ICE agents have been targeting immigrants at courthouses, including 26 Federal Plaza, arresting people after routine immigration hearings. Many migrant youth, including those living in city shelters, fear appearing in person for hearings and face uncertainty about what to do if arrested. Volunteers and youth-centered city organizations are increasingly providing guidance and accompaniment to court to help navigate hearings and protect vulnerable cases, such as Special Immigrant Juvenile petitions. One 21-year-old from Guinea was stopped by ICE at a courthouse exit, searched through documents, and released only after agents did not find his name.
After his immigration hearing ended in August, what the 21-year-old from Guinea feared most happened. At the exit door, agents from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) stopped him and asked for his documents. Upon entering the courtroom earlier, he had seen ICE agents patrolling the halls of 26 Federal Plaza, where they've been targeting immigrants appearing for routine hearings for arrest and deportation.
"I started shivering, because I'm not used to being detained like that," the 21-year-old said. City Limits is withholding his identity as he fears it could jeopardize his petition for Special Immigrant Juvenile status, which protects qualifying minors from deportation and allows them to work. "I gave [my documents] to them, and they went through the list. They didn't see my name, so they went through it for the second time."
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