June 10 ICE arrests outside Concord court spark protest

CONCORD, CA (June 26, 2025) — The early June escalation of ICE arrest activity in California included more arrests and sparked a protest outside the Concord Immigration Courts, as the Trump Administration’s deportation efforts continued to ratchet up.

The latest arrests followed a pre-Memorial Day weekend arrest by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, which put advocates on alert for what was expected to be an increasingly common occurrence.

Ultimately, ICE agents made four arrests of immigrants on June 10, during which time hundreds of protestors descended on the Gateway Boulevard site, yelling and pushing agents and blocking federal vehicles as they attempted to remove the detainees from the area.

Courtroom appearances become a trap

The arrests of individuals making scheduled appearances for their cases in the Concord court follow a trend occurring in other parts of the country, where an ICE attorney is seeking to dismiss removal proceedings of an individual. Sometimes the court grants the request, and other times not. Either way, the person appearing before the court is subsequently detained by ICE agents, who are waiting nearby—maybe in the hall outside the courtroom, or on the sidewalk outside the building—just waiting to put on the handcuffs.

An ICE spokesman, in a statement issued Wed., June 11, noted the actions by ICE agents are in accordance with interim guidelines issued back on Jan. 21. These guidelines permit ICE officers to conduct civil immigration enforcement actions in or near courthouses when they have credible information that leads them to believe the targeted alien(s) is or will be present at a specific location dedicated to non-criminal proceedings, like family court and small claims court.

Arrests target newer arrivals

The targets of these latest arrests are individuals who have been in the U.S. for two years or less, according to Abigail L’Esperance, co-director of the Immigration Unit at the East Bay Community Law Center.

Heliodoro Moreno, an attorney with the Contra Costa County Public Defender’s Office, sourced in multiple media outlets, acknowledged that ICE agents have been showing up in Concord weekly over the past several weeks to make such arrests.

Moreno noted these individuals were reportedly at least being processed through ICE’s San Francisco facilities. But from there, L’Esperance suggested their whereabouts were not known, as the individuals could have been taken to any one of several different detention facilities elsewhere in California or around the country.

Chilling effect on ­immigrant participation

In a prepared statement, the Department of Homeland Security advised local media outlets that, “Secretary (Kristi) Noem is reversing (President Joe) Biden’s catch and release policy that allowed millions of unvetted illegal aliens to be let loose on American streets.”

“If they have a valid credible fear claim, they will continue in immigration proceedings, but if no valid claim is found, aliens will be subject to a swift deportation,” a senior DHS spokesperson added.

L’Esperance was not surprised by ICE’s targeted enforcement at immigration courts, noting it “keeps it quiet and targeted to the immigration community,” and the enforcement arm is “more fully hidden.”

But with the most recent reaction by protestors, ICE activities are being more heavily scrutinized—and the arrests are anything but quiet.

The concern now with this latest tactic by ICE, which L’Esperance regarded as just a new form of intimidation, is that it will scare immigrants away from showing up for their scheduled immigration hearings. And, as a result, when the person fails to show, judges have no alternative but to order deportation.

“It’s an almost automatic win for ICE,” she said.

For those individuals who do appear for their cases and are detained, their cases proceed in courts within the detention facilities where they are taken. However, L’Esperance noted there are now new barriers created for these individuals to adequately argue their cases. Either they cannot access the necessary documents, and/or they are not able to communicate with their legal counsel.

Where ICE attorneys do successfully get cases dismissed, ICE agents have the prerogative to subsequently detain those immigrants, and an expedited removal process is set in motion to deport the individual from the country.

“The expedited removal proceedings strip them of their due process, and ICE becomes prosecutor, judge, and jury,” said L’Esperance. “There are fewer safeguards, and they do not require a hearing before an immigration judge.

“Immigrants have little due process because of the speed that this happens,” she added.