‘I'm afraid to go to my court hearing.' ICE arrests at asylum hearings rattle SF attorney, migrant clients
SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — A San Francisco immigration attorney is speaking out after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents detained his client. The attorney says it happened moments after an asylum hearing, and now others fear the same could happen to them.
San Jose's undocumented residents 'under attack' by ICE, councilman says
Alex Lubarsky has been representing undocumented immigrants for 30 years. But he says, he's never seen anything even close to what's been happening at immigration courts across the country and in the Bay Area.
Sergio Enrique Yasila is a gay man from Peru who is seeking asylum in the U.S. He has a hearing on Monday in San Francisco, but he stopped by his immigration attorney's office on Friday to express concerns about the possibility of being detained by ICE at the courthouse.
Lubarsky is his lawyer. He says he just witnessed this happening to another client seeking asylum at the San Francisco Immigration Court on Sansom Street on Friday.
'I've never had a client until today that was detained at their court hearing,' says Lubarsky. 'Essentially, he was ambushed today in court.'
'If they return me to my country of Peru, it's likely they would kill me,' says Yasila via a translator. 'We're afraid to go to our court hearings because we understand the government is detaining people now.' 'And I'm afraid to go to my court hearing.'
'He is fearful of the government of this country, and this is the place he came to seek protection and seek a better life,' adds Lubarsky.
Lubarsky works at the San Francisco Office for Community Legal Centers. He says the Trump administration's crack down on migrants has them overloaded.
'We have lines at some of our offices that stretch out the door and halfway around the block,' says Lubarksy. 'I've never seen anything quite like it. The phones never stop ringing. It's just sheer pandemonium.'
Lubarsky says having ICE agents detain people at courthouses is disrupting the due process his clients deserve.
'My clients arrived to the United States without understanding, and now the rug's been yanked out from beneath them,' claims Lubarsky.
Lubarsky says even in these uncertain times, the best thing to do is to fight your case in court.
'I get clients coming in all the time recently saying, 'Should I just not go to court? Should I runaway? Should I hide?' That's really the worst thing you could do,' advises Lubarsky. 'That would result in a removal order. You certainly can't ever win any kind of lawful status if you don't follow through with your case.'
Lubarsky says he looked online and called the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, but no record has been posted yet of his client.He's hoping to see where he's being detained on Monday, but he and his client's family is in the dark for now.
KRON4 reached out to ICE but did not hear back in time for this report.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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