By Crescenzo Vellucci
Vanguard Sacramento Bureau
SACRAMENTO – In an exclusive tip to the Davis Vanguard, lawyers report that ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agents boldly grabbed a man inside a Sacramento Superior Courtroom Wednesday, where he was for other matters.
Lawyers said they were surprised by the action in Dept. 8 and that it was the first time they had seen ICE active in Superior Court here in Sacramento.
The ICE agents, who were sitting in the audience portion of the courtroom, waited until the defendant had been arraigned on another matter before jumping up, announcing who they were and seizing the defendant.
Unconfirmed reports suggested that there was a delay of some sort in the courtroom before ICE was allowed to take the defendant away.
While local immigration rights activists said late Wednesday they also were not aware of something like this happening in a Sacramento courtroom, they aren’t surprised.
“Although this is the first time we have heard of ICE being in the local court, it doesn’t come as a surprise. Our allies in Fresno have been alerting us to the daily presence of ICE in their courts. It’s troubling that ICE simply does not respect the legal process and is willing to jeopardize ongoing legal proceedings in their quest to steal away our neighbors and relatives,” said Ruth Ibarra, NorCal Resist organizer.
In fact, California Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye a year ago told the federal government to stay out of state courts.
“I am deeply concerned about reports from some of our trial courts that immigration agents appear to be stalking undocumented immigrants in our courthouses to make arrests. Our courthouses serve as a vital forum for ensuring access to justice and protecting public safety. Courthouses should not be used as bait in the necessary enforcement of our country’s immigration laws,” she said.
The Chief Justice explained, “Our courts are the main point of contact for millions of the most vulnerable Californians in times of anxiety, stress, and crises in their lives. Crime victims, victims of sexual abuse and domestic violence, witnesses to crimes who are aiding law enforcement, limited-English speakers, unrepresented litigants, and children and families all come to our courts seeking justice and due process of law.
“As finders of fact, trial courts strive to mitigate fear to ensure fairness and protect legal rights. Our work is critical for ensuring public safety and the efficient administration of justice. I am concerned about the impact on public trust and confidence in our state court system if the public feels that our state institutions are being used to facilitate other goals and objectives, no matter how expedient they may be,” she added.
“Each layer of government – federal, state, and local – provides a portion of the fabric of our society that preserves law and order and protects the rights and freedoms of the people. The separation of powers and checks and balances at the various levels and branches of government ensure the harmonious existence of the rule of law.
“(E)nforcement 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. They 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,” she said.
NorCal Resist echoed the Chief Justice’s comments.
“We encourage anyone who needs to make a visit to a government office, or to a court or ICE check in to reach out to us so that we can provide someone to accompany you. We may not be able to stop ICE, but we think having allies present discourages blatant abuses like what happened in the court today. Should ICE take an action, if we are present at the least we can move our legal and activist networks into action, immediately,” said Ibarra.
Alex Gonzalez, also with NorCal Resist, said: “We also strongly encourage families, and groups in the community, to contact us to host a family preparedness plan training. We know that no one wants to think about their loved ones being kidnapped by ICE, but by planning for the worst we can act quickly should that occur.
“That means being able to make sure kids get picked up and taken to a relative or trusted family member, that your loved ones have your A-number, so we can locate you in the detention system, and we can get legal resources connected as soon as possible. While we fight for the abolition of ICE we also have to act to defend our communities and to keep families safe. This is one way we can do that.”
Get Tickets To Vanguard’s Immigration Rights Event
One of the reasons why they started doing Sanctuary Cities in the first place, is that police and others couldn’t get cooperation from folks if they thought they were going to get deported. This will have a huge impact on all sorts of things.
If he was a defendant in a felony case maybe “cooperation” is not the operative word. “This will have a huge impact on all sorts of things” the cost of trying the defendant for whatever he was there for. Note that our reporter did not “exclusively” report on the charges or the defendants name which is a matter of public record. With the Sacramento Bureau it’s hard to be sure whether this obvious omission is due to advocacy or incompetence.
Not talking about defendants. I’m talking about witnesses and victims.
“The ICE agents, who were sitting in the audience portion of the courtroom, waited until the defendant had been arraigned on another matter before jumping up, announcing who they were and seizing the defendant.”
Good for you, but you’re missing the point. The action is going to deter victims and witnesses from coming forward. That’s true irrespective of who they apprehended.
“The action is going to deter victims and witnesses from coming forward.” As someone who is accused of a felony maybe the state should have just him over and obviated the need. What was he accused of anyway?
You’re intentionally avoiding my point
I’m not “intentionally avoiding my point” The state of California has created the situation. In other states they would just issue a detainer based on the charges and not have to come into court. California has created the adversarial relationship.
Since Jim likes Google, here’s what a google search turns up: https://www.google.com/search?q=immigrants+less+likely+to+come+forward+with+crime+reports&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari
A link to a collection of anecdotes is not very useful.
Is the threat our collective safety posed by the mere presence undocumented immigrants greater than the threat to our collective safety posed by not having those undocumented immigrants willing to cooperate in local/state law enforcement matters?
What alarms me these days are floating discussions about how this administration is interested in taking aggressive action to pursue ways to deport documented immigrants. That has the possibility of broadening the population of residents who would be less willing to cooperate in local/state law enforcement issues.
“mere presence” is different than “on trial for a felony”
Maybe to you. But someone who is fearful of being deported sees this as more evidence to hunker down and not come forward.
ICE has an obligation to deport people in this situation. Maybe the state and the feds should come to some accord. BTW What are the charges?
Is there a reason you refuse to address my point head on?
I just did.
Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye has the solution in her hands. She can order that all non-US citizens who are in-custody and scheduled to appear in superior court have their information submitted to ICE prior to being brought to court and if ICE requests if requested the agency will notify ICE prior to release.
She already has the authority to do that and it would eliminate this situation.
It may or may not be. It would not be any different at all if the individual were factually innocent. Note that there has been no conviction.
Factual Innocence plays no part in our legal process. Note that people on probation or parole are instructed to avoid police contact and being arrested alone is a violation of their status.
Since the Vanguard has commented endlessly on the cost of trials and other legal procedures I have no doubt it will see the advantage of asking the feds to take custody of defendants where the state does not otherwise have a compelling interest in prosecuting.
This personal back and forth is why some commenters have left the Vanguard, not me, but some. Lol.
Notice how some posters never address matters of decency and humanity? The methods and total absence of common etiquette employed by these storm troopers are antithetical to American justice.
Thank you John for all your kind comments
This is good.
Possibly saved another young American woman from being murdered.
The guy was a murderer? How do you know that? I don’t see what he was in court for.
I mean one less criminal illegal immigrant on the street reduces the risk of some young woman being murdered.
The ratio of illegal immigrants to young women murdered is pretty low.
The ratio of illegal immigrant criminals to young women murdered is higher and enough to warrant some relief that this guy was taken away by ICE.
Do you honestly believe that he would have been walking around on his own recognizance had he been suspected of murder. If that were the case, would it not indicate gross incompetence on the part of law enforcement and the prosecutors office ?
Tia
Department 8 in the Sacramento Superior Court is a Criminal Department. Article does not say what that criminal case was about. If the ICE cops was present in the court room than they were tipped off ahead of the Court hearing . Most likely by the court administrators . Due to the budget constraint for the California courts it is a easy way for the courts administrators to save the money by providing information to ICE.
Given the lack of information in this article the probability is:
1: It never happened and the entire piece is a fantasy. (my estimate 50%)
2: The defendant is there for a crime so revolting the “Sacramento Bureau” is purposely omitting it. This is SOP for many of the advocacy pieces published here. (my estimate 40%)
3: The “Sacramento Bureau” knew at one time but forgot and just wrote the article hoping nobody would notice. (my estimate 10%)
Either way there is no point in speculating.
Jim
If there is no point in speculating, why did you just do so, including assigning percentages to your speculation as well as giving a 50% chance that the author is a liar?
That seems like some hefty negative speculation to me.
“no point in speculating” refer to whatever charges may be levied against the alleged defendant. We have no information to this point so there is nothing to use for an estimate other than perhaps a breakdown of the most common charges.
“50% chance that the author is a liar” I did not write that. What I wrote was “the entire piece is a fantasy…50%”. Based on previous work by the “Sacramento Bureau” it’s likely that he heard something that was untrue and and wrote it without checking or perhaps heard a rumour and added his own embellishments. The principle is that anything that is alleged to have happened in open court should have a defendant’s name attached. Lack of a name and case is a strong indicator of “fake news”.
This article shows that the California Senate Bill No. 54 (SB 54) which declared California as a Sanctuary State is illusionary and this legal is not protecting legal or illegal immigrants from deportation who are breaking the law of this country. The SB 54 causing more problems then good for the illegal immigrants by giving them false security perception and false assurance that they won’t be deported if they break the law.
What SB 54 does is control California government, it does not and never has impacted what ICE does.
ICE might like the sanctuary state and sanctuary city moves as it serves to concentrate their subjects. ICE can just hang out and nab the people that feel safe.
Exactly . If you read the new Homeland Security’s memoranda’s and orders than it is terrifying . No Geneva Convention and no prisoners . Get them out . Even naturalized citizens got under scrutiny and courts are revoking citizenships. Anybody who lied on application for green card or citizenship or any green card holder who broke the law could be removed from the country.
“ICE can just hang out and nab the people that feel safe.”
Just like the Gestapo,except for that nagging resistance……
What is it with your ilk’s love for that kind of brutality?
John
What is your point . ICE was and still is a immigration Gestapo . Read the immigration enforcement law .
My ilk tend to be consistent in the rule of law instead of only when it benefits our politics, and my ilk also legitimately cares about the safety of Americans instead over the freedom of illegal alien criminals that can procreate to create future voters benefiting your ilk.
I think your lack of introspection here has created a blind spot to your ilk.
Seems like the left has taken on this new frustration that more Republicans are not continuing to carry their dirty water for them.
The lack of introspection was from before, were big business Reps promoted illegal immigration for the cheap labor. For greed they broke with long standing moral principle for conservatives related to the sanctity of law and American safety.
One illegal immigrant in this country is one too many because it breaks the law.
And one dead American at the hands of any illegal immigrant is a justification for any and all policies and law enforcement having a goal of eliminating that risk.
I am an American and America is my shared-American house and other Americans are my family. Legal immigrants are my guests in my house. Illegal immigrants are uninvited strangers that have not been vetted (because they chose to steal into the country without going through vetting) and they must be captured and removed and prevented from coming back. Those that have been here a while, are productive members of society without criminal records, should be vetted and allowed to stay.
But only after we stop other illegals from stealing in.
ICE is focused on illegals, not Americans. That is where you have it wrong.
I had to rethink this point I made.
Actually Republicans have always been in conflict with this illegal immigration issue. Business likes the cheap labor and business used to be the Republican stronghold. But Republicans have also struggled with the “illegal” part.
But that changed over the last 20 years as crappy economic policy, the pursuit of a liberal global new world order and disruptive technology combined to put the nerds in charge of business… and nerds tend to be lefty.
It is really the Democrats that have changed. Democrats of the old party where labor was the primary consideration. And Democrats of old also used to be more patriotic and nationalist…. the blue collar worker cohort.
Sanctuary cities and states… those are the the ideas of neoDemocrats… the liberal wing that has taken over the party… and appears to soon be upset by the socialist wing of the liberal party.
Many of us ignored illegal immigration because we felt so comfortable in US economic strength that we could absorb the masses. That was a mistake. Trillions in debt and lackluster growth… the Great Recession, traffic, housing shortages, crime… etc. It has all made it clear that the US has too many people and WAY too many poor and uneducated. We cannot take care of our own well enough. It is national suicide to keep allowing the flood of more. Just ask Mollie’s parents.
I had to log out to see David G. post .
“… Even naturalized citizens got under scrutiny and courts are revoking citizenships. Anybody who lied on application for green card or citizenship or any green card holder who broke the law could be removed from the country.”
With all of your rabble rousing in the courts and documented actions at UCD, are you worried?
My point was that in certain neighborhoods, when we see ICE agents we announce their presence loudly, surround and block them until anyone they’re interested in has a chance to leave.
I used to tutor kids in a SF neighborhood known for “not snitching” and when cops came to the neighborhood looking for drug dealers or gang members who had been doing drive by shootings many people in the neighborhood would often “announce their presence loudly, surround and block them until anyone they’re interested in has a chance to leave” (so the people they were interested in could keep on dealing drugs and doing drive by shootings)…
I know most (but not all) undocumented immigrants are not dealing drugs or doing drive by shootings, and almost none of them are taking jobs from the doctors, lawyers and bloggers. Since there are not many “White -Hispanics” undocumented immigrants from Mexico rarely steal the identity (and SS#) of someone named Zimmerman, Greenwald or O’Malley. I actually want to let anyone that wants to work hard and support themselves come here to “legally” work (paying taxes and not stealing another person’s ID and making their life living hell) so the many honest hard working immigrants (and the contractors that employ them and pay them good wages and benefits) don’t keep losing business to the people working “illegally” (not paying even minimum wage and not paying any taxes).
P.S. I though the title of this article was funny because the guy ICE really surprised was the guy they grabbed…
I don’t really understand your point. And Ken, maybe you should knock some of this off, you made the remark that they aren’t stealing the identities of Greenwald, well that didn’t stop them from taking the social security of my daughter, which we had to change and was a huge pain in the neck. Doesn’t really change a lot for me, but it does suggest maybe you ought not jump to conclusions from behind a wall of anonymity which we provide you.
I did not say “that they aren’t stealing the identities of Greenwald” I said that they “rarely steal the identity (and SS#) of someone named Zimmerman, Greenwald or O’Malley”.
As a Spanish speaker it seems like almost once a month I hear about someone with a name ending in “z” that had their identity stolen (FAR more often than I hear about someone with a “white sounding” name getting their identity stolen).
I’m not “jumping to conclusions” I know for a fact that there are millions of people working with fake and/or stolen SS#.
https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/09/undocumented-immigrants-and-taxes/499604/
Most of the rich people I know in Davis love the undocumented because they work hard for little pay cleaning their homes, watching their kids and mowing their lawns, because few of the super well educated spend much time chatting in Spanish with the (mostly) Spanish speaking undocumented or have ever helped someone work with the IRS about unpaid taxes on their “second” job they don’t know how our screwed up system makes it extra hard for the people who have their identity stolen.
John
Why I should be worry about. ? I have a place to go if ICE will pick me up . I am prepared for. Eventually, I will ask my government for help via Polish Consulate in LA to deal with American government due to violation of my civil and human rights for last 11 years .
Everything is possible when you are dealing with a former Chief of US Homeland Security who with her agents threw into federal prison the UCOP ‘s arc enemy, former California Senator Leland Yee than thereafter Janet Napolitano attempted to do same with Linda Katehi for the tag price of $ 1, 000,000 . I am curious what is going to happen to Leland Yee after he will finish his sentence. He is a naturalized citizen. Whether he will be stripped from the citizenship and deported or he would be allowed to stay in this country.
After the UCD thugs unsuccessfully attempted to end my employment in UCDMC Trauma Unit # 11 on May 31, 2012 and tried to frame me with Lodi PD in June 2012 than UCDP distributed poster with my photo around campuses in September 2012 than I would be not surprise if anything happen to me . I was deported from communist Poland and history ise repeating for myself in USA . Life is full of surprises and you have to deal with.
John
Why I should be worry about. ? I have a place to go if ICE will pick me up . I am prepared for. Eventually, I will ask my government for help via Polish Consulate in LA to deal with American government due to violation of my civil and human rights for last 11 years .
Everything is possible when you are dealing with a former Chief of US Homeland Security who with her agents threw into federal prison the UCOP ‘s arc enemy, former California Senator Leland Yee than thereafter Janet Napolitano attempted to do same with Linda Katehi for the tag price of $ 1, 000,000 . I am curious what is going to happen to Leland Yee after he will finish his sentence. He is a naturalized citizen. Whether he will be stripped from the citizenship and deported or he would be allowed to stay in this country.
After the UCD thugs unsuccessfully attempted to end my employment in UCDMC Trauma Unit # 11 on May 31, 2012 and tried to frame me with Lodi PD in June 2012 than UCDP distributed poster with my photo around campuses in September 2012 than I would be not surprise if anything happen to me . I was deported from communist Poland and history ise repeating for myself in USA . Life is full of surprises and you have to deal with.
https://www.scribd.com/document/386981623/Freedom-Is-Not-Free-UC-vs-Waszczuk
“I know…”
And then demonstrate that you don’t. What you conveniently overlook are all of the undocumented aliens who pay into SS that they can never collect. You are also unaware that many Latinos are of French, German, Irish and/or English origins and have correspondingly ethnic surnames.
Quite telling that you still consider Poland “your government.”
John
I ma not sure what you are trying to say or imply . I am refugee/deportee from the communist Poland . Since 1989 Poland is not a communist country and member of NATO and European Union and is USA ally . I am Polish citizen living in exile and Polish government is my government . Any problem ……
I didn’t realize you were not a naturalized US citizen.
Why should I ? If I would be , than probably I would land in federal prison like Senator Leland Yee . SB 650 and audit he requested against UC got him under the bus
Vanguard broke this story: http://www.capradio.org/articles/2018/08/24/ice-arrests-undocumented-man-inside-sacramento-county-courthouse/
The another article from the POLITIFACT which is entitled MOSTLY TRUE: VISA OVERSTAYS ACCOUNT FOR ‘HALF’ OF ALL PEOPLE IN THE COUNTRY ILLEGALLY”
https://www.politifact.com/california/statements/2018/aug/24/kevin-mccarthy/mostly-true-visa-overstays-account-half-all-people/
is quite interesting . However , in contrary to the visa overstays the millions of illegals from the south is a completely different and more complicated problem and nobody knows how the problem will be resolved without causing a humanitarian crisis.
According to the SacBee he had a possession for sales case and the feds had a separate warrant for him for re-entry and possibly other charges.
Sounds like deportation is the best solution depending on whatever other charges are pending.
Good distinction, Jerry…
One thing to completely bypass a process, another to commit a “technical foul” by following the visa process, then messing up…
The visa overstays are filing the applications for extension to stay longer and it quite good business for Homeland Security regardless whether extension would be approved or not . Seems to me that House Majority Leader is not fully familiar with visa overstays . I was helping one lady from Germany with the application to stay longer . It cost money and she did not violate immigration law by waiting for decision and staying longer
Most US citizens are not familiar with the difference between a Visa and an I94. Most “visa overstays” are actually “I94 overstays”.
Jim
In my comment I just wanted to pint that Kevin McCarthy is throwing apples and oranges into same bucket. Visa overstays are tourists , students , employment contract people or some people who wants to American husband or wife to stay in USA operantly . The massive and unstoppable migration of the people from the south to USA across the border could be comparable to the migration of the people in Europe in the previous centuries . Like a gypsy or Romas from India or Hungarians with ugro -fin language which migrated from the North of Europe and build their country in the center of Europe surrounded by Slavs or another example are Basques . I think that within 50 years from the South of the United States could became a colony or territory of the United States like a Puerto Rico due to rapidly growing Spanish speaking population on the south.