The Trap in the Courtroom – How Trump’s ICE Tactics Turn the Law into a Weapon and Violate Human Rights in the Cruelest Way

What began as a routine court date ended for Carlos Javier Lopez Benitez in a violent assault – and his arrest. Masked federal agents dragged him out of a Manhattan courtroom, tore his sister from his arm, and shoved her back with aggressive commands: “Step back! You’re interfering with an arrest! Do you want to be arrested?” – An exchange more reminiscent of scenes from authoritarian regimes than from a country that claims to uphold the rule of law. Yet these are the images that have become part of daily life at U.S. immigration courts in recent weeks – triggered by a new, politically charged tactic of the Trump administration. On Wednesday, July 16, 2025, several civil rights organizations – including Democracy Forward, the National Immigrant Justice Center, and RAICES – filed a class-action lawsuit against the Trump-Vance administration. Their allegation: arresting migrants directly before, during, or after court appearances is unconstitutional and undermines fundamental legal safeguards. The suit, filed in federal court in Washington, targets the Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency – as well as several named officials. Twelve migrants from countries such as Cuba, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Guinea are named as plaintiffs, representing thousands more: they were arrested simply for doing what the law requires – appearing in court. The practice of intercepting migrants at their hearings was massively expanded in May 2025 under Trump. It breaks with a long-standing understanding respected even by Republicans: courts were considered relatively protected spaces where law should prevail – not traps. Now, ICE agents openly patrol hallways, station themselves in entrances and stairwells, waiting with lists for those appearing – and arrest them. Without warrants, without court rulings, without proceedings. Immigration judges now report cases in which ICE prosecutors themselves request case dismissals – just so the defendants can be arrested and deported immediately afterward in expedited proceedings.

The consequences are dramatic. Many of those affected – including numerous asylum seekers with pending cases – are deported through expedited processes without hearings. One man from Ecuador, arrested in June, was deported less than four weeks later. Carlos Lopez Benitez, an asylum seeker from Paraguay, had even received a new court date for July 2029 – but was taken away immediately after leaving the courtroom. His sister, a U.S. citizen, had encouraged him to attend. She had hoped he might one day follow the same path. Now he faces deportation to a country where he is, according to official records, threatened with torture. Various journalists documented a total of 172 cases in connection with the lawsuit, painting a devastating picture – systematic legal violations, targeted intimidation, and utter disregard for due process. Our editorial team is currently working on 42 additional cases, including six arrests made directly in the courtroom. One of the most shocking is the case of Andry José Hernández Romero, who was arrested on March 15, 2025, and deported just days later to the notorious mega-prison CECOT in El Salvador – despite an ongoing asylum claim. We made the case public on April 4

https://kaizen-blog.org/der-koenig-ohne-krone-the-crownless-king

Since then, we have not only provided direct support – we also succeeded in bringing the case to the attention of Amnesty International

amnest.info/andry

Andry, a completely innocent man, now sits in a detention facility described by international organizations as "hell on earth." Particularly vulnerable and mentally ill detainees are systematically abused, tortured, and confined to isolation cells without access to water. The video footage we obtained comes from inside the CECOT complex and was partially recorded covertly. We traveled to El Salvador three times during this period, documenting what needed to be documented, and published the material in our magazine and on Facebook. The footage shows bodies packed tightly together, shaved heads – people lined up like goods. A warning must be issued here: the material documents extreme forms of dehumanization – it is not for the faint of heart – and yet it is an unfiltered reflection of what happens when people are no longer seen as individuals, but only as threats and statistics.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia was not spared this fate either: his detention conditions in CECOT have now been credibly documented before U.S. courts – casting a devastating light on the Trump administration’s deportation program. In Kilmar Garcia’s case, we expect a court ruling in the coming days – the charges brought against him have proven baseless, and his continued detention, according to his lawyers, serves solely to protect him from renewed deportation – a human life suspended between justice and state power. What is currently happening under Trump in the United States is not a series of isolated incidents. These are systemic human rights violations – the kind known from authoritarian regimes, not from a country that sees itself as a beacon of freedom and law. In both their scale and cruelty, these abuses are unparalleled in the Western world.

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