Public defenders call on Franklin County Municipal Court judges to stop cooperating with ICE

source- https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/politics/2025/08/05/columbus-judges-cooperating-with-ice-as-public-defenders-push-back/85481821007/


Snip-Key Points
The Franklin County public defenders' union is criticizing the Municipal Court judges for permitting Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests within the courthouse.
Unlike the Common Pleas Court, which restricted ICE arrests, the Municipal Court maintains its decades-long policy of allowing such arrests in public areas of the court.
The public defenders argue ICE is sowing fear and deterring individuals from accessing the court.
A spokesperson for the Municipal Court said its commitment to following federal law is unwavering.

snip-"Just across the street, the Franklin County Common Pleas Court judges issued rules in February to prevent ICE from making most arrests in that courthouse. But the Municipal Courthouse and its judges continue to cooperate with immigration officials.


snip-"The Franklin County Court of Common Pleas has adopted rules to prevent ICE from maintaining a presence in their courthouse, and has thereby avoided the brutal and unjust circumstances the Municipal Court is currently fostering," Stoller [president of the Franklin County Public Defender Collective],said on behalf of the union. "There is no justification—legal, judicial, or political—for why the Municipal Court cannot act likewise to protect its community."

snip-ICE has stepped up arrests nationwide since President Donald Trump took office. The issue of immigration officials in local courthouses first came to the public's attention when The Dispatch reported that ICE officers had arrested Leonardo Fausto, a Brazilian asylum-seeker, who was in the courthouse to pay a speeding ticket. But there have been far more incidents than that, according to the public defenders' union."



More there


Public Defenders Collective sounds so 1970s.