CHICAGO (AP) – Cook County’s top judge has signed an order barring ICE from arresting people at courthouses. Cook County includes Chicago, which has seen a federal immigration crackdown in recent months.
Detaining residents outside court has been a common tactic for federal agents, who have been stationed outside county courthouses for weeks, making arrests and drawing crowds of protesters.
The order, which was signed Tuesday night and took effect Wednesday, bars the civil arrest of any “party, witness, or potential witness” while going to court proceedings. It includes arrests made inside courthouses and in parking lots,surrounding sidewalks and entryways.
“The fair administration of justice requires that courts remain open and accessible,and that litigants and witnesses may appear without fear of civil arrest,” the order states.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security defended the practice of making arrests at courthouses, calling it “common sense.”
“We aren’t some medieval kingdom; there are no legal sanctuaries where you can hide and avoid the consequences for breaking the law,” DHS said in a statement. “Nothing in the constitution prohibits arresting a lawbreaker where you find them.”
Immigration advocates decry immigration enforcement outside courthouses
Local immigration and legal advocates, including the county’s public defender’s office, have called for an order like this, saying clients were avoiding court out of fear of being detained. The office has confirmed at least a dozen immigration arrests at or near county courthouses since the end of July.Representatives said they’ve seen U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s presence outside courthouses increase.
“I have had numerous conversations with clients who are presented with a difficult decision of either missing court and receiving an arrest warrant or coming to court and risk being arrested by ICE,” Cruz Rodriguez, an assistant public defender with the office’s immigration division, said at a news conference earlier this month.
Domestic violence advocacy organizations also signed a petition this month calling for Cook County Circuit chief Judge Timothy Evans to issue the order. This comes after advocates said a woman was arrested by ICE last month while entering the domestic violence courthouse.
Alexa Van Brunt, director of MacArthur Justice Center’s Illinois office, which filed the petition, said she was “gratified” by Evans’ order.
“This is a necessary and overdue action to ensure that the people of Cook County can access the courts without fear,” she said in a statement to The Associated Press.
Evans said justice “depends on every individual’s ability to appear in court without fear or obstruction.”
ICE tactics outside courthouses seen across country
The tactic of detaining people at courthouses in the Chicago area is part of a larger jump in courthouse immigration arrests across the country. The flurry of immigration enforcement operations at courthouses has been condemned by judicial officials and legal organizations.It also has drawn lawsuits from some states.