Sessions hits back at California chief justice over immigrant ‘stalking’ comments

Attorney General Jeff Sessions and the head of homeland security rebuked the chief justice of the California Supreme Court for asking federal immigration agents to quit “stalking” local courthouses as a strategy to arrest people who are in the country illegally.

“As the chief judicial officer of the State of California, your characterization of federal law enforcement officers is particularly troubling,” read the letter, which was dated Wednesday and signed by Sessions and John F. Kelly.

Sessions and Kelly said in their letter, which was first reported by Politico, that the state of California and many counties had enacted laws designed to “prohibit or hinder ICE from enforcing immigration law” by denying federal agents the ability to take custody of deportable people in county jails.

Courthouses, on the other hand, give agents a place where visitors are screened for weapons and decrease the risk to officers and the people being arrested, the Trump administration officials wrote.

Advocates for immigrants have maintained that local jail officials who are asked to honor so-called immigration holds have many good reason to deny the requests — including increased costs, the possibility of wrongly detaining U.S. citizens, and legal liability related to incarcerating people beyond their release dates.

Referring to federal requests to hold inmates, he said, The nation’s top law enforcement officer is effectively advocating for an end run around the constitution’s due process protections.

Gascón said the tactic of coming to courthouses was “born from xenophobia, and not a genuine concern for public safety,” and could backfire by setting free criminals whose victims may be “scared to come to our courthouses to testify against defendants because ICE is waiting for them.”