Federal agents are arresting immigrants reporting to court and potentially impacting the criminal justice system in Minnesota, say local authorities.
Undocumented people have been arrested in Hennepin County, and one sheriff who oversees a jail that houses U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement (ICE) arrestees is seeing an increase in detainees. Some worry that undocumented people may be less likely to show up to court or report crimes for fear of becoming ICE targets.
ICE agents arrested defendants at Hennepin County District Court in the past week, said Hennepin County Chief Public Defender Mike Berger. At least one arrest has taken place at the Hennepin County Government Center in downtown Minneapolis, said Berger, who could not specify how many people have been arrested or the exact location. He said they happened either inside or nearby the government center, which houses the courthouse.
“We have seen ICE agents taking folks into custody for immigration matters in the courthouse,” Berger said.
Berger said whether the arrests took place in the lobby of the government center, or right outside the building, the arrests target people who are attending court.
“In the mind of a public defender, in the courthouse and at the courthouse is a distinction without a difference,” he said.
An individual was also arrested by ICE at their home before a scheduled court appearance at a Hennepin County courthouse, Berger said. There are several Hennepin County courthouse locations, including in downtown Minneapolis and in Minnetonka.
Bonney Bowman, communications manager for Hennepin County District Court, said her office has not been able to verify if any ICE arrests have taken place. ICE does not notify Hennepin County District Court if they make an arrest, she said.
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According to the Immigration Policy Tracking Project, which publishes President Donald Trump’s immigration policies online, ICE agents can target undocumented people for various reasons, including if the person is deemed a national security or public safety threat, is a gang member, or if they were ordered to leave the United States but failed to.
ICE agents can enter a courthouse to conduct an arrest if they have “credible information” that the targeted person will be there and “where such action is not precluded by laws imposed by the jurisdiction in which the civil immigration enforcement action will take place,” according to ICE’s website.
Arrests of undocumented people who accompany defendants to court will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, according to the Immigration Policy Tracking Project.
Berger said the Hennepin County Public Defender’s Office frequently works with clients who are undocumented. The arrests are not raids, he said, but rather, are targeting specific people. He said that in order to find people with immigration issues, ICE agents are likely looking at public calendars issued by the court showing when defendants must report to court.
“I think what we’re dealing with is probably the new reality, which is if there is an undocumented individual on the [court] calendar … there’s now a more likely than not chance that ICE is going to be there at their court hearing, because that’s a way they can find someone,” Berger said.
The people most likely to be impacted by courthouse arrests are mostly charged with lower level offenses, he said, because defendants charged with more serious crimes are likely in jail already.
Berger’s concerned that fear of ICE arrests could deter undocumented defendants from appearing in court for their cases.
“They are trying to integrate into our society and are trying to do the right thing, and are trying to participate in the court system and make amends for a mistake they made,” Berger said of undocumented defendants with court cases.
Hennepin County public defenders who represent undocumented clients have been feeling an “immense” amount of anxiety, he said, but are limited in what they can do because the arrests are executed under federal law. Berger said his office can advise clients about the potential outcomes if they appear in court.
“I can’t stress that enough — we’re doing everything we can to mitigate this impact. But because it is federal law, there’s nothing we actually can do to fight it,” he said. “So we’re sort of stuck.”
Dakota County Sheriff Joe Leko said he hasn’t seen an increase in people being arrested by ICE in the Dakota County courthouse. The sheriff’s office provides security in the courthouse. He said ICE arrests occur outside the courthouse a few times a month with uniformed agents.
“They monitor our jail booking sheets to determine who’s in custody and they know when people are being released. If they want to detain them, they can, but they can’t come into our jail and they don’t come into our courts to do that,” Leko said.
ICE contracts with three jails in Minnesota to house detainees: the Sherburne County jail in Elk River, the Freeborn County jail in Albert Lea and the Kandiyohi County jail in Willmar.
Freeborn County Sheriff Ryan Shea said the jails that ICE contracts with can’t provide information about the number of ICE detainees they’re housing. But he confirmed that the Freeborn County jail has seen an increase in detainees in the past week.
“We kind of expected that there we would see something like this,” Shea said.
Kandiyohi County Sheriff Eric Tollefson said his jail has not seen an increase in ICE detainees, and that the number of detainees has been mostly stable over the past year.
Tollefson said he’s worried that the current political climate will make undocumented residents less likely to call 911 to report a crime due to immigration fears.
“They’ve always been hesitant to call us … which is really unfortunate, and this rhetoric now has just increased that fear, I suppose,” he said.
This story has been updated with information from a Hennepin County District Court spokesperson.
Correction: This story has been updated to reflect that an arrest happened at an individual’s home, not at the Ridgedale Hennepin County courthouse in Minnetonka.
