Fifteen people were detained at the Chesterfield County Courthouse in June, and Congresswoman Jennifer McClellan (D-VA-04) is asking the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, to cease courthouse raids.
“The methods employed by ICE in Chesterfield County exemplify a shocking change in tactics to enforce our immigration laws that includes raids on courthouses across the nation, aggressively threatening people on the streets, arresting lawful permanent residents, and engaging in racial profiling,” Congresswoman McClellan wrote in a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons.
“This represents disturbingly authoritarian behavior that not only undermines our safety but also threatens the very foundation of our constitutional democracy.”
Over the course of several days in June, ICE detained 15 individuals who appeared at the Chesterfield County Courthouse, including 10 individuals who presented themselves voluntarily to address civil infractions, sparking fierce backlash from the community.
ICE provided no notice to county or court officials that they would be entering the courthouse and operated in plain clothes and without identifying themselves, McClellan said.
“In order to restore trust among our immigrant communities and protect the civil rights and liberties of everyone in our community, I urge ICE to cease these courthouse raids in both Chesterfield and around the country,” the congresswoman wrote.
Two individuals who appeared in an Albemarle County courthouse in June were also detained by ICE, one who had allegedly had his case dismissed and another who was there to pay a fine.
Albemarle County Commonwealth’s Attorney Jim Hingeley said that “further actions like the courthouse arrests … would constitute a grave danger to our community.”
Hingeley released the statement after expressing concern that arrests of this nature “could escalate into a violent confrontation.”
The issue of plain clothes was also a factor in these arrests, and Hingeley said he understood the resistance for “what appears on its face to be an unlawful assault and abduction.”
Albemarle County and Chesterfield are not alone as immigration arrests at courthouses are on the rise in Virginia. Similar arrests have been made in Prince William and Loudoun counties, according to multiple news reports. There has also been an increase in immigration enforcement operations at the Executive Office of Immigration Review in Sterling.
Gov. Glenn Youngkin acknowledged the courthouse incidents at a July 2 news conference saying the courthouse arrests are “common sense.”
“Let’s just be clear, the vast majority of the people that have been arrested at courthouses around the country are committing violent crimes,” Youngkin said. “If someone breaks the law and is here illegally, they should be arrested.”
Data supports that most of the people detained at courthouses were simply paying fines or there for civil matters; Youngkin refused to make a distinction between violent offenders and those who simply are following the law.
“First of all, if you break the law in America and you’re here illegally, then you should be detained and deported,” he said. “That’s common sense.”
DHS blames politicians, the media
Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin called racial profiling allegations like the one made by McClellan “garbage” and blamed politicians and activists for the increase in assaults on ICE agents.
“DHS targets have nothing to do with an individuals’ skin color. What makes someone a target is if they are in the United States illegally. These types of disgusting smears are designed to demonize and villainize our brave ICE law enforcement,” said McLaughlin. “This kind of garbage has led to a more than 400 percent increase in the assaults on ICE officers. Politicians and activists must turn the temperature down and tone down their rhetoric.”
In her letter, McClellan expressed concern that arrests of this nature will erode trust in law enforcement and the judicial system as those who have been detained were simply seeking to stay in compliance with the laws.
“While individuals who commit crimes should face the consequences of their actions, it appears that you have focused your attention on individuals trying to comply with the law rather than those who actively pose a threat to our community,” the Congresswoman continued. “These actions have a chilling effect not only on those trying to comply with the law, but those seeking justice for themselves or others. As a result, your actions hinder public safety rather than protect it.”
Immigrants reluctant to report crimes
In Richmond, a predominantly Latino neighborhood is proof of the eroding trust: there has been a drop in 911 calls as individuals seem afraid to report crimes or cooperate with investigators, McClellan said.
Albemarle County Police Chief Sean Reeves told AFP in a previous interview that there are “legitimate concerns” among immigrants who are frightened they could face arrest or deportation, regardless of their legal status.
Immigrant communities are on edge are distrust is definitely a factor, Reeves said.
“We are not the state police. We are not federal ICE agencies that do immigration enforcement, and we don’t have that power, ability to do immigration enforcement,” he said. “Immigrants in our community, I’m told, most don’t understand that.”
His department is doing what it can to maintain relationships with immigrant communities and encourage victims to report crimes.
“It’s very real that people might be reluctant to call 911,” Reeves said. “There’s so much misinformation.
“The best way that we know how to navigate some of that is continue having authentic and transparent conversations with these community groups, and let them know that we are local law enforcement, not ICE.”
McClellan demands answers from DHS, ICE
In her letter, McClellan also demanded answers to a series of questions, including:
- What is the review process conducted to determine which individuals’ presence at a municipal courthouse in compliance with court-mandated orders or summons rises to the level of “reasonable suspicion” that they are in the country illegally and pose a public safety or national security threat?
- Both citizens and non-citizens present in the United States have a constitutional right to due process. Can you provide assurances that each individual questioned or detained was granted these rights?
- How many individuals detained by ICE at the Chesterfield County Courthouse are still in DHS custody, where have they been moved, and is DHS taking steps to allow contact with legal representation?
- Did ICE take the appropriate steps to ensure any dependents of those who were detained by ICE were in the safe custody of family members or the appropriate authorities?
- There have been disturbing instances of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents detained by ICE for extended periods of time in similar immigration operations. Has ICE sufficiently determined that no individuals with lawful permanent status or citizenship were detained? Have all of these individuals been released from ICE custody?
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- Plain clothes, masks, unmarked vehicles: ICE agents target immigrants in Virginia
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Crystal Graham
