The California Supreme Court Justice oversees immigration arrests in the courts

from Kayla MichalovichCalMatters

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Supreme Court of California Chief Justice Patricia Guerrero said she is taking a more proactive stance to preserve access to the justice system as the Trump administration continues to make arrests in courthouses.

At a news conference Thursday, Guerrero — the first Latino chief justice — expressed concern about the “chilling effects” of the federal immigration enforcement in California courthouses and said the Judicial Council was closely monitoring the situation.

“The kind of immigration enforcement that we’ve seen instills fear in witnesses, in litigants, which creates problems for them to access the courts,” she said.

Immigration enforcement agencies generally did not make arrests in courthouses during the Biden administration, a policy designed to ensure that people would feel safe participating in the justice system.

That changed when President Trump took office. The Republican administration authorized agents to arrest people in and around the courthouses.

Guerrero’s office has documented immigration enforcement incidents in 17 courts, with the Shasta County Superior Court reporting the most activity. Tracking the data so far has been informal, she said, but the Judicial Council will consider a proposal to formalize it on April 24. This would require the courts to regularly provide the Judicial Council with data on civil arrests in and around the high court buildings.

“The proposal will help ensure consistent and coordinated data collection and reporting across the country to better assess the broader implications for access to justice,” the Presiding Judges Advisory Committee and the Judicial Executives Advisory Committee wrote in their proposal.

Guerrero said the surveillance is being forwarded to the attorney general’s office and serves “to be better prepared to take further additional action.”

“The president won’t listen to me if I try to tell him what to do, so what’s the point, really?” she said. “I’m less interested in making statements, trying to tell people what they’re doing wrong, and instead trying to find a way forward so that our courts are informed — that we’re available.”

That means looking for ways for state courts to assert their authority, she said. She pointed to remote hearings, informing the branch of its statutory authority and connecting the public with resources so they can seek additional remedies.

Democratic senators in California this month introduced new efforts to strengthen the defense in court. Sen. Susan Rubio, D-West Covina, has introduced a bill that would allow remote courtroom appearances for most hearings, trials or conferences in civil or criminal state courts through January 2029. Sen. Eloise Gomez Reyes, D-San Bernardino, has introduced legislation to prevent federal immigration agents from making “unannounced and indiscriminate” arrests in courthouses.

Kayla Michalovich is a contributor to California Local News.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and is republished under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives license.