PD Editorial: Courthouse immigration arrests diminish justice for all

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents defied a new state law when they arrested three suspected illegal immigrants at the Sonoma County Superior Court campus. That's not all they did. The arrests undermined confidence in the rule of law by using the courthouse as bait in a trap.

The arrests blocked the suspects from participating in scheduled court appearances, thereby derailing judicial proceedings. Worse, they sent a clanging signal to anyone in Sonoma County with real or imagined concerns about their immigration status: Cooperate with law enforcement and the courts at your peril.

ICE and its supporters argue that these sorts of arrests shouldn't worry Americans. After all illegal immigrants are lawbreakers by definition. ICE agents are just doing their job.

Such simplistic thinking misses the real import of too-aggressive enforcement. Everyone, regardless of citizenship or immigration status, depends on the justice system to protect the public's safety, liberty and property. That system is administered in courthouses. If any group of people is given reason to believe they should avoid courthouses, the effects will be dire. Cases will collapse for lack of witnesses. Police investigations will sputter for lack of cooperation. And justice, for citizens and noncitizens alike, will be denied.

Sonoma County officials understand what's at stake. The leading figures on both sides of the fence in criminal cases - District Attorney Jill Ravitch and Public Defender Kathleen Pozzi - condemned the arrests as a threat to public safety. County Counsel Bruce Goldstein accused ICE of “lawless” conduct because agents made the arrests without judicial warrants, contrary to state law.

The law in question is Assembly Bill 668, which Gov. Gavin Newsom signed in October. It prohibits civil immigration arrests at California courthouses.

Lawmakers knew that federal law would supersede AB 668, but their powerful statement on California's priorities was necessary. ICE isn't off the hook entirely, either. The agency's own policy on courthouse arrests, formalized in 2018, requires immigration agents to cooperate with court security staff. Such cooperation was clearly absent in Sonoma County on Feb. 18.

California and Sonoma County officials are in good company when they seek to preserve the entire community's trust in law enforcement and the courts. In 2017, the American Bar Association's House of Delegates called on Congress to include courthouses among “sensitive locations” where immigration arrests can occur only in emergency cases. The list of sensitive locations currently includes schools, houses of worship and health care facilities.

These listings protect public safety as well as civil rights. Imagine a scenario: How could the nation respond to a coronavirus outbreak if many people feared arrest at hospitals or clinics? The same goes for courthouses. The ABA delegates heard of a person accused of domestic violence who walked free because a witness was afraid to go near a courthouse. The benefits of preserving universal trust in courthouses as places of justice are widely recognized.

The Trump administration makes no secret of its animus toward state and local governments' efforts to approach the problem of illegal immigration in ways that are both rational and humane. Those efforts, in Sonoma County and elsewhere, deserve a vigorous defense.

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