Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly defended the practice of arresting illegal immigrants at state courthouses, and said arrests sometimes need to happen in public places because sanctuary city policies prevent them from taking place elsewhere.
Sessions and Kelly wrote a letter to California Supreme Court Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, who complained last week that these public arrests are making people fear going to the courthouse. In their reply, the two officials said her characterization of what is happening is “troubling,” and blamed sanctuary cities as a reason why that happens.
“Some jurisdictions […] have enacted statues and ordinances designed to specifically prohibit or hinder ICE from enforcing immigration law,” the letter reads. “As a result, ICE officers and agents are required to locate and arrest these aliens in public places.”
Such sanctuary policies “threaten public safety,” Sessions and Kelly said. They also added that there is legal precedent for arresting people in public places.
“The arrest of persons in a public place based upon probable cause has long been held by the United States Supreme Court as constitutionally permissible,” they wrote. They added that ICE officers and agents are authorized “by federal statue to make arrests” of potentially illegal immigrants “where probable causes exists.”
In her letter last week, Cantil-Sakauye claimed ICE agents were using California courthouses as “bait” and “stalking” people who “pose no risk to public safety.” Cantil-Sakauye also made similar comments to state legislature earlier this week.
“When we hear of immigration arrests and the fear of immigration arrests in our state courthouses, I am concerned that that kind of information trickles down into the community, the schools, the churches. The families and people will no longer come to court to protect themselves or cooperate or bear witness,” the appointee of Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said in her remarks. “I am afraid that will be the end of justice and communities will be less safe and victimization will continue.”
This week, DHS released a report that identified cities it says are not cooperating with ICE officials, and California had six jurisdictions on the list.
Sessions said this week that local and state governments that continue to defy ICE detainer requests could lose federal funds, reiterating a January executive order aiming to crack down on illegal immigration.
