The U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit Tuesday in federal court against the Franklin County Municipal Court, alleging the court is blocking federal immigration agents from arresting undocumented immigrants at the courthouse.
In a news release, the DOJ said the complaint challenges the new courthouse rule that purports to shield immigrants from being detained at or around the courthouse and to impose criminal and civil liability for violations.
The rule, enacted in March, states “no individual shall be subject to a civil arrest while present in the courthouse for the purpose of attending a court proceeding or conducting other lawful court business.”
The rule does allow civil arrests pursuant to a judicial warrant issued by a judge.
The lawsuit names Presiding Judge Jessica D'Varga and the court's head of security Enoch White.
A spokesperson for the court or the city of Columbus did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The DOJ states in the lawsuit that since the rule took effect, ICE has made no civil immigration arrests at the municipal court and "has had to devote additional personnel, surveillance, vehicles, equipment, and overtime to arrests elsewhere."
"Those at-large arrests are less predictable and can expose officers, the public, and arrest subjects to greater risk than a targeted arrest in a screened, controlled setting," the statement said.
The court faced calls from the public to change rules that allowed such arrests since the start of President Donald Trump's second administration. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have arrested immigrants at the courthouse in the past year, including for routine traffic violations.
The lawsuit estimated ICE has arrested at least twelve individuals at the municipal court in recent years.
"Today the [d]epartment sued yet another local entity that seeks to thwart the will of Congress by regulating when and where [f]ederal law enforcement does its job, all in the name of protecting criminal aliens who violate our [n]ation’s laws,” Associate Attorney General Stanley E. Woodward, Jr. said in a statement. “No more. This Department of Justice will not sit idly by while state and local government seek to undermine federal immigration enforcement.”
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, contends the rule is an illegal attempt to regulate the federal government and that the rule threatens the safety and effectiveness of federal operations.
The DOJ said in a statement that conducting an arrest at or near a courthouse often reduces the risk of flight and potential safety risks to the public, law enforcement officers, and subjects themselves due to the enhanced security screenings in place at courthouses.
"Franklin County Municipal Court’s rule runs counter to common sense and endangers the broader community by attempting to eliminate safe places for law enforcement officers to act," the statement said.
While ICE made limited arrests at the courthouse, ICE conducted Operation Buckeye throughout the Columbus area before this rule went into effect. The agency said it arrested over 200 peoplein this community-wide raid in December.
ICE began arresting Haitian refugees stripped of protections under the Temporary Protected Status in Springfield last week. Columbus also has a sizable population of Haitians and could be targeted like Springfield.
The lawsuit, however, doesn't target the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas, which has a similar rule restricting ICE activity in the courthouse.
The legal argument the DOJ leans on in the lawsuit is the federal government's authority over immigration law. The lawsuit argues the Immigration and Nationality Act authorizes federal immigration agents to rely on administrative warrants from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security or even no warrant at all.
The DOJ is asking the federal court to declare that the courthouse rule violates the supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution and therefore is unlawful and unenforceable. In addition, it wants the court to issue an order preliminarily and permanently enjoining the Franklin County Municipal Court from enforcing this rule against the federal government.
