PBS: They thought they were in court for a routine immigration hearing, but walked into a deportation trap

Kevin R. Johnson

20 Nov 2025 — 1 min read

PBS reports on a human story that has happened many times in recent months. An asylum seeker shows up at a hearing, the case is dismissed, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests the asylum seeker at the court. The government trial attorney and immigration judge are accessories.

"Over several months, reporters for The Associated Press observed immigration court proceedings in 21 cities. Hearings repeatedly ended with cases dismissed by the government, allowing plainclothes federal agents to carry out arrests in courthouse hallways in close coordination with attorneys from the Department of Homeland Security."

Austin Kocher: Getting Our Bearings in an Age of Mass Deportation

The Baseline, a new monthly column on Documented by ImmigrationProf blogger Austin Kocher, explores the impact of rising immigration enforcement. The first installment begins "We are living through one of the most intense periods of immigration enforcement in American history. "

A Reckoning in Springfield: A truck driver out on his route confronts what the country has become

A Reckoning in Springfield: A truck driver out on his route confronts what the country has become by Stephanie McCrummen in the Atlantic Monthly (subscription required) tells a disturbing story of the real life impacts on U.S. citizens of the end of Temporary Protected Status for Haitians.

Immigration Article of the Day: Affidavits Are Forever: Public Charge, Domestic Violence, and the Enforceability of Immigration Law's Affidavit of Support by Veronica Thronson

Affidavits Are Forever: Public Charge, Domestic Violence, and the Enforceability of Immigration Law's Affidavit of Support by Veronica Thronson, 41 Yale Law & Policy Review 69 (2022) Abstract Part I of this Article provides a brief background on the central role that family relationships play in the immigration

ICE Put Protester Photos Into a Palantir Database

In a class action lawsuit related to the DHS action "Operation Catch of the Day" in Maine, newly released documents reveal that ICE agents took photos of immigration protestors and fed them into a Palantir surveillance database. (See, e.g., Yahoo! News; Wired Magazine). I became aware of

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Austin Kocher: Getting Our Bearings in an Age of Mass Deportation

A Reckoning in Springfield: A truck driver out on his route confronts what the country has become

Immigration Article of the Day: Affidavits Are Forever: Public Charge, Domestic Violence, and the Enforceability of Immigration Law's Affidavit of Support by Veronica Thronson

ICE Put Protester Photos Into a Palantir Database