Michael Ho
This is an ongoing story. The Guardian will continue to monitor and update this piece as new developments occur.
Starting Thursday, May 22, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents at San Diego Immigration Court began conducting courthouse arrests, detaining migrants appearing for civil immigration proceedings as they exited their courtrooms. The arrests and detentions continued while court was in session on Friday, May 23.
ICE, whose office is on the second floor, sent agents to commandeer the fourth floor hallways of the courthouse at approximately 8 a.m. Agents waited for individuals to leave their courtroom before stopping and detaining them against the hallway wall. Agents then demanded these individuals provide identification, checking their name against their list of people with outstanding I-200 warrants.
I-200 warrants are administrative warrants ICE can issue without a judge’s signature. While these warrants do not allow agents to enter private property without consent, they do authorize agents to make arrests in public spaces, such as outside of courtrooms.
These warrants are designed to give ICE the power to arrest non-citizens who have not yet begun civil immigration proceedings. However, the individuals who ICE detained and arrested at the courthouse were there for the express purpose of attending their ongoing civil immigration proceedings. ICE waited for their hearings — many of which resulted in case dismissal or continuance — to conclude before detaining them.
An immigration attorney whose client was detained during Thursday’s ICE operation, Ginger Jacobs, gave a statement to The UCSD Guardian on Thursday.
“This feels like they’re trying to interfere with people’s right to due process by scooping up a ton of people to detain them, when all of us are here today thinking it’s just going to be a normal hearing,” Jacobs said.
On Thursday, ICE arrested 11 people and wrongfully detained two others. On Friday, ICE took at least seven people, with some witnesses reporting as many as 12. It is unclear at this time where the arrestees are being held or what will happen to them next. ICE told one attorney that his client would be held in Otay Mesa Detention Center and processed for expedited removal.
Expedited removal is a legal process that low-level immigration enforcement officers use to remove noncitizens who entered the United States without “inspection.” It allows ICE to deport migrants without a hearing before an immigration judge.
The use and scope of this law has grown since its establishment in 1996. Historically, it has only been used against individuals within their first two weeks of arrival and within 100 miles from the border. In January 2025, the Trump administration expanded expedited removal to its largest scope yet: Immigration officers can use expedited removal to deport any noncitizens they encounter anywhere and who they determine to have entered the country without proper documentation. This excludes noncitizens who can show that they have been physically present in the U.S. for more than two years prior to this determination.
Jacobs speculated on the legal maneuvers ICE is using to carry out these detainments, arrests, and expedited removals. “Most of the people arrested have been in the U.S. for fewer than two years,” Jacobs said. “That two-year mark is what ICE is using to justify expedited removal. It is my belief as an attorney [that ICE is] using expedited removal incorrectly.”
This raid follows similar reports of ICE carrying out courthouse arrest operations across the state and country.
A 2019 California law, Assembly Bill 668, prohibits courthouse arrests by judicial officers: “The threat that persons may be subject to civil arrest while in California’s courthouses or attending judicial proceedings is a threat to the proper functioning of California’s government and to the rights enjoyed by all Californians.” ICE, however, is exempt from this law as it is an administrative, not judicial, enforcement agency.
On Friday, The Guardian overheard agents from the Department of Homeland Security saying that ICE plans to continue this at the San Diego courthouse throughout all of next week.
THURSDAY, May 22
Starting at around 10 a.m., ICE agents prevented everyone except those called to appear in court to enter the courthouse, though the courthouse halls are a public space.
ICE agents made several attempts, including using physical force, to prevent the public and press from entering the courthouse or taking photos and videos. They posted “Security Directive” notices on hallway walls prohibiting recording; these directives did not cite any specific law or legal order.
At around 11:30 a.m., DHS agents intervened, allowing the public and press to enter and record freely.
The UCSD Guardian arrived on-site at around 2 p.m., joining an estimated 20 attorneys, activists, and concerned community members in and around the courthouse. The Guardian witnessed one of two of the wrongful detentions and several of the eleven arrests.
At 2:48 p.m., ICE agents swarmed and handcuffed an unidentified man immediately upon his exit from the courtroom. As ICE agents attempted to drag him through the hall, the man had a medical emergency, dropping to the floor face-down and becoming nonresponsive.
Agents ignored repeated demands from the man’s attorney, Altin Dastmalchi, to see the warrant for his client’s arrest. Once ICE turned over the warrant, Dastmalchi showed that his client, who is Hispanic, was not the person named in the warrant, who is Asian.
After Dastmalchi escorted his client out of the courthouse, he returned at 3:20 p.m. to record the names and badge numbers of the ICE agents. Most agents gave their badge numbers, but all refused to provide their names.
At 3:34 p.m., ICE detained and demanded identification from two unidentified women exiting their courtroom while their attorney remained inside. After the agents checked the women’s identification with their list, ICE placed one woman in cuffs and released the other; she returned to the courtroom to get their attorney, who was attending to a different legal matter.
ICE agents attempted to drag the unidentified woman away while her companion was still in the courtroom, saying they would “wait for the attorney downstairs.” Community members stalled the agents until the presiding judge stopped the current proceedings to allow the woman’s attorney to attend to her.
At the attorney’s request, ICE informed him that they were taking his client to Otay Mesa Detention Center to be processed as an “expedited removal.” The attorney asked, “Even though her case got dismissed?” to which the agent responded, “That doesn’t matter.”
At 4:54 p.m, ICE arrested an unidentified man whose case had just been granted a continuance. His attorney explained that this means his case remains open and he has been called to appear in court again, on June 20; ICE agents had no response. This was ICE’s last arrest of the day.
Michelle Celleri, legal director for Alliance San Diego, came to the courthouse on Thursday to act as a legal observer. She agreed with Jacobs, adding:
“Going to immigration court is your chance to be heard; it is your right. This is part of due process, and by having ICE out front, it discourages people from asserting their rights … to a lawful process, and by them being detained in front of the court room, it deprives them of their dignity, their ability to prepare themselves and their family members for what comes next,” Celleri said. “For those who are unrepresented, to their families they have just disappeared, and they won’t be able to find them for at least 48, and that’s if they even know how [to find them].”
FRIDAY, May 23
Coverage coming soon.