Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested two women on Tuesday outside a West L.A. courthouse after a hearing in a local criminal case, marking the first instance in recent weeks of the Trump administration using a tactic that has drawn condemnation from the legal community.
Adriana Bernal, 37, was detained by ICE agents after appearing in the Airport Courthouse on La Cienega Boulevard late Tuesday morning, according to Jennifer Cheng, public information officer for the L.A. County Alternate Public Defender’s Office.
Video from the scene shows law enforcement agents, most in all black clothing, leading a woman toward a black truck outside the courthouse with tinted windows as one onlooker screams, “Oh my god, oh my god,” repeatedly. The agents had previously been waiting in the 3rd floor courtroom where Bernal and two other defendants were scheduled to appear, according to Cheng.
“Our client walked out of the courtroom and was followed by these individuals. Once our client was outside the building, these individuals (who were not in any uniform), handcuffed her, put her into dark a colored SUV and drove away,” Cheng said in an e-mail to The Times. “We were absolutely blindsided by what happened. These purported ICE agents detained our client without notice or explanation. We received no advance communication, no opportunity to advise our client, and no information.”
Advocates, defense attorneys and even some prosecutors have long sounded the alarm about the problems that could arise from ICE using state criminal courts as staging grounds for federal immigration enforcement. When ICE engaged in similar behavior across California, Oregon, New Mexico and Colorado in 2017, during Trump’s first term in office, prosecutors in some states reported having to drop cases because undocumented immigrants would no longer serve as witnesses.
An ICE spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
L.A. County’s Presiding Judge Sergio C. Tapia II said the courts did not receive advance notice of the arrest operation and confirmed ICE had not taken enforcement actions inside county courthouses yet this year.
“Federal immigration enforcement activities inside courthouses disrupt court operations, breach public trust, and compromise the Court’s constitutional role as a neutral venue for the peaceful resolution of disputes,” Tapia said in a statement. “These actions create a chilling effect, silencing victims, deterring witnesses, discouraging community members from seeking protection and deterring parties from being held accountable for their crimes or participating in legal proceedings critical to the rule of law.”
Bernal was slated to appear for an early disposition hearing in a case where she and two other defendants were charged with organized retail theft, grand theft and possession of burglary tools, according to court records.
One of Bernal’s co-defendants in the case was also detained by ICE agents, according to two sources with knowledge of the case, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Cheng said the alternate public defender’s office is “looking into whether local law enforcement or members of the District Attorney’s Office played a role in what happened,” though she admitted to having no evidence to support the idea that prosecutors tipped off ICE.
L.A. County Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman said his office had no advance notice of ICE’s actions and would not notify federal officials about the immigration status of anyone they are prosecuting.
“As a general proposition, I don’t want anyone deported until I’ve got them sentenced. And if they’re sentence is jail or state prison I want them to serve their sentence,” he said in an interview. “That is the punishment they receive for committing crimes in my county. It doesn’t help that objective to get them through the criminal justice system, get them punished in our system, by having them deported before they’re done with what’s going on here.”
Hochman described the defendants in the case as part of broader organized retail theft “organization” with members from South America.
While ICE once directed its agents to avoid making arrests in so-called “sensitive locations” including schools, places of worship and hospitals, Trump shifted that policy shortly after he took office, rescinding the 2011 Obama-era memo that restricted such actions.
ICE officials have previously claimed courthouse arrests were necessary to keep agents safe from dangerous criminals — since those entering state courts must pass through metal detectors and are presumably unarmed.
But a recent Times study of statistics collected by the Deportation Data Project shows that 69% of the approximately 722 people arrested during the first week of the Trump Administration’s California immigration raids had no criminal record.
The California Supreme Court previously rebuked the federal government during Trump’s last presidency for “stalking courthouses” and using the justice system as “bait,” effectively punishing undocumented people for showing up to court.
In recent months, the Trump administration has been routinely arresting people at regular immigration hearings and federal court appearances.
Cheng said Tuesday’s actions by ICE were a dangerous escalation by the agency in Los Angeles.
“We have seen throughout our community how ICE agents often detain and seize people simply because they fit a particular profile, without any regard to the person’s immigration status, or the status of any immigration process that a person is currently going through,” she wrote. “When there is widespread fear that ICE is going to snatch you if you go to court – whether you are charged with a crime, a victim of crime, or a witness to crime, people will stop going to court.”
Times Staff Writer Andrea Castillo contributed to this report.
