Volunteer immigration court observers were kicked out of San Diego’s federal building Thursday and Friday, with some being detained and issued a citation. They relayed that officers told them it was new enforcement against loitering, despite being allowed inside for the past several months.
The volunteers have been at the federal building — which houses immigration court and Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s field office — to observe and accompany immigrants, many detained while going through the legal process, as President Donald Trump’s administration carries out its mass deportations. The volunteers have always been allowed in, and they generally stand in the hallways, a few at a time.
Faith-based volunteers accompany and pray with immigrants who are scared as they attend their hearings, while other volunteers document detentions of people outside courtrooms or while checking in with ICE as required. They also provide immigrants information and resources to assist those who are detained.
On Thursday morning, the volunteers said federal officers approached them and told them they had to leave.
“’You can’t stand here unless you have business,’” volunteer Patrick Corrigan recalled an officer told him. “And I said, ‘I’m not trying to be wise, but what is business? Clarify – because, you know, we’re here to accompany and pray, it’s not loitering.’ He said, ‘No, you need to leave.’”
Four volunteers said they exited the building and examined newly posted signage on the front window prohibiting loitering.
“All public areas, corridors, elevator lobbies and waiting areas are to be unobstructed. Please do not sit, lie down or place items on the floor that obstruct the flow of people and/or materials,” the sign reads.
Those four volunteers said they were not obstructing the area and did not feel they were violating the notice, so they returned – only to be detained and ticketed, with federal officers writing each a citation for “failure to comply with official signs,” a $280 fine.
“It’s completely ridiculous, right?” volunteer Robert Kovelman said. “This is a federal building, it’s open to the people who show the right form of ID, which we did to enter the building, and we’ve been doing this for many months, and nobody can provide any information on what’s changed.”
A spokesperson for the Federal Protective Service, which is the law enforcement agency within the Department of Homeland Security that oversees federal facilities, said in a statement that the regulations “are not new.”
“Obstructing access in federal buildings is a crime,” the statement reads. “It is against federal law to obstruct the use, enjoyment, or access to federal property, including foyers, lobbies, and corridors. Noncompliance with lawful commands from federal law enforcement is a crime.”
When asked what the volunteers did specifically to obstruct the use of the building, FPS did not answer.
“We want to remind the media that rioters have also assaulted law enforcement, launched fireworks at them, slashed the tires of their vehicles, and vandalized federal property,” FPS’ statement continued. “Others have chosen to ignore commands and have attempted to obstruct law enforcement operations. DHS is taking appropriate and constitutional measures to uphold the rule of law and protect our officers and the public from dangerous rioters.”
“We’ve been here since August without incident,” said Fr. Hung Nguyen, associate pastor at the Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church, which runs the volunteer program called FAITH: Faithful Accompaniment In Trust and Hope.
He came to the federal building, trying unsuccessfully to speak with an FPS supervisor after the citations.
“If anything, I would argue that our presence in the building actually creates a sense of calm and peace for those who are inside the building,” Nguyen said. “There’s nowhere on the new regulations saying we can’t pray for people.”
“It’s frustrating,” he continued. “It’s upsetting that, you know, we’re not really given clarity and it seems like everyone we ask, we’re getting a different answer.”
Last year, federal agents detained a 71-year-old grandmother who was volunteering as an observer, holding her in custody for several hours. Two women detained and cited Thursday said they started volunteering after that, in part because of that incident. All four volunteers said they planned to contest those citations and return.
“I think being there provides comfort and also an awareness that this is happening,” Corrigan said. “To exclude that is like, come on, what are you afraid of? Why don’t you want us there?”
“This is an act of the government,” he continued. “They’re doing something in your name, right? So why can’t I see what’s going on in my name?”
“That’s the whole problem,” Kovelman added. “If the government is not seen in what it’s doing, it can do whatever it pleases.”
The first wave of expulsions on Thursday happened against the backdrop of a weekly protest outside the federal building against immigration enforcement.
This time, demonstrators were joined by County Board of Supervisors Chair Terra Lawson-Remer, who last week was not allowed into the Otay Mesa Detention Center to conduct a health inspection, she says despite getting clearance from ICE days before.
“Government needs to operate in sunlight. Power needs to operate under sunlight,” Lawson-Remer said. “When you try to hide what’s going on to people in court, in detention, and you make it invisible, you make it impossible for us to know what’s happening, you undermine accountability. It’s undermining rule of law and it’s putting people in danger.”
When the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown began, some volunteers started accompanying people through their immigration hearings downtown. The federal government has now kicked all those volunteers out, and some even found themselves detained. NBC 7’s Shelby Bremer reports.
On Friday morning, volunteers arriving at the federal building were again told to leave.
“It’s just like everything that happens in this immigration courthouse,” said volunteer Pat Gaffey. “It makes no sense. It’s not legal. It’s not constitutional and it’s trying to keep the public from being aware of what the government is doing, and I find that abhorrent.”
But he and several other volunteers contended that what happened to them paled in comparison to what the people they accompany through the immigration system continue to endure.
“That’s the real story that people I don’t think have fully appreciated, is what’s being done, not to hard core criminals,” Gaffey said. “It’s to the law-abiding people who are hard-working in the community, who are being removed from their homes, their families.”
Late Friday morning, federal officers again detained and cited two volunteers, as well as an immigration attorney.
“We are taxpayers. We pay for this building. I don’t have to have a reason to be present inside the building,” said attorney Ian Seruelo, though, he did have a reason to be in the building: he had a hearing in the morning and had stopped to talk with two volunteers — Jonathan Liu and Karen Pohl — and offer them assistance, when the officers approached to tell all three to tell them to leave.
Liu and Pohl are both veterans who have been volunteering at the courthouse for months. Liu said he felt the push to remove them was “intended to have a chilling effect” on the rights he served to protect.
“As a Marine Corps officer, we were taught from day one and emphasized that we have a moral duty to do what is right, and if there’s anything unlawful, we are called to disobey,” Liu said. “Rights, the Constitution, it all matters. We took an oath to defend that, and I would remind those people there that their oath belongs to the Constitution, not to an individual.”
“I’m pretty angry,” said Pohl, who spent 24 years enlisted in the U.S. Navy, then worked for the Navy for another two decades. “I thought I’d be able to retire after working so hard for 45 years, and now I’m having to work as hard as I did when I was on active duty because we have to stand up to this or nothing’s going to change.”
All seven people detained and cited said they planned to fight the tickets, which would take place in district court, during a hearing with a federal judge. Seruelo said he was also considering filing a lawsuit to settle the dispute over regulations governing who and what is allowed inside the building.