In a troubling development for immigration policy, at least three individuals were detained at immigration courts in Massachusetts on Tuesday, marking a significant shift in enforcement tactics by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
This incident reportedly marks the first time local immigrants have been subjected to detention in and around courts overseen by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Executive Office of Immigration Review.
According to attorneys and immigration advocates, two men were apprehended in a parking lot leaving the immigration court in Chelmsford after their hearings.
Meanwhile, in Boston, a woman from Colombia was taken into custody by ICE inside the immigration court. This occurred just outside the room where she had just participated in her hearing, and her attorneys requested that her name not be disclosed due to potential repercussions in court.
The woman is married to a legal permanent resident, further complicating her situation.
Efforts to gain an understanding of the specific details surrounding the three individuals’ cases were hampered, as GBH News could not independently verify information, and ICE did not respond to requests for comment.
Adriana Lafaille, managing attorney at the ACLU of Massachusetts, expressed deep concern over these incidents.
“This is a very concerning trend,” Lafaille stated. “All people in the United States have a right to due process of law. It’s really concerning to hear of ICE coming into immigration courts and then acting to deprive people of their day in court.”
Individuals are typically required to appear in immigration court for various reasons, including applications for immigration benefits or relief like asylum, adjustments of status, bond hearings, appeals, and addressing alleged violations of immigration law.
Missing a hearing can lead to a judge issuing an order of removal, or deportation.
Attorneys have noted that the tactic of conducting arrests in courthouses presents a daunting scenario for immigrants who are simply trying to adhere to legal procedures, a stark contrast to practices seen under prior administrations.
“This is a flagrant violation of fundamental fairness in court,” said Heather Arroyo, senior immigration attorney at the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute.
Arroyo asserted that such actions have not been witnessed under any previous administrations, not even during the initial Trump administration.
The woman detained in Boston was engaged in a hearing concerning her immigration status when immigration judge Mark Donovan ordered that she not be subjected to expedited removal. Instead, her status was to be adjudicated through the standard immigration court procedures.
Expedited removal allows federal authorities to detain and deport individuals without requiring their appearance before an immigration judge.
ICE’s Office of the Principal Legal Advisor asked the judge to terminate her case, yet her immigration attorney, Christy Rodriguez from the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute, requested a continuance, which Donovan granted.
Rodriguez noted this ruling should have prevented her client’s detention since her case was still active in court.
However, despite this, Rodriguez reported that her client was approached by approximately ten plainclothes officers outside the courtroom and was placed in handcuffs.
“I pushed back and said, ‘On what basis?” Rodriguez recounted. “They said, ‘we’re going to put her into expedited removal proceedings.’”
Rodriguez attempted to present evidence of her client’s upcoming hearing date, but the agents insisted on their orders to take her into custody.
Attorney Benjamin Tymann, assisting the woman through a Massachusetts Law Reform Institute program, filed a habeas petition in Boston federal court arguing that her arrest violated her due process rights.
District court Judge Leo Sorokin responded by issuing an order that blocked her deportation or transfer to another state.
“She was wrongfully detained by ICE, in direct violation of immigration Judge Donovan’s order,” Tymann stated.
He noted that ICE detained her immediately following the hearing and sought to place her into expedited removal proceedings, disregarding the events in the courtroom that had just transpired.
Furthermore, Tymann expressed ongoing difficulty in determining his client’s current location, calling the detention “troubling.” He criticized what he labeled an “increasingly lawless approach by ICE in these matters,” highlighting the growing concerns about the treatment of immigrants within the court system.
image source from：https://www.wgbh.org/news/local/2025-05-27/ice-begins-detentions-at-immigration-courts-in-boston-and-chelmsford
