CSO Orange County holds press conference to demand universal remote immigration hearings

Santa Ana, CA – On Friday, September 12, approximately 50 activists, community members and public officials gathered in front of the Santa Ana Immigration Court to demand that the judges reinstate universal remote hearings, which was done during the COVID-19 pandemic. Attendees held a banner reading “Stop ICE arrests at the court.”

Kevin Trujillo with Community Service Orange County (CSO OC) kicked off the press conference by explaining that people who are “going to their hearings are being detained and ripped away from their families, creating an atmosphere of terror right here in Santa Ana.”

Rain Mendoza with CSO OC stated, “When ICE first started kidnapping people at this court, CSO responded quickly with a protest outside the court and since then, we have been campaigning to ensure the safety of all immigrants who are simply trying to pursue their immigration case and attend their mandatory hearings.”

Reverend Terry LePage with Irvine United Congregational Church, representing Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE) gave testimony as an ICE watcher in the courts stating, “I have seen a 74-year-old grandma put in handcuffs. I have seen a five-year-old child put into a van. I have seen over 20 abductions personally.”

LePage explained that the ICE presence has destroyed the purpose of the court, because many people are no longer showing up to their hearings due to fear. To the judges she asked, “How much will you comply? How much will you collaborate? How much pain and suffering and injustice does it take before you say I will no longer help you perpetrate horror?”

Sandra De Anda with the Orange County Rapid Response Network (OCRRN) told attendees that she has done accompaniment at the court for several years, stating, “It was the first time that I had seen a masked agent. This is the first time in our community that it was documented that masked agents were here. It was truly terrifying.” She said that the presence of ICE at the courts was the first sign of what was to come. “The escalation before the raids, it started here. It started at this courthouse. They thought nobody would be here, nobody would bat an eye. Things would be done in the dark.”

Press conference attendees then chanted “We want justice, we want rights! We want hearings free from ICE!” and “One, two, three, four! No arrests at the court!”

Irvine City Councilmember Kathleen Treseder recounted a story from a documented immigrant resident. He went in for an appointment with U.S. Customs and Border Protection and they detained him. “They put him in a cell with about 40 other people. It was very crowded. He was not given any food or water for two days. The cruelty is the point. They want our folks to be afraid to follow the law. Either they follow the law and they come in and get detained or they don’t follow the law and people say well you deserve to be deported.” She affirmed her support for universal remote hearings.

Diana Terreros with Freedom Road Socialist Organization spoke about the bureaucratic hoops that working-class immigrants must jump through to request online hearings on an individual basis, which requires time and often the help of a lawyer. She called on the judges to use their power to remove these barriers, stating, “They might be risking their jobs or they might be scared of the consequences of doing remote hearings universally but now is the time to do what’s right and we need to be united in the fight against Trump.”

James Spady from ChicanxsUnidxs stated, “That sort of resistance has always been with us. There are choices these judges can make. They can choose now or in the near future to be on the side of the history of the United States where people stand up and fight back against its racist structures, impulses and legacies. They can choose to be on that side. And there is a simple choice for them. Put the hearings online.”

Vicente Sarmiento, Orange County Supervisor for District 2, stated his support for universal remote hearings. “Under INA § 240(b)(2)(B), it is a choice, it is a discretion that’s held by the judge in the court to be able to allow somebody to have a virtual hearing upon request. This is not a difficult thing. As a practicing lawyer we used to request virtual hearing, telephonic hearings, because the technology is there and it’s easy.”

Mendoza stated that CSO OC and community members will keep fighting back. “Today will not be the last day the judges hear from us. As long as we are still under this racist administration, as long as the increase to ICE’s budget is still intact, as long as racist racial profiling is still legal, we will continue fighting.”

#SantaAnaCA #CA #ImmigrantRights #CSOOC