ICE to Legal professionals: No Free Speech in Courthouse Hallways

Jane Porter, IndyWeek, Feb. 7, 2025 "A person who recognized himself as a federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent confronted two attorneys within the hallway of the third ground of the Wake County Justice Middle on Monday as they mentioned an immigration-related case. The incident set off alarm bells for a lot of within the authorized advocacy group who’re involved about enhanced immigration actions that the Trump administration has promised. Whereas it’s not unusual for ICE brokers to function in courthouses in coordination with county sheriff’s places of work, brokers roaming round in plain garments is atypical, and ICE doesn’t normally conduct detainment or deportation efforts in county courts. Dane Peddicord, a legal protection lawyer, says he was speaking to a different lawyer within the hallway when an unknown bald white man sporting a lightweight blue sweater “sprints as much as us, rushes up on us and factors at us,” and “principally orders us to take our dialog elsewhere.” The person, who was not sporting a uniform, then flashed an ICE badge on the two attorneys, Peddicord says. Peddicord says he and the opposite lawyer have been discussing a plea for a consumer that “had immigration penalties.” “[The agent] is being extremely aggressive at this level,” Peddicord says. “For him to do this we have been each completely gobsmacked.” … Peddicord says as he and his colleague have been leaving the courtroom, the agent nonetheless saved making an attempt to speak to them. “The deputies adopted us out and established a presence between us and him, as a result of he was nonetheless being fairly aggressive,” Peddicord says."