By Steve Neavling
A deputy U.S. marshal was mistakenly detained by immigration agents inside Tucson’s federal courthouse, prompting renewed concerns about aggressive enforcement tactics under the Trump administration, the Arizona Daily Star reports.
The U.S. Marshals Service confirmed the brief detention occurred after the marshal was mistaken for someone ICE was seeking. His identity was quickly confirmed by other law enforcement officers, and he left without incident. The agency declined to say when the incident happened, but sources told the Arizona Daily Star it occurred in late May.
The episode highlights what advocates say is a growing pattern of reckless immigration enforcement. Noah Schramm, policy strategist with the ACLU of Arizona, said ICE is under pressure to boost deportation numbers, which leads to mistakes.
“We don’t know a lot about the individual case (in Tucson), but what we do know is that ICE as an agency is under a lot of pressure from this administration to reach pretty high deportation numbers, and the tactics they’ve been employing reflect that,” Schramm said.
He said it’s likely that similar errors are happening to ordinary residents, particularly as ICE agents increasingly operate in plainclothes, bypassing standard protocols.
Immigration attorneys and organizers say ICE has also been targeting people at courthouses by abruptly moving to dismiss their cases, then arresting them once the judge signs off. Rajan Dhungana, an immigration attorney, said the dismissals are part of a “bait-and-switch” tactic that pushes people into fast-tracked deportation proceedings without a hearing.
“Sounds like a good thing, but it’s just a ploy,” Dhungana said.
Local groups like Coalición de Derechos Humanos have responded by monitoring the Tucson immigration court and warning immigrants of the risks.
Advocates say the arrests discourage people from attending court hearings, but skipping them results in deportation orders, which Dhungana called a “lose-lose situation.”
The mistaken detention of a fellow federal officer, Schramm said, is a sign of broader systemic failures.
“It begs the question of what else we’re not hearing about,” Schramm said.
