The detention of more than 2,200 people on Tuesday marked the highest single day total for immigration arrests in history, according to NBC News.
Those arrests have come through a series of increased targeted enforcement efforts in new areas – including immigration courts.
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WATCH HERENBC 5 Investigates spent hours inside immigration court in Chicago on Thursday, where a reporter and photographer witnessed both marked Department of Homeland Security officers along with several plain clothed agents standing in the hallways outside immigration courtrooms.
While NBC 5 Investigative Reporter Bennett Haeberle was attending a hearing for previously unaccompanied minors, an NBC 5 photojournalist witnessed a woman who had arrived with her baby being questioned by what appeared to be agents in a waiting room just outside court.
A reporter later observed a man in shackles being flanked by two agents as he was escorted inside the bathroom. It is not clear what happened to either person.
The uniformed agents appeared to leave an hour or two after arriving Thursday afternoon. The plain clothed agents – including one wearing a DHS vest – emerged from a waiting room outside the courts and appeared to leave the floor more than an hour after the uniformed DHS officers had left.
It was also not immediately clear how many people – if any – were officially detained Thursday. When questioned, one of the men directed an NBC 5 Investigates reporter to contact ICE.
But court insiders – including an immigration attorney and a retired judge -- tell NBC 5 Investigates that immigration enforcement efforts – including arrests - have increased here in recent weeks.
And our California colleagues at NBC Bay Area captured video of people being arrested at immigration court there in the San Francisco area just last week.
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SIGN UP The arrests are occurring when those facing potential removal hearings show up to court in person.
Retired Judge James Fujimoto says the takeaway is that ICE is now arresting people in new ways.
“That is definitely a change from previous years. I certainly did not see that on the bench except in very rare instances,” Fujimoto told NBC 5 Investigates on Thursday.
“We are hearing that there ICE officials with government attorneys. They have a list of individuals who they feel could be targeted for this expedited removal procedure.”
An ICE spokesman did not answer our questions about how many arrests have occurred at immigration court in recent weeks.
In a DHS statement we received that did not address our questions, it read:
“Secretary Noem is reversing Biden’s catch and release policy that allowed millions of unvetted illegal aliens to be let loose on American streets. This Administration is once again implementing the rule of law.
Most aliens who illegally entered the United States within the past two years are subject to expedited removals. Biden ignored this legal fact and chose to release millions of illegal aliens, including violent criminals, into the country with a notice to appear before an immigration judge. ICE is now following the law and placing these illegal aliens in expedited removal, as they always should have been.
If they have a valid credible fear claim, they will continue in immigration proceedings, but if no valid claim is found, aliens will be subject to a swift deportation.”
According to TRAC – a research website that monitors immigration courts – Cook County, IL has the second highest number of with pending deportation cases in the country – behind only Miami.
