Advocates raise concerns after video appears to show ICE detain people outside immigration court
Sofia Saiyed, a campaign coordinator with NVM, took one of the videos and told DC News Now she believes the people detained were taken to a detention center in Farmville.
'Sometimes they would take them one by one, and sometimes they would pack the van with a few detainees and then drive away,' she said.
Hagerstown rallies for return of Vietnamese woman detained by ICE
It's unclear who the detained individuals are or why they are being detained. DC News Now reached out to ICE to learn more about the apparent arrests and to learn when it would conduct an operation at a courthouse. An ICE official has not yet responded.
Saiyed said she thinks the government is following a specific tactic that starts with an ICE prosecutor asking the judge to dismiss an immigration case.
'The judge will let people know that they have the ability to appeal. The individual will say, 'Yes, I want to appeal,'' she said. 'Then, they'll step out of the courtroom… and immediately be arrested.'
People who want to stay in the U.S. and are trying to prove why they should be allowed to, often come to the immigration court in Sterling. Many times, it can lead to a trial where they present evidence, offer witness testimonies, and then a judge will decide whether they can stay.
Miguel Palmeiro, an immigration attorney in Northern Virginia, said he now has clients who are afraid to go to court — even for people he believes have strong asylum cases.
'We had submitted something like over a thousand pages of proof of their asylum claim, and now the client's too scared,' he said. 'So the client doesn't show up to court and then they don't even have a chance to win their case… We're not even getting to the real issue of, 'should they be in America or not.''
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