Local Journalist Kicked Out of Federal Immigration Court for Being Present

Here’s a telling story reported by a local journalist who was kicked out of immigration court last week at the request of ICE’s attorney.  These hearing are supposed to be open to the public.  The attorney’s proffered reason was to protect the privacy of the individual who was being deported, and who did not have an attorney.

The reporter states:”I’ve covered many different state and federal courts as a reporter. I’ve followed cases involving closed hearings, sealed documents, and complex privacy issues. But I have never before had a prosecuting attorney demand that I identify myself in a court hearing that was open to the public. And I’ve never seen a prosecutor offer legal advice about privacy to the person he’s prosecuting in an attempt to expel a suspected reporter from the courtroom.

But to be honest, I’ve never seen anything like San Francisco’s immigration courts.”

You can read the article in full here: http://www.eastbayexpress.com/SevenDays/archives/2017/02/17/i-was-kicked-out-of-federal-immigration-court-because-im-a-journalist