21-05-2025
ICE agents in Miami find new spot to carry out arrests: Immigration court
Federal agents in plain clothes staked out the hallways of Miami's downtown immigration courthouse for hours and arrested at least four unsuspecting men as they walked out of courtrooms on Wednesday.
Miami Herald reporters witnessed how Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers sat in on run-of-the-mill immigration proceedings and followed the men outside the courtrooms after their hearings wrapped up.
Then, a group of about 10 other ICE agents, also in plain clothes, caught them off guard in the hallway. The agents identified themselves in Spanish before handcuffing each of the men and escorting them to a van outside.
'I am not afraid,' a Cuban man said to his wife and daughter as ICE agents arrested him.
In each case, Department of Homeland Security attorneys moved to drop the deportation cases before immigration judges. That is important because ICE cannot place someone in expedited removal proceedings — an administrative process that doesn't require a judge and that the government uses to quickly deport people — if they have a pending case in court.
READ MORE: Where fates are decided: Miami's immigration courts are microcosm of South Florida
The arrests in Miami come as lawyers elsewhere across the country, including Las Vegas, New York City, Phoenix and Los Angeles, reported similar arrests. While those ICE detentions in immigration court have happened previously, particularly under the Bush administration, they usually targeted immigrants with criminal records.
In one case Wednesday, immigration court Judge Rico Sogocio, after granting Homeland Security's motion to dismiss the said, told a Cuban man to request a parole document. The man said in court that he had submitted his green card application under the decades-old Cuban Adjustment Act. The man's family later told the Herald he had entered the country with an I-220A, a document given at the border that generally cannot be used to get permanent residency under the decades-old legislation that allows Cubans who are in the U.S for a year and a day to get a green card.
Once the man stepped out of the courtroom with his wife and daughter, a group of ICE agents approached him and told him he was being placed in custody.
His wife and daughter, who declined to share their names with the Herald, told the agents he had an ongoing green card application process and needed his diabetes medication. An officer told his daughter he would call her by the end of day and answer any questions. Another said her father would be processed in Miramar, where an ICE field office is located.
'He is not illegal. I want to understand,' his daughter told officers with a distressed look on her face.
Moments later, a Cuban man who entered the U.S. through the Mexican border in 2021 was also handcuffed by a team of ICE agents. The judge had closed the man's case after the government requested the dismissal, which ended his pending asylum case. During his hearing, a judge recommended that the man hire an attorney to seek asylum and told him his case could now be funneled through U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, shortly before he was taken into custody by ICE.
READ MORE: Where fates are decided: Miami's immigration courts are microcosm of South Florida
Another man, whose nationality was not mentioned during his hearing, was followed out by an agent in plainclothes from the courtroom. When he entered the elevator, at least 10 ICE agents crowded him.
Minutes later, a Miami Herald reporter witnessed a van with the arrested men leaving the courthouse.
The immigration officers waited for hours in the hallways of the immigration court as the hearings took place, chit-chatting and cracking jokes among themselves. Some had handcuffs visible in their waistbands.
The arrests in the late morning and early afternoon were focused on two courtrooms. There were also families and unaccompanied minors present at their proceedings.
An ICE spokesperson told the Herald it was looking into the matter but did not provide details about the arrests as of Wednesday afternoon.
READ MORE: Trump targets Biden-era migrants from Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Haiti for deportation
The reason behind Wednesday's arrests at immigration court is unclear. The Herald does not know if the men detained have criminal records. But several immigration attorneys told the Herald they believe the arrests are being driven by a Homeland Security memo from January directing ICE agents to consider putting immigrants in expedited removal proceedings if they have been in the U.S. for less than two years. Expedited removals are deportation proceedings that are administrative and don't require a judge.
'Take all steps necessary to review the alien's case and consider, in exercising your enforcement discretion, whether to apply expedited removal. This may include steps to terminate any ongoing removal proceeding,' the DHS memo says.
Lawyers had previously told the Herald the memo could lead to agents showing up at immigration court, and called it a 'tool for mass deportation.'
'In my opinion, they are taking removal cases out of the docket... to put it on expedited removal, which is a lot faster,' said Antonio Ramos, an immigration attorney whose office is based in the downtown immigration court building.
Ramos urged people with pending cases to seek legal counsel and request virtual hearings to avoid unnecessary exposure at in-person court dates.
But Ramos said the agents outside the courtroom know exactly who they are going to detain – and have warrants on hand. The agents outside the courtrooms, he said, are part of a task force comprised of different agencies, including the FBI and the U.S. Marshals Service.
