ICE takes people into custody in San Diego as they leave immigration court

Update, May 23 at 9:30 a.m.: inewsource updated this story to include comment from Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

A man started hyperventilating and fell to the ground just outside an immigration courtroom in downtown San Diego on Thursday after federal agents handcuffed and detained him briefly without a warrant, according to his attorney.

Federal agents, apparently with a list of specific targets, had been waiting in the hallway outside courtrooms and had handcuffed and detained several people before escorting them out of the area. Immigration activists and attorneys were also in the hallway, having arrived to monitor the situation and assist clients after reports of immigration agents in the building.  

The man’s attorney, who is licensed in the state of California and did not want to be named, said agents were looking for another person when they handcuffed his client, whose case is still ongoing.  

The man was just exiting from the courtroom with his attorney when an agent grabbed his arm and several more surrounded him. They handcuffed the man before he collapsed to the ground, lying face down. 

The attorney repeatedly asked agents to see a warrant and asked why they were arresting his client. 

“You’re currently making an unlawful arrest,” he told agents. 

inewsource was in the hallway when agents took three people into custody that afternoon. Activists said another three were detained earlier in the day. 

The news of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in San Diego immigration courtrooms comes after similar reports across the country. Critics say the practice discourages immigrants from showing up to their court proceedings and following the rules. 

The Department of Homeland under Secretary Kristi Noem is attempting to use a deportation fact-track process called expedited removal, which allows immigration officials to quickly deport someone, sometimes within a single day, unless they show a “valid credible fear” of returning to their home country. 

President Donald Trump expanded the program to apply to migrants without legal status anywhere in the U.S. who cannot prove they have lived here longer than two years. 

Yolanda Choates, a spokesperson for ICE, said the most people who entered the U.S. without documents under the Biden administration are subject to expedited removal. 

“Secretary Noem is reversing Biden’s catch and release policy that allowed millions of unvetted illegal aliens to be let loose on American streets. This Administration is once again implementing the rule of law,” Choates said in a statement.  

Trump also rolled back a policy that previously prevented immigration officials from doing enforcement inside courthouses, as well as schools, hospitals and other locations. 

The scene outside the hallway Thursday was at times tense and chaotic. Attorneys demanded warrants from the federal agents handcuffing their clients while the agents insisted they had authority they needed to make arrests. Activists in the hallway filmed agents as they handcuffed migrants, sometimes questioning agents’ actions or denouncing them.

Twice, federal agents warned those in the hallway that they would arrest anyone interfering or impeding them. 

Agents, some in plainclothes and others ICE jackets, propped the man up from the ground and leaned him against the wall as he was gasping and sweating with his head hanging toward the ground. 

“Take a breath man, it’s not that serious,” one agent told him. 

A few minutes later, when the man was standing again, agents uncuffed and released him. The attorney slung his client’s arm over his shoulder as they exited the hallway. 

Outside the courthouse, paramedics evaluated the man before he left. 

Editor’s note: This story has been updated in response to a request related to safety concerns.