ICE makes courthouse arrests as illegal immigrants with final removal orders appear for mandatory check-ins

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have been conducting immigration enforcement operations at courthouses across the nation. Illegal immigrants are being apprehended during routine court appearances for mandatory immigration check-ins. This comes as the Trump administration works to increase the number of daily arrests.

On Wednesday, several migrants were seen in dramatic videos being escorted out of courthouses in Manhattan, New York, and Chicago, Illinois, by plainclothes ICE agents. Many of the targets are migrants with final removal orders or are trying to gain legal status, the New York Daily News reported.

"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," an ICE spokesperson told the outlet. "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," the spokesperson added.

Allison Cutler, supervising attorney for NYLAG's Immigration Protection Unit, referred to ICE's courthouse operations as "a trap." She explained, "Most of the folks who are already on ISAP (Intensive Supervision Appearance Program) tend to already have final orders of removal, so ICE would essentially ... consider it as an easy target. So they are already checking in, they are already having appointments, most of them have ankle monitors, so they are monitoring their GPS and locations."

Photos captured outside the Manhattan courthouse showed distraught family members reacting to their detained loved ones being carried away by ICE. 16 individuals were detained during the operation.

In Chicago, scenes grew chaotic as hostile protesters surrounded ICE agents outside the federal immigration courthouse located in the BI Incorporated building at 2245 S. Michigan Avenue. Community activists and city leaders swarmed federal authorities as they escorted several migrants out of the facility in handcuffs.

White House Deputy Chief of Staff and Homeland Security advisor Stephen Miller said last week that the administration has given ICE a goal of 3,000 daily arrests. "President Trump is going to keep pushing to get that number higher each and every single day," Miller told Fox News.