Julio David Pérez Rodríguez attended an immigration hearing last week in pursuit of a refugee status in the United States, Cuban nationals were parked in an elevator by undercover agents, handcuffed and detained.
"Why did you make me handcuff if I did nothing illegal?" the 22-year-old begged Spanish in tears. Miami's arrest was arrested in an emotional video aired by Noticias Telemundo.
"We are going to come to this country to seek freedom. ...What's going on in this country?" he said, before plainclothes officials drove him away.
Pérez Rodríguez is one of dozens of immigrants who have been drawing similar trawls across the country since last week, as the reality of President Donald Trump's massive deportation further penetrates the consciousness of American families.
Many people who have seen loved ones handcuffed and taken away accompany their families in immigration procedures seeking asylum or want to file lawsuits before the judge avoids deportation, which is a legal process against immigration and provides spelling for immigration judges in court practice manuals.
Billy Botch, an observer working on the American Friend Services Committee in Florida, said the arrests happened immediately after the immigration case was dismissed or closed, causing some to express joy, express gratitude in prayer or celebration, just to let all be replaced by sorrow, fear and anger because they were handcuffed and detained. A social justice nonprofit organization composed of Quakers.
"We are talking about people who have complied with court procedures and have asylum or other legal protections," Gregory Chen, senior director of government relations at the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), told NBC News. "They should have the right to have a fair day in court."
Trump is running for president, promising to focus on abandoning violent criminals, often citing the names of crime victims of immigrants in the country.
But Chen said with the arrests in court and immigration and citizenship services, “Dragher swept through members of our community among all the stripes of foreign nationals, who have been here for a long time, with family members here, and family work here.
Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said the Trump administration is restoring the rule of law after Joe Biden passes policies “allowing millions of uncensored illegal foreigners to relax on American streets.” ”
But immigration lawyers and advocates say the trawlers appear to be an attempt by the Trump administration to bypass constitutional due process protections for immigration.
Based on observations by lawyers and advocates who have been monitoring arrests, Chen said immigration and customs law enforcement trial lawyers are appearing in immigration courts, with people scheduled hearings and asked the judge to dismiss the case.
Chen said: “In most cases, even if the court’s practice manuals usually require written motions, they do so verbally.
The on-site office of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has witnessed similar arrests, which handles citizenship or legal permanent residence applications, also known as green cards, as well as worker and other welfare visas.
"In several cities where American citizens and their interviews have been arrested," Chen said.
He said Aila and immigration lawyers were instructing people to stick to the government's written motions, asking them to fire their request for dismissal, demanding time to respond to the motions - according to the court manual, the judge was asked not to immediately decide on the government's motions.
Some immigration judges belong to the Ministry of Justice, not part of the administration of the judiciary, and appear to be requesting and dismissing the case with the ICE.
"Even without a written motion, some judges immediately approved the motion without giving a person 10 days to make the motion properly understand and respond to the motion," Chen said.
The case was dismissed, and plainclothes officials who had been stationed in corridors or elsewhere arrested and formed an immigrant to speed up deportation, which is known as speeding up evacuation.
In these immigration arrests, crime is often not a problem. Instead, the standard appears to be to capture immigrants from the Biden administration and not live in the country for more than two years.
The Trump administration has phased out many programs that allow immigrants to seek asylum or allow them to enter the country through parole. Government officials believe that people who use these programs are misdemeanors for illegal entry into the United States.
McLaughlin, assistant secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, said Biden ignored the fact that most people were under accelerated dismissal and released millions of immigrants, including violent criminals, and notified immigration judges.
"If they have valid claims, they will continue to carry out immigration procedures, but if no valid claims are found, the aliens will be deported quickly," she said.
Accelerated evacuation is usually reserved for people who have been less than 100 miles from the border and those in the country for two years or less. But the Trump administration has used expedited evacuation across the country.
Chen said the way Gantry played was unsettling due to the lack of due process and the lack of need for an attorney Ice to file a written motion to explain its sacking basis.
"We are also concerned about the high level of cooperation between the court and the ICE, which appears to be a cooperative enforcement action, and judges are making these quick decisions to dismiss these cases so that Ice can detain Ice and be deported quickly," he said.
The Department of Homeland Security did not answer questions about whether the immigration judge had been directed to close the case, and if possible, a copy of these instructions was provided.
"We all have bosses," said Bott, a Miami judge who rejected a person's request to be fired, saying: "We all have bosses."
Bosch said another judge stood out because he denied the government lawyer’s firing request in six of seven cases and approved a six-day continuation of immigration, giving them time to find a lawyer.
He said most immigration cases he observed in court date back to 2022.
Chen said arresting people seeking asylum or relief is a waste of law enforcement resources because ICE must give them "credible fear" interviews. Such interviews determine whether the person has reason to worry about persecution due to race, religion, nationality, members of a particular social group or political opinion if returned to his homeland.
Chen said immigrants who are already in the asylum process have a great chance of passing credible fear interviews and will eventually return to the judge to hear asylum claims.
"You've seen not only a huge expansion of ICE law enforcement, but also several other agencies that have entered these courts; it's a huge spending on resources, detaining them and spending taxpayer resources to detain these people who have already complied with the law," Chen said.
Ice officials, open to the public during hearings, have been clearing courts and threatening to arrest or intimidate people trying to observe lawsuits or arrests, according to lawyers. Chen said in some cases, they forced the court to close even when the hearing was made public.
The arrests of the immigration court put immigrants on the edge, with shocked and panicked people having pending cases and their families.
When Peréz Rodríguez attended the hearing on Tuesday, another 20 people experienced similar situations on different floors of the building.
Among the arrested people is a New York City high school student who was detained after the hearing last week, sparking protest calls. There were reported arrests in Miami court last week and this week. San Francisco; Sacramento, California; San Antonio; and several other cities.
According to City News, protesters clashed with police on Wednesday night to try to interrupt the arrest of the New York City building where the immigration court is located.
Chen said the court's law enforcement presence has become "essentially a cooperative department" and is daunting. He said this would give people “a legal right in court”, thus making people afraid to appear in court.
"This will undermine the rule of law that Americans expect," he said.