August ICE arrests at Waltham District Courthouse draw concerns for due process

Last Thursday, the Waltham Times received footage from local rapid-response community watchdog group Fuerza depicting an Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrest across the street from the Waltham District Courthouse taken earlier that day, on Aug. 28. 

The Waltham Times has since verified the footage with other eyewitness accounts and confirmed that a person who attended Waltham District Court for a probation hearing early on Aug. 28 was checked into the Plymouth County Correctional Facility in the custody of ICE later that day. Two license plates on cars driven by agents involved in the arrest also match license plates in the parking lot of the Burlington office of ICE. 

One car’s plate also matches the license plate shown on a car in video footage, also from Fuerza, from Aug. 7 that appears to depict an ICE arrest directly in front of the courthouse. In the video, agents do not identify themselves and one agent brings out a taser when the man being arrested says he does not want to be taken in by force.

A Fuerza volunteer who asked not to be named after apparent intimidation by ICE said other volunteers have been reporting that ICE agents have been appearing around the courthouse more frequently in late August. Some neighboring businesses and houses have also reported ICE arrests in the past month.

“We are deeply disturbed that the Waltham Courthouse has become an ICE trap, targeting people who are complying with the legal process and have claims to asylum or other protections,” said Jonathan Paz, founding member of Fuerza, in a statement to the Waltham Times.

“Instead of a fair day in court, they are met with violations of due process and violent arrests — aided by the courts, which turn a blind eye to ICE’s lawlessness and grant them privileged access to the building,” he continued. “We cannot stand by and watch our courthouse and city become a beacon of authoritarianism.”

In response, a spokesperson for the Massachusetts Trial Court pointed to a clause in their policy on interaction with ICE agents, which says court personnel “shall neither assist nor impede ICE officers or employees in detaining a person.” 

It further specifies court workers may not detain a person specifically so that ICE officers have an opportunity to arrive on scene — although earlier Trial Court policy says ICE agents have requested that court workers do so — but they may allow ICE agents to enter a court’s lockup to arrest individuals not in state custody provided they have a detainer for the person.

ICE at Massachusetts courthouses

A similar arrest at a Boston courthouse in May garnered widespread attention after ICE agents arrested a man outside of the courthouse while his case was still on trial. In that case, the judge charged one of the agents with contempt of court for depriving the defendant of his right to due process. 

Although the district attorney subsequently dismissed the contempt charge, it sparked attention around ICE activity at or near courthouses, with some national news outlets reporting on cases of courthouse arrests around the country.

ICE agents have been detaining people at or nearby Massachusetts courthouses for years, said Anthony Puopolo, a defense attorney who practices mostly in Marlborough. He says this has been the case throughout the seven years he’s been practicing criminal law.

He said he’s seen a small but noticeable increase in arrests in the past year, although he isn’t sure whether that’s attributable to more detentions or ICE policy that leads to more visible arrests.

In a memorandum published in 2021, then-acting director of ICE Tae Johnson and acting commissioner of Customs and Border Protection Troy Miller lays out that, “to the fullest extent possible,” immigration enforcement agents should conduct any arrests at courthouses in non-public areas, cooperating with courthouse security, and “at the conclusion of the judicial proceeding that brought the individual to the courthouse.”

A more recent memorandum penned this May by ICE acting director Todd Lyons, superceding past policy, similarly encourages limiting ICE arrests to non-public areas “to the extent practicable,” but doesn’t mention waiting until the end of court cases — only requiring that “when practicable, ICE officers and agents will continue to conduct civil immigration enforcement actions… to minimize their impact on court proceedings.” 

Puopolo says that these arrests absolutely do impact court proceedings, as he has observed them currently happening “at arraignment or sometime in the middle of the process,” depriving defendants of the ability to finish their trial and access to due process. “It is important that these people are being charged with a crime — which means they have a right to defend themselves,” he said.

He added that this undercuts the protections of the justice system not just for the people getting arrested — but also, if the arrested individuals are actually guilty of the crimes for which they’re accused, of their victims. “Their alleged victims are actually getting victimized further… because they’re not getting the justice they deserve.”

Another attorney in the area, Arthur Kelly, says he believes he’s seen an uptick in ICE arrests on the grounds of courthouses in the last month. He says he and some other attorneys have requested their clients be allowed to appear via Zoom so they don’t have to come to the courthouse in person. 

“It’s a profound fear that [defendants] will not be able to address their criminal cases in court, because if they’re detained by ICE, it’s likely that they never will be able to,” Kelly said.

What’s happening now

Federal officials have recently warned of a surge in ICE activity targeting Boston in response to policies that limit cooperation between local Boston law enforcement and ICE.

Adriana Lafaille, a managing attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, says she has definitely seen an increase in arrests around courtrooms — as well as general ICE activity — under the current federal administration. 

She says the ACLU worries this will make people afraid to go to court — which can have a cascade effect, where people may be less willing to bring charges in cases where they are victimized and witnesses may be less willing to appear in court to testify.

“When people are afraid to go to court, it means that the rule of law is eroded, because courthouses are really important places for the community,” she said. “It means that certain wrongs that our legal system is designed to help redress go unaddressed. People whose employers don’t pay them might feel unsafe pursuing claims, people in abusive relationships might feel unsafe seeking protection.”

ICE has not responded to multiple requests for comment and information about the Aug. 7 and 28 arrests or about other ICE activity around the Waltham District Courthouse.