Dean Johnson, Chief Justice Cantil-Sakauye comment on ICE arrest at court

Dean Kevin R. Johnson and the Chief Justice of California, Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye ’84, spoke to Capital Public Radio after an undocumented immigrant was arrested inside Sacramento Superior Court in August. The two were interviewed separately, but both interviews appeared on the Aug. 29 episode of “Insight with Beth Ruyak.”

“It is hard to say that the state court judge has any legal authority over the federal government in that circumstance,” Johnson told Capital Public Radio reporter Chris Nichols. “But at the same time, it raises an array of tensions between the state and federal government that have provoked a fair amount of concern.”

The arrest of a man inside a courtroom - on what an ICE spokesman told Nichols was a federal criminal arrest warrant - alarmed some immigrant-rights advocates. They contend that ICE arrests in public courtrooms will have a chilling effect on undocumented immigrants’ participation in the justice system, making them less likely to be witnesses or come forward when crimes are perpetrated against them.

The immigrant advocates’ views echo sentiments Cantil-Sakauye expressed in a 2016 open letter to the Trump administration stating her opposition to ICE agents apprehending individuals appearing for court dates. Cantil-Sakauye reaffirmed those sentiments to Capital Public Radio.

Arrests like the one in Sacramento are “short-sighted, in the message it sends to the communities about the ability to come to court to resolve your disputes,” she said.