The man had just fired an immigration case, and his wife and eight-year-old son chased after him when an agent was surrounded, then handcuffed him outside a courtroom in downtown Los Angeles.
Erick Eduardo Fonseca Solorzano was speechless. His wife trembled in panic. A federal agent explained in Spanish that he would be placed in a quick removal procedure.
Just in the moment Friday, Judge Peter A. Kim issued a fire in his deportation case. Now his son saw with big eyes as the agent quickly shuffled him to the service elevator. The boy was silent, approaching his mother and shed tears.
“This child will be hurt for the rest of his life,” said Lindsay Tozzilawski, CEO and co-founder of the Immigration Defenderslow Centre.
His father was taken into custody on ice after a court hearing was held inside North Los Angeles Street Immigration Court on Friday.
(Carlin Steel/Los Angeles Times)
Similar scenes take place across the country as the Department of Homeland Security asks to dismiss its own deportation case. The agents then arrest the migrants immediately in pursuit of a rapid removal that does not require a hearing before the judge.
Court arrests escalate the Trump administration’s efforts to speed up deportation. Immigrants who cannot prove they have been in the United States for more than two years are eligible for deportation without a judicial hearing. Historically, these rapid removals have only been made at the border, but the administration has been trying to expand its use.
The policy has been challenged in court.
“Secretary [Kristi] Noem is reversing Biden’s catch-and-release policy, which allowed millions of illegal aliens to be unleashed on American streets,” said a senior Department of Homeland Security official.
Officials said most migrants who have illegally entered the United States within the past two years are “subject to rapid removal.” However, he pointed out that if they have valid, reliable, fear claims, as required by law, they will continue to immigration lawsuits.
Toczylowski said it was Fonseca Solorzano’s first appearance in court. Like many people arrested this week, Fonseca Solorzano arrived in the US from Honduras via CPB One, an application set up during the Biden administration that provided asylum seekers with a way to legally enter the country through background checks.
Elendila de la Riva, left, Sarai de la Riva and Maria Elena de la Riva will tell media on Friday about the status of Alvaro de la Riva, who was detained on ice the night before and taken to immigration court on North Los Angeles Street.
(Carlin Steel/Los Angeles Times)
Since January 2023, over 900,000 people have been granted nationally on immigrant parole under the app. The Trump administration has turned the tool into a self-abolizing app.
“We punish people who follow the rules and for doing what the government asks them to do,” Tozzilovsky said.
“I think this practice certainly seemed to have rocked some of the court staff because it is a very unusual policy and is a very bad policy to do this, taking into account who it is targeted and the ripple effects it has.
The Times Reporter witnessed three arrests Friday in the hallway of a windowless court on the eighth floor of a federal building in downtown. An agent dressed in plain clothes from the court came out to signal the agent in the hallway. One wears a red flannel shirt when immigrants who were subject to detention were about to leave.
“No, please,” cried Gabby Gaitan. His Manila folder of documents spilled on the floor. She crumpled to the ground with tears. “Where are they taking him?”
Richard Prido, a 25-year-old Venezuelan, arrived at the border last fall and was making his first appearance, she said. He was afraid to attend a court hearing, but she said missing it would make his situation worse.
Gaitan said he came to the US last September after Palido escaped violence in his home country.
The immigrants from Kazakhstan asked the judge not to dismiss his case without success, but left the court. On the bench across from the door, two immigration agents nodded to each other, and one of them said, “Let’s go.”
They stood quickly and called out to the man. They turned him aside and back to the service elevator. He was defeated, bowed his head, as they searched for him, handcuffed him, shuffled him into the service elevator.
Attorneys who were in Santa Anna and Los Angeles courts this week say the effort appears to have been highly coordinated between homeland security lawyers and federal agents. Family members and lawyers have described similar accounts in Miami, Seattle, New York, San Diego, Chicago and more.
During Purid’s hearing, Homeland Security Attorney Carolyn Marie Tompkins explicitly stated why she wanted the removal proceedings to be rejected.
“The government is going to pursue rapid removal in this case,” she said. Parid appeared confused about what the termination meant and asked the judge for clarity. Prid objected to the fall of his lawsuit.
“I feel I can make a lot of contributions to this country,” he said.
Kim said that it wasn’t enough and dismissed the case.
People line up outside North Los Angeles Street Immigration Court before Friday’s hearing.
(Carlin Steel/Los Angeles Times)
Court arrests want immigration rights advocates who say the rules of the game are changing every day for immigrants trying to work within the system.
“The immigration courts must be where people present and evaluate their claims of relief and move up or down whether they can stay. “It’s peeled off at every turn.
“It’s another attempt by the Trump administration to blow away fear of the community, and it appears to be targeting people who are doing the right thing in accordance with what the government asked them to do,” she said.
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