Judge seeks to limit immigration arrests at courthouses

HARTFORD » Chief Justice Chase T. Rogers has asked the Trump administration to view courthouses as “sensitive locations” and not allow Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials to take custody of individuals in the public areas of these facilities.

Rogers sent the letter to U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions and John F. Kelly, secretary of Homeland Security, on May 15, but it was made public Thursday.

Specifically, she is asking that ICE agents refrain from taking custody of individuals “inside the public areas of our state courthouses.”

Rogers joins chief justices from California, Washington and New Jersey in asking ICE to stop these kinds of arrest.

The chief justice said she was “fully aware” of ICE’s authority to detain individuals and she added “we are in full compliance with federal law regarding detainer requests for the surrender of defendants held in custody.”

“However, it is of great concern when they take custody of individuals in the public areas of our courthouses. As you know, the judiciary relies on the public’s trust and confidence to fulfill its constitutional and statutory obligations. We also rely on the public to comply with court orders and to show up in court when summoned to appear,” Rogers wrote.

“I believe that having ICE officers detain individuals in public areas of our courthouses may cause litigants, witnesses and interested parties to view our courthouses as places to avoid, rather than as institutions of fair and impartial justice,” Rogers wrote.

Members of the Connecticut Immigrant Rights Alliance said they met with staff at the judicial branch on the issue of ICE arrests in and around state courthouses, and Rogers sent the letter after that.

“We applaud Chief Justice Chase Rogers for taking this meaningful step towards protecting the rights of undocumented immigrants in Connecticut, and look forward to continuing our mutual work to ensure that our communities are safe from deceptive baiting tactics by ICE,” Ana Maria Rivera-Forastieri of CIRA said in a statement.

John Morton, the former head of ICE in 2011, issued a memo that directed his agents to avoid “sensitive locations,” such as schools, places of worship, hospitals, rallies and demonstrations, unless approved by a supervisor or to respond to “exigent circumstances.”

Courthouses were not part of the definition under the Obama administration, but according to the Huffington Post, agents were advised to concentrate on “priority cases” and should attempt to make arrests “outside public areas.”

Under the new ICE policies: “Courthouses do not fall under ICE or CBP’s (Custom and Border Patrol) policies concerning enforcement actions at or focused on sensitive locations.”

Both Sessions and Kelly defended arresting undocumented persons at or near courthouses in a joint letter issued in March, according to the Huffington Post.

“Some jurisdictions ... have enacted statutes and ordinances designed to specifically prohibit or hinder ICE from enforcing immigration law by prohibiting communication with ICE, and denying requests by ICE officers and agents to enter prisons and jails to make arrests,” Sessions and Kelly wrote. “As a result, ICE officers and agents are required to locate and arrests these aliens in public places, rather than in secure jail facilities.”

CIRA and Yale’s Jerome N. Frank Legal Services Organization had also advocated this year to close what they said were several loopholes in the Connecticut TRUST Act and recommended that Rogers write to ICE and Homeland Security on the courthouse issue.

In a letter to Martin R. Libbin, director of legal services for the Connecticut Judicial Branch in the state attorney general’s office, students at the clinic, as well as their supervising attorney, Michael Wishnie, outlined a number of steps the judicial branch could take. Wishnie is also the attorney for CIRA.

After federal and state courts had ruled that immigration detainers from ICE did not authorize continued detention of immigrants once their cases had been adjudicated, the Department of Correction limited detainer compliance, Wishnie wrote, to 2.5 instances out of 7 listed in Connecticut statutes.