By Vanguard Staff
California Chief Justice Patricia Guerrero on Thursday denounced recent immigration enforcement operations conducted by federal agents at courthouses throughout the state, warning that such actions threaten to undermine access to the judicial system.
“I am deeply concerned about reports of multiple federal immigration enforcement actions at California courthouses and their potential chilling effect — as I would be regarding any barrier to access to the courts,” Guerrero said in an official statement issued by the Judicial Council of California.
Her remarks follow mounting reports that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have been present at county courthouses in recent days. The statement from the state’s top judicial official highlights escalating tensions between California’s judiciary and federal immigration authorities under the Trump administration, particularly following the rescission of prior federal policies discouraging enforcement in “sensitive locations,” such as courthouses.
Guerrero emphasized the harm such enforcement actions cause to the functioning of the justice system. “California’s courts are, and must continue to be, open and accessible to all,” she said. “Making courthouses a focus of immigration enforcement hinders, rather than helps, the administration of justice by deterring witnesses and victims from coming forward and discouraging individuals from asserting their rights.”
In her March State of the Judiciary address to the California Legislature, Guerrero warned lawmakers that changes to federal policy had caused “considerable stress, anxiety and confusion surrounding the issue of immigration policies and enforcement as they relate to our courts.”
She added at the time, “The federal government, of course, has the right and obligation to do its job. But it cannot, consistent with the 10th Amendment, compel states to enforce federal immigration law.”
The chief justice’s statement Thursday confirmed that the Judicial Council is actively gathering information about “recent events at courthouses across the state” and pledged to “continue to monitor this situation and work to ensure that courts are able to fulfill their essential role in the lives of all Californians.”
Guerrero had previously signaled concern about courthouse immigration arrests during media briefings, stating two months prior to her March speech that “we would take action” if any attempts were made “to prevent people from accessing the court,” including interference by immigration agents. She added, “I am responsible for the administration of the courts and ensuring that the public has the ability — whether you’re a witness, a victim, [or] one of the parties — to be able to freely go into court.”
Her predecessor, Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, took an even more forceful public stance during the previous Trump administration. In 2017, she wrote to then-U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions and then-Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, accusing ICE agents of “stalking undocumented immigrants in our courthouses to make arrests.” She asserted that the courts “should not be used as bait,” warning that such arrests “compromise our core value of fairness” and “undermine the judiciary’s ability to provide equal access to justice” (source).
While Guerrero has maintained a more measured tone than her predecessor, her latest statement signals a growing urgency within California’s judiciary to push back against federal enforcement actions that interfere with court access and public trust in the legal system.
