CINCINNATI (WKRC) - Agents with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency have visited the Hamilton County Courthouse over the last year on a few occasions as they looked for specific people who might be showing up for court appearances. Niro Wijesooriya is a bailiff in Municipal Court for Judge Alvin Triggs. Wijesooriya confirmed Wednesday that ICE agents had contacted Triggs three times to ask about specific defendants and whether they were on the court's docket. Each time, Wijesooriya said the agents showed up and waited outside the courtroom wearing plain clothes. On each occasion, the defendant failed to appear for court.
"A couple of ICE agents came into the courtroom and asked about a particular defendant that was on the docket and asked if he had appeared yet or was in the courtroom, and I said no and they left the courtroom," Wijesooriya said.
Triggs said he is barred from telling anyone that ICE agents have contacted his chambers about defendants. Doing so, Triggs said, would be considered obstruction of justice.
"It is fairly new. We've only seen it starting in 2019 that they are calling us and alerting us that they are going to be present for a hearing," said Triggs.
Immigration advocates voiced concern on social media Wednesday about ICE agents making arrests at the courthouse. Local 12 News could not confirm that any actual arrests had taken place.
Hamilton County Sheriff Jim Neil provides security for Common Pleas courtrooms, not Municipal Court. Neil said he was not aware of the “enforcement actions.”
“While I do not have the authority to prohibit another law enforcement agency from entering a courthouse that is open to the public, my primary concern is that anyone who is a victim or witness to a crime should be able to fully participate in the judicial process to further justice and remove dangerous criminals from our streets,” Neil said in a statement.
Local 12 News visited the courtrooms of three other Municipal Court judges, spoke with one former Municipal Court judge and three Court of Common Pleas judges. None of those judges nor their bailiffs were aware that ICE agents had been in the courthouse.
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