ICE Arrests Near Massachusetts Courthouses Illegal, Suit Says

Massachusetts prosecutors, public defenders, and civil litigants asked a federal court to bar Immigration and Customs Enforcement from conducting immigration arrests in courthouses.

The practice is unconstitutional, and violates federal immigration law and the Administrative Procedure Act, the plaintiffs say.

ICE’s civil-courthouse arrest policy prevents non-citizens from accessing courthouses, makes it difficult to secure witnesses to testify in court, and acts as a chill on court access, the complaint alleges.

The plaintiffs are the district attorneys for Middlesex County and Suffolk County, Mass.; the Committee for Public Counsel Services, which is responsible for indigent criminal defense in the Commonwealth; and ...