ICE Agents Are Stalking Undocumented Immigrants In Courthouses Under Trump, Judge Warns

President Donald Trump's first few weeks in the Oval Office set a precedent for the new White House administration to adopt his hardline stance on illegal immigration and undocumented immigrants. The radical overhaul of former President Barack Obama’s policies alarmed federal judges, who warned Thursday that the new president’s agenda could turn courthouses nationwide into "stalking" sites for immigration officers looking to make arrests.

Tani Cantil-Sakauye, California's chief justice, called on Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly to bar Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection agents from targeting and detaining undocumented immigrants visiting courts across the country. Multiple arrests of immigrants have taken place within the nation’s courthouses since Trump was sworn into office Jan. 20.

Read: How Donald Trump May Be Creating Fake News About Immigrants Every Week

"Courthouses should not be used as bait in the necessary enforcement of our country’s immigration laws," Cantil-Sakauye wrote in a letter published Thursday. "Enforcement policies that include stalking courthouses and arresting undocumented immigrants, the vast majority of whom pose no risk to public safety, are neither safe nor fair."

Lawyers throughout California have complained in recent weeks of ICE agents intervening during their court sessions while representing undocumented immigrants. George Gascon, district attorney of San Francisco, described the phenomenon as a "very shortsighted" way of enforcing immigration policies, as most immigrants will catch on and simply avoid entering courthouses altogether.

"The chilling impact that has on an entire community is devastating," Gascon told the Los Angeles Times Wednesday.

Cantil-Sakauye said policies allowing immigration officers to continue making arrests within courthouses "not only compromise our core value of fairness but they undermine the judiciary’s ability to provide equal access to justice."

"I respectfully request that you refrain from this sort of enforcement in California's courthouses," the chief justice wrote.