Above photo: Detained immigrant Carmen’s family is tearful at press conference calling for her release. Party for Socialism and Liberation.
“ICE set a trap.”
Immigrant rights activists decry “horrific” arrests at courthouses involving separation of families.
After Carmen, a mother of five US citizen daughters, was arrested by plainclothes ICE agents in front of her husband at San Antonio Immigration Court for an immigration hearing, Texas immigrant rights activists sprung into action.
170 immigrant rights activists gathered on June 3 for a press conference outside of San Antonio Immigration Court. Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, an immigration attorney in Texas, stepped up to the podium, alongside a family of three – Eduardo and his daughters Olivia and Jocelyn. Carmen, Eduardo’s wife and the mother to five daughters who are US citizens, was arrested by ICE along with others outside a San Antonio Immigration Courthouse last week.
According to Lincoln-Goldfinch, who represents Carmen’s family in their battle to get their mother back, Carmen is “doing everything the right way.”
“She’s been in this country for years. She’s showing up to court, and she has several avenues for release for staying in this country legally,” Lincoln-Goldfinch addressed the crowd at the press conference. “And yet last week, ICE set a trap for Carmen and her family.”
This was in San Antonio yesterday. This is what Republicans have chosen to do to immigrants. These ppl showed up to immigration court. They were doing it right. They’re not criminals. If you voted for Trump, you’re complicit, and you should be deeply ashamed of yourself. pic.twitter.com/2TD1Yfunet
— Mendi Tackett (@mentack) May 31, 2025
Carmen is one of many immigrants across the country who upon showing up to a court hearing in pursuit of a legal path to stay in the country, found herself detained by ICE agents ready and waiting at the courthouse itself. At courthouses across the country, in cities such as New York City, Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Miami, Chicago, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Dallas, Charlotte, and Seattle, immigrants are being detained by ICE agents while attempting to follow the law.
“The judge who usually allows virtual hearings, demanded that [Carmen] come into the courthouse knowing that people were being detained, that cases were being dismissed and people were being detained. And I asked her, what kind of country is this where we punish people for following the law? What message are we sending?” Lincoln-Goldfinch asked.
Images from immigration courthouses across the country show chilling scenes of plainclothes ICE agents, faces hidden by masks, whisking immigrants away into unmarked cars after being summoned for immigration hearings.
Trump administration scales up immigration raids in courthouses
On May 27, acting ICE Director Todd M. Lyons issued a memo providing interim guidance on immigration enforcement actions at or near courthouses. The memo states that any “other aliens encountered during a civil immigration enforcement action in or near a courthouse, such as family members or friends,” can also be subject to immigration enforcement actions including arrest. “Enforcement activities in or near courthouses are often required when jurisdictions refuse to cooperate with ICE,” the memo states.
Carmen was detained by ICE agents as part of a mass arrest of immigrants at San Antonio Immigration Court this past Thursday. According to Priscilla Olivarez with the Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC), last Thursday several people were arrested in this round up, “including a family with four children.” A video circulated by the ILRC shows young children being lined up in the courthouse by plainclothes ICE agents.
According to a policy brief by the American Immigrant Lawyers Association, detainees at courthouse enforcement actions “include individuals of all ages, with reports confirming the detention of families with young children, including toddlers as young as two and three years old.” These actions are often carried out by plainclothes agents who are waiting outside of courthouses to conduct arrests. “In many reports, officers wear masks to hide their identity,” the brief states. “To avoid public or media scrutiny, agents reportedly follow individuals away from court premises before making arrests at a distance from the courthouse. These actions will have a chilling effect if people are too terrified of attending court hearings with the knowledge ICE officers may be waiting to detain them at any given moment. This fear tactic robs non-citizen respondents of accessing a fair hearing process.”
Jess Solis, an immigrant rights activist with the Party for Socialism and Liberation in San Antonio, witnessed the arrests on Thursday, May 29 at the courthouse. Solis described a “horrifying” scene, with Carmen and her husband Eduardo arriving to court expecting due process, only to be “swarmed by plainclothes ICE officers” and separated from one another. According to Solis, Eduardo pleaded with ICE agents to not handcuff his wife, repeating that “She’s not a criminal. She hasn’t committed any crimes.” Carmen had a panic attack while being arrested and led into an ICE van, Solis described.
“These people aren’t criminals,” Solis described. “They haven’t committed any crimes and they’re stuffed into cages. It’s a kidnapping in broad daylight in front of this building that’s supposed to represent justice and due process.”
According to Solis, the Trump administration has begun targeting immigrants at courthouses because they are an “easy target.”
“They already know immigrants are showing up to the courthouse,” Solis told Peoples Dispatch, and detaining these migrants can help the Trump administration reach the new arrest quota of 3,000 per day. “Trump has this crazy number of deportations he wants. He’s fired his head of ICE like three times. He’s changed DHS leadership like three times. There’s this pressure, and they’re going for easy targets. These aren’t criminals. These are people doing it the right way.”
