Protesters clash with federal agents detaining people at immigration hearings in East Bay

CONCORD, Calif. -- In a chaotic scene reminiscent of events in Southern California the past week, protesters on Tuesday in Concord battled federal agents in front of an SUV holding two immigrants arrested just after their hearings in immigration court.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arrested and removed four asylum-seeking immigrants over approximately two hours, an attorney for Contra Costa County's Public Defender's Office said.

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While a handful of protesters were there Tuesday morning, the crowd later swelled to about 100 people by 12:15 p.m., when ICE agents emerged with the last two detainees out the front entrance of Concord Gateway at 1855 Gateway Blvd. Immigration hearings are held on three floors inside the building.

Protesters engaged the federal agents, yelling and pushing agents as they struggled to get the detainees into the SUV while other agents pushed protesters out of the way.

Part of the crowd then got in front of the vehicle, prompting officers to try forcibly removing them. At least two women were shoved to the ground. At least one protester slapped an officer in the face after he tried moving her, prompting him to yell in her face.

As traffic backed up on westbound Clayton Road, horns honked, protesters screamed, and the federal SUV finally sped away.

The crowd later grew to at least 200 people, chanting and listening to activists speak through a bullhorn.

Heliodoro Moreno, an attorney with the county Public Defender's Office, said ICE agents have been showing up at the Concord court once or twice a week for the past two to three weeks to arrest people. He said everyone arrested has been in the U.S. less than two years.

"This was targeted enforcement," Moreno said. "The government asked for dismissal of their immigration court hearings and then, whether they were dismissed or not, these four people were detained."

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Moreno said he and other public defenders were able to advise those detained and get information from them. He said they won't be deported immediately but will go through processing by federal authorities, likely at ICE's facility in San Francisco.

"All four of them were in immigration court to seek protection to remain here in the U.S.," Moreno said. "All four of them are afraid to return to their home country."

Similar actions by ICE took place in San Francisco immigration courts last week. When asked why immigration agents were arresting people who were showing up to scheduled court dates and following the rules, an ICE media representative on Friday said the people they detained there were already going to be deported.

The ICE spokesperson blamed former President Joe Biden's administration for allegedly being lax on the issue, though Biden deported more people than Trump did in his first term.

The ICE spokesperson added that people who are arrested at court are afforded due process. No one from the federal agency was immediately available to comment on Tuesday's actions in Concord.

This comes after Trump's administration over the weekend bypassed Gov. Gavin Newsom's wishes and activated thousands of National Guard troops to go to Los Angeles in response to street protests against his immigration policy. Trump deployed another 700 Marines to the city on Tuesday.

Ali Saidi, director of the immigration advocacy group Stand Together Contra Costa and an attorney in the county Public Defender's Office, said more than 95% of those in the Concord court are seeking asylum.

He said 10 ICE agents were at the court Tuesday, along with four FBI agents.

"The (federal) strategy is to instill fear in the community to dissuade asylum seekers," Saidi said.

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Pittsburg City Councilmember and family law attorney Angie Lopez was at the protest. She said she didn't expect this to happen in Concord, but she wasn't surprised, either.

"We're a tight-knit community and these things are happening all over California now," Lopez said. "This is something that I've witnessed since I was a child and you know, with different administrations, things change and the political climate is ever-changing and we're united, more than ever."

"We're all human. There are children at home and away from their parents, and they might not see them anymore," she said.

Paul Ramirez is a co-founder of the organization United Latino Voices of Contra Costa County. He said the four men arrested Tuesday reported for court and did what they were supposed to and got injustice for their efforts.

"Many of these people -- there was a survey -- about 70% of them come from the Central Valley. So you're talking farmworkers, you're talking construction workers. They come all the way here as they were ordered to do, and then they're taken. That's the cruelty of this. That's the cruelty of this president (Trump)."

"My father was a decorated World War II veteran and this is not what he fought for," Ramirez said. "This is not the country that was going to be helping people, helping to step up. This is what this country is about."

Word of the arrests and protests reached U.S. Rep. Mark DeSaulnier, D-Walnut Creek, who issued a statement saying, "I remain deeply concerned about the safety and wellbeing of members of our community as ICE continues to terrorize California cities with dangerous, extra-legal immigration raids, including activity today in Contra Costa County that targeted individuals who were in the process of going through the proper judicial and legal immigration systems -- exactly what proponents of immigration enforcement purport to advocate for."

DeSaulnier called the arrests "cruel, unnecessary, at times lacking due process, and is yet another attempt by the Trump Administration to punish California over policy disagreements and to pursue a vendetta against its forward-looking, tolerant vision."

Moreno said fear of arrest is keeping some people away from their scheduled hearings, which is the last thing they should do, because then they'll be deported. He also said he doesn't expect the arrests to end anytime soon.

"All indications are that it is continuing to happen," Moreno said. "If people don't show up, (ICE) gets orders to remove them. They can say 'You had your chance.'"