about. If you oppose illegal immigration, that’s one thing — but it’s not this.
Good! 8 more jobs for people here legally.
How many of the 8 do you plan to take on?