Dozens of demonstrators gathered outside immigration court in San Francisco Wednesday to call out U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents for detaining people who show up for their court dates.
Wednesday's protest came in response to what immigration attorneys called an unprecedented move by agents to detain people who are trying to follow the rules.
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WATCH HEREOn Tuesday, four men were detained at immigration court in San Francisco and four others were detained at immigration court in Concord.
"They want to instill fear so that people don't show up to their court hearings, which then means that they will be ordered removed in their absence," said Luis Angel Reyes Savalza with the San Francisco Public Defender's Office.
During Wednesday's rally, some families showed up for court and asked people assembled outside if any ICE agents had been seen. NBC Bay Area was monitoring the court during the day and did not see any ICE agents during either the morning session or the afternoon session. Immigrant rights advocates in Concord said they spotted agents but did not witness any detentions.
Attorneys said ICE agents at the courts are not just intimidating. They're concerned that some people seemed to be detained even after having a successful hearing before a judge.
"It's very concerning," Milli Atkinson said. "It's an attack on due process. It's an attack on the constitution. It's an attack on the rule of law."
Atkinson is with a coalition of legal groups that offers free legal representation to people at immigration courts. They have been monitoring the progress of the four men who were detained in San Francisco Tuesday. She said all four are residents of Santa Clara County. After being detained in San Francisco and processed, they were sent to a privately-run detention center hundreds of miles away in McFarland, California, she said.
NBC Bay Area reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for any details on their detentions. A spokesperson did not offer any new details and instead referred to a prepared statement. It read, in part, "most people who arrived in the United States in the last two years can be subject to expedited removals."
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