ÃÛÌÒÓ°ÏñAV

“Me opongo,“ they said — “I oppose� in Spanish.

They were opposing government motions to dismiss their immigration cases.

Across the country, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have been using a tricky tactic, in an apparent effort to increase deportations to meet Trump administration goals.

ICE attorneys have been asking judges to dismiss people’s immigration cases, and if they do, ICE agents waiting at the courthouse immediately arrest those migrants. The disappearance of their existing cases makes them vulnerable to fast deportation.

Top Trump aides Stephen Miller and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem are demanding 3,000 deportations per day, according to . That’s a ton. So agents have started shooting fish in a barrel. Rather than going after the gang members and criminals Trump highlighted to justify his crackdown, they are arresting migrants at the courthouses where they go to stay in good stead with the government.

This tactic has been especially visible in Phoenix, where ICE agents, often masked and in plain clothes, began arresting people at court May 20. Last week, they changed tactics, , and pursued people after they left the courthouse, where they would be out of public view, avoiding protests.

It’s a cruel way to deal with human beings, many of whom came to the United States fleeing danger and playing by our rules in force at the time. We’re making them go to court to plead for asylum or another form of legalization, then arresting them for doing what we asked. It boxes people into a no-win dilemma: Follow the rules and risk arrest at court, or break the rules and risk arrest somewhere else.

I met a Colombian couple at Tucson’s immigration court Friday who had heard of the courthouse arrests but nevertheless showed up for their appointment.

“Most people are afraid of being deported,� Claudia Velez told me in Spanish before going into the courtroom. “It’s scary, but we have to face our problems.�

‘Different priorities from our administration now’

Tucson immigration attorney Mo Goldman was representing a Mexican family Wednesday when an ICE attorney asked that their cases be dismissed, he said. The family had used the CBP One app that the Biden administration required for people seeking asylum in the United States.

“They had followed all the proper procedures, and their case was referred to the immigration court,� Goldman said.

When the ICE attorney asked for a dismissal, the judge, Gilda Terrazas, asked on what basis the case should be dismissed. The attorney said circumstances of the case have changed — one of the seven reasons potentially allowed for such a dismissal.

“The judge asked what the changed circumstances were,� Goldman recounted. “The attorney didn’t have a good reason other than saying we have different priorities from our administration now.�

Judge Terrazas denied the request, Goldman said. (I checked in with Terrazas after Velez’s family’s hearing at the court Friday, but she told me court rules prohibited her from talking about the case or confirming these details.)

After the hearing, Goldman said, he saw one man he suspects was a plainclothes ICE officer in the corridor of the courts and another downstairs in the lobby of the federal building, 300 W. Congress.

“My assumption is if the case had been dismissed, they would have been arrested,� he said.

But this time, Goldman was there to contest the dismissal, and Terrazas had the backbone to question the government’s reasoning.

Displays of bullying and cowardice

That’s impressive in part because immigration courts aren’t in the independent judicial branch. They are administrative venues run by the Justice Department’s .

The judges ultimately report to the U.S. Attorney General, Pam Bondi, and President Trump. You can imagine those two trying to fire a judge who stands in the way of their deportation agenda. So it takes some courage to block or delay these dismissals.

And that courage stands in stark contrast to the cowardliness of the ICE attorneys and agents. The bloodless legalism of trying to dismiss cases in order to bureaucratically trap migrants who have followed the rules is one ugly thing.

More brutally bad is the appearance of gangs of masked men in Phoenix and other courts, grabbing people who are trying to follow the rules in order to make their agency’s deportation goals. Watching videos and reading stories of some of these arrests is a punch in the gut.

and tried to choke himself with his handcuffs after his immigration case was dismissed in Miami. He said he had been a political prisoner in Cuba and would be killed if sent back.

after a court hearing and case dismissal, the wife arrested, and a teen suffering an apparent panic attack as she was arrested, too.

These are grotesque displays of bullying and cowardice. It’s no wonder many of the agents wear masks — imagine if their mothers saw them. But it would be more respectable if they quit rather than run roughshod over weak people to make the daily numbers. There are plenty of law-enforcement jobs available.

Everyone said ‘me opongo’

There likely would have been arrests Thursday at Tucson immigration court except for activists who have been working to protect those going to court. Alba Jaramillo, of the , told me via text that she did a “know your rights� training for some of those who had appointments this week, letting them know about the need to oppose dismissal of their cases.

Volunteers from the Coalicion and , among other groups, have been in court and outside the building to offer help.

Immigration attorney Doralina Luna, who was in court Thursday, told me lawyers like her are under restrictions about giving legal assistance, but these volunteers are freer to help.

“Yesterday (on Thursday), I was holding my breath, because I didn’t know what people would say,� Luna said. “Every single person opposed dismissal.�

ICE agents were holed up in a nearby room, she said. But they couldn’t make any arrests, because everyone said “me opongo.�