President Donald Trump’s administration is targeting criminal illegal aliens at courthouses across the country.
The move is a major reversal from Biden-era policies that hogtied Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Among those arrested in the recent courthouse sweeps is Juan Carlos Baez.
Baez has previous convictions for drug trafficking, cocaine, and heroin.
He was arrested outside a courthouse in Boston, “since Boston has declared itself a sanctuary jurisdiction and does not honor ICE detainers,” the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in a press release.
Three of the aliens who were arrested near courthouses are accused of drunk driving, an offense the Biden administration designated as not serious enough to warrant ICE’s attention.
Trump has since revoked Biden-era restrictions on ICE arrests.
Those restrictions include limits on arrests at so-called sensitive locations like churches and courthouses.
The restrictions were imposed by Biden’s DHS secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas.
The rules barred ICE agents from arresting suspected criminals at courthouses unless they fell into certain high-risk categories.
Mayorkas said that courthouse arrests during the first Trump administration had a “chilling effect” on people involved in criminal cases.
Some of the aliens arrested in the DHS’s court sweeps have proven stubborn to deport.
Carlos Gomez Viuda, an illegal alien from El Salvador, was arrested in December 2024.
He was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol and with a suspended or revoked license, and violating probation.
His arrest came more than a decade after he was ordered removed to his native country in 2010.
An illegal alien from Guatemala, Fernando Lorenzo-Raymundo, was charged with failing to report a deadly traffic accident that killed a man who was crossing the road in his wheelchair.
Lorenzo-Raymundo entered the U.S. illegally in 2013 and was later arrested and released into the interior of the country again in March 2024, under Biden.
Trump officials have said courthouse arrests are safer – and made all the more necessary by “sanctuary” policies that tie the hands of ICE agents.
The DHS claims to have experienced a 413% increase in assaults on immigration officers.
“The ability of law enforcement to make arrests of criminal illegal aliens in courthouses is common sense,” said Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin.
“It conserves valuable law enforcement resources because they already know where a target will be.
“It is also safer for our officers and the community.
“These illegal aliens have gone through security and been screened to not have any weapons.
“Secretary Noem is empowering law enforcement to use common sense to remove criminal illegal aliens from American communities.”
Trump’s tough-on-immigration agenda is popular among the American people.
However, his efforts to swiftly deport illegal aliens have faced pushback from Democrats and their allies in the courts and the corporate media.
One judge in Wisconsin is even facing criminal charges for obstruction after she allegedly helped an alien through a backdoor to avoid his lawful arrest by immigration agents.
Border crossings have plummeted to historic lows since Trump returned to the White House and reinstated his tough-on-immigration policies.
Border arrests hit the lowest level ever recorded in March.
The administration has also floated voluntary incentives to encourage self-deportation, sending a clear message that illegal immigration will no longer be tolerated.
READ MORE – Democrat Rep Compares Illegal Alien Deportations to Holocaust
