Lawyer Says ICE Agents Waited Outside Pasadena Courtroom for His Client, Then Confronted and Arrested Him

[corbe]

Lawyer Says ICE Agents Waited Outside Pasadena Courtroom for His Client, Then Confronted and Arrested Him

By EDDIE RIVERA and JAMES MACPHERSON

Published : Wednesday, February 22, 2017 | 6:05 AM
 
[Updated Wednesday, February 22, 2017 | 7:50 a.m.]  In an unusual incident which has prompted concern among area lawyers, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested a man federal officials said was a previously deported Mexican national with a prior felony conviction for drug trafficking at the Pasadena Courthouse on Tuesday.

According to Virginia Kice, Western Regional Communications Director/Spokesperson for ICE, Enforcement and Removal Operations officers arrested the unidentified man at the courthouse after earlier efforts to locate him at a residence or place of employment proved unsuccessful.

The man’s attorney, Los Angeles criminal lawyer Octavio Chaidez, said the immigration agents were clearly waiting for his client, whom Bar association rules prevent him from naming, to exit the courtroom after a morning hearing. According to Chaidez, the agents recognized the client on sight.

Chaidez said his client had been in court for a parole status hearing, which had seemed to be routine.

Chaidez said that in his 15 years of practicing law, he has never before seen or even heard of immigration agents waiting outside a court hearing to confront and arrest a subject.

“I’ve spoken to some of my colleagues and I haven’t had one that I’ve spoken to, say that this has ever occurred inside of a courthouse,” Chaidez said Tuesday evening. “Some of them have been practicing 30 years and just this morning when I spoke to them they said, ‘I’ve never seen anything like this.’”

According to Department of Homeland Security Executive Order No. 13768 entitled “Enhancing Public Safety in the Interior of the United States,” which was coincidentally released Tuesday morning, “DHS will not exempt classes or categories of removal aliens from potential enforcement. All of those in violation of the immigration laws may be subject to enforcement proceedings, up to and including removal from the United States. The guidance makes clear, however, that ICE should prioritize several categories of removable aliens who have committed crimes, beginning with those convicted of a criminal offense.”

Kice told Pasadena Now that “determinations about where and how ICE enforcement personnel affect both administrative and criminal arrests are made on a case-by-case basis, taking into account all aspects of the situation, including the prospective target’s criminal history; safety considerations; and any sensitivities involving the arrest location.”

Chaidez said that he believes that if ICE is going stake out court hearings in order to locate and confront targeted individuals, that “people are going to stop attending court proceedings.”

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http://www.pasadenanow.com/main/lawyer-says-ice-agents-waited-outside-pasadena-courtroom-for-his-client-then-confronted-and-arrested-him/#.WK5FgGeQyvF

[geronl]

... and?

[Right_in_Virginia]

Chaidez said his client had been in court for a parole status hearing, which had seemed to be routine.

A routine parole status hearing for an illegal alien.   

Nice work, ICE.

[truth_seeker]

Most Hispanics that I know in SoCal want criminals put behind bars, or sent back to their own countries.

Most non-Hispanics that I know in SoCal want criminals put behind bars, or sent back to their own countries.

This guy has conviction(s) for drug trafficking, was previously deported. Exactly the type described by Trump for the highest priority.

Nice to see this administration, keeping campaign commitments.

[Wingnut]

So sad. Too bad, for the illegal.

[Sanguine]

This shouldn't be news.

[anubias]

This shouldn't be news.

No, it shouldn't.  This should have been happening hourly for decades.

[Frank Cannon]

Chaidez said that in his 15 years of practicing law, he has never before seen or even heard of immigration agents waiting outside a court hearing to confront and arrest a subject.

Because we have had open borders filth running the country for that spell of time.

[truth_seeker]

No, it shouldn't.  This should have been happening hourly for decades.

Criminal defense attorneys don't get paid so much, when clients are back across the border into old Mexico.

[Norm Lenhart]

Lets hope this becomes a trend. Maybe fewer snowflakes will go into law as a profession.

[Frank Cannon]

Lets hope this becomes a trend. Maybe fewer snowflakes will go into law as a profession.

LOL. As long as there is a wet floor at a grocery store, a loose bit of curbing or a poorly attached handrail, we will always need a slip and fall lawyer.

[Norm Lenhart]

LOL. As long as there is a wet floor at a grocery store, a loose bit of curbing or a poorly attached handrail, we will always need a slip and fall lawyer.

There's money in slip and fall. Not so much if your paycheck keeps getting deported out from under you. And Tides/Soros/DNCGOP/Cheap labor lobby isn't going to keep paying when they lose their meal tickets to power over and over.

[Smokin Joe]

A routine parole status hearing for an illegal alien.   

Nice work, ICE.

Yep. Nothing like economy in rounding up illegals, and it sure beats chasing him around town (saves on gas). A good, intelligent, use of resources.

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

From the way the headline is written, we're supposed to be outraged I guess?


What's outrageous is that this isn't happening all the time.


Also, why do illegal immigrants have a right to an attorney?

[Smokin Joe]

From the way the headline is written, we're supposed to be outraged I guess?


What's outrageous is that this isn't happening all the time.


Also, why do illegal immigrants have a right to an attorney?

It would save a lot of wear and tear if ICE was instantly notified of illegals in court so they could be deported. Now, I'm not saying the illegals were necessarily guilty of the particular charges which brought them to court in the first place, and this would not be 'punishment' for merely being accused of whatever particular charge that brought them to the courthouse.
But the "illegal" part of "Illegal alien" certainly provides plenty of cause (prima facie) to act to remove such folks.

[Polly Ticks]

It would save a lot of wear and tear if ICE was instantly notified of illegals in court so they could be deported.

They should meet them at the courtroom BEFORE the hearings begin and avoid wasting the judges' time and the taxpayers' money.

 

[Smokin Joe]

They should meet them at the courtroom BEFORE the hearings begin and avoid wasting the judges' time and the taxpayers' money.

Good point!

[Wingnut]

The real reason criminal lawyer Octavio Chaidez is upset is because it cuts into his unreported income stream.  These "clients' pay in cash and his gravy train is coming to an end.

[Fishrrman]

"Lawyer Says ICE Agents Waited Outside Pasadena Courtroom for His Client, Then Confronted and Arrested Him"

So.....?

Sounds like the proper way to do it, to me.

[Oceander]

This article is written to be provocative.  There is nothing wrong with what they did as far as I can tell, and since they had already looked in other places to no avail, it was only reasonable for them to go to the courthouse.