CONCORD, CA (May 31, 2025) — A pre-Memorial Day weekend arrest by ICE of an individual appearing for a scheduled date in the Concord Immigration Court has advocates on alert for what could be an increasingly  common occurrence as the Trump Administration’s deportation efforts by its law enforcement arm continue to rachet up.

The May 21 incident in Concord follows a trend occurring in other parts of the country where an Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) attorney is seeking to dismiss removal proceedings of an individual. Sometimes the court grants the request and other times not. Either way, that person appearing before the court is subsequently detained by ICE agents who are lurking nearby, maybe in the hall outside the court room, or on the sidewalk outside the building, just waiting to put on the handcuffs.

As for the whereabouts of the individual detained by ICE in Concord, “I don’t know,” said  Abigail L’Esperance, co-director of the Immigration Unit at the East Bay Community Law Center.

She could only say that there are no detention centers in the Bay Area, so the person could have taken to any one of the several locations elsewhere in the state by ICE.

“They have the jurisdiction to take them anywhere around the country,” she added.

[broadstreet zone=”160420″]

Inquiries to ICE to learn more about the May 21 incident and where the individual was taken by agents went unanswered.

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.”

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

Those in the immigrant community who have been in the US for two years or less and are the focus of removal proceedings are the targets of this new tactic by ICE officials.

“It keeps everyone (who is potentially affected) on their toes so no one feels safe,” and  “it allows every day Americans to go on with their lives unaffected,” she continued.

The concern now with this latest tactic by ICE, which L’Esperance regarded as just a new form of intimidation, 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 to show 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 did not require a hearing before an immigration judge.

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

David Scholz

David Scholz is back in journalism as a freelance writer and photographer after nearly two decades in education. Prior to moving into teaching in 2000, he worked as a full-time journalist since 1988 for rural community and small daily newspapers in Central Ohio and Northern Nevada, and later in California with The Business Journal in Fresno and dailies in the Bay Area, including The Oakland Tribune and The San Francisco Chronicle. More recently Scholz also worked in an editing, writing, and page layout role with the Rossmoor News.