Legal Advocates – including members of Oakland Law Collaborative – Condemn ICE’s Intimidation Tactics at Immigration Courts
Across California and the country, ICE agents are increasingly appearing at immigration courts. Masked agents are stalking outside of courtrooms and in parking lots, demanding identification and arresting individuals, including children, families, people with disabilities, and those doing everything they can to comply with the law. In the Bay Area, these arrests have escalated at court hearings, check-ins, and other routine appointments. Many are held for days at ICE’s 630 Sansome Street facility—known in the community as a “skyscraper concentration camp” for its long-standing inhumane conditions—prior to being transferred to detention centers in Central or Southern California, or out of state.
As of September 12, 2025, over 100 immigrants have been abducted by ICE at their immigration court hearings in San Francisco and Concord, California. Many of these individuals are unrepresented, and some are children and people with severe medical issues. ICE has even arrested three U.S. citizen protestors outside of immigration court, detaining one of them overnight in barbaric conditions.
These actions are not isolated. They are part of a coordinated campaign to intimidate immigrant workers, instill fear, and undermine the constitutional right to due process. ICE’s presence at court is a deliberate tactic to pressure people into missing their hearings and forfeiting their legal right to seek asylum or other relief. No one should be forced to choose between appearing in court and risking arrest—or abandoning their case altogether. Even more disturbing, ICE itself is violating the law through unlawful arrests and detentions, all while demanding that others strictly follow legal procedures and punishing them when they don’t.
The immigration court system has become a tool in the Trump administration’s broader campaign of fear and exclusion. It does not function as a fair or independent forum for justice. These attacks do not end with immigrants—we are already seeing similar efforts to target LGBTQ communities, student activists, and others who don’t fit into this administration’s white nationalist agenda.
We, the undersigned attorneys and legal organizations, can no longer in good conscience assure our clients that attending court is safe. While we will continue to fight for the release of those detained and support our communities however we can, legal action alone is not enough. Only sustained, collective public pressure will stop these abuses because social progress is made through mass mobilizing, outside of courtrooms. Community defense has proven to be effective at immigration courts to deter ICE abductions as a movement of community members, faith leaders, unions, and international solidarity activists.
We urge all people of conscience to stand in solidarity with our immigrant neighbors. When due process is denied to one group, everyone’s rights are at risk.
—
Read the full list of signatories here: Legal Advocates Condemn ICE’s Intimidation Tactics at Immigration Courts