Federal officials cited four people on Thursday who were observing immigrants attending their appointments with Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the Edward J. Schwartz Federal Building in downtown San Diego, according to volunteers who were involved.
The incident was met by confusion from the volunteers who for months have been observing and offering prayers to immigrants arrested while attending scheduled check-ins with ICE or immigration court hearings.
Two volunteers, including the leader of a faith ministry, who spoke to inewsource said this marks the first time that the volunteers have been cited for the practice.
Officials with the Federal Protective Service, which provides security services on federal property, cited the volunteers under a legal code stating that anyone on federal property must follow the posted regulations and directions from security. A notice posted to the entrance of the building lists the regulations, which include no loitering.
In a statement Friday, a spokesperson for the Federal Protective Service said it is against federal law “to obstruct the use, enjoyment, or access to federal property, including foyers, lobbies, and corridors” and that “noncompliance with lawful commands from federal law enforcement is a crime.”
The spokesperson pointed to regulations implemented in November and went on to reference violent incidents between “rioters” and Homeland Security personnel, and said that “others have chosen to ignore commands and have attempted to obstruct law enforcement operations.” The statement did not specify where those incidents occurred.
Volunteers who have been observing at the San Diego federal building say they have done so peacefully.
As President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown escalated in San Diego last year, ICE and other federal agents began arresting immigrants inside the federal building as they showed up for their legal proceedings or appointments.
In the following months, volunteers have regularly visited the hallways of the building to observe and document the arrests, as well as offer comfort to those being detained.
Critics say ICE’s practice punishes immigrants for trying to follow the rules. If they don’t show up for scheduled court appearances, they are typically ordered deported in absentia.
Federal judges have ruled in some individual cases that detentions outside immigration courtrooms were unlawful.
In August, a federal judge barred agents from making courtroom arrests for the purposes of putting immigrants in a fast-track deportation process known as expedited removal, Daylight San Diego reported. Volunteers noted that ICE shifted arrest tactics in the following months.
Robert Kovelman, one of the observers cited, said since July he has been coming to the federal building to observe the arrests. But after arriving Thursday morning on the second floor of the building, where ICE offices for check-ins are located, he said officials with the Federal Protective Service told him that he was loitering.
Kovelman said he then left the floor briefly and came back to reconvene with other volunteers after reviewing the rules posted on the building and seeing that they had not changed from previous months. Minutes later, the officers came back with another warning and asked the volunteers to leave.
The volunteers asked for clarification on the regulations forbidding their presence there, and that’s when they were detained and cited, Kovelman said. He was detained for 45 minutes and told not to reenter that day. The citation includes a fine for $280, but he plans to fight it in federal court.
Kovelman said before today, Federal Protective Service officials had told them that they were allowed to be there.
“It’s clear something has changed,” he said. But he still plans to come back to continue observing “when it’s most appropriate.”
“I’ll see about next week,” he said.
While the First Amendment protects documenting and observing government conduct, the government can sometimes impose restrictions on where those activities take place. But the restrictions need to be clear and applied equally, said David Loy, legal director at the First Amendment Coalition.
In this case, Loy said it’s not clear that what the observers were doing is considered loitering and it raises “significant questions” about whether the restriction is valid.
“In other words,” he said, “is mere presence for purposes of observing these check-ins, is that loitering in the eyes of the law or is that fulfilling an appropriate purpose?”
The Rev. Hung Nguyen with Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in Logan Heights said he arrived at the federal building after observers were cited. Nguyen leads a ministry of volunteers who observe proceedings there, which he said helps maintain peace in the hallways where immigrants are sometimes arrested without warning.
“We’re there to be present and we’re there to accompany people with prayers,” Nguyen said. “There’s no citation, there’s no regulation on the code that says prayer is part of loitering.”
Nguyen said he was disappointed and worried for the immigrants attending scheduled appointments with ICE without anyone witnessing their detention.
“I feel that pain for people walking down that hall and saying, ‘This might be the last time that people see me.’”
5:25 p.m. Friday, Feb. 27: This story was updated to include a response from the Federal Protective Service.
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News: Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
