OAKLAND – East Bay elected leaders and superior court officials are speaking out after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained an Alameda County Public Defender’s Office client earlier this month at a courthouse in downtown Oakland.

ICE agents took the client into custody following an unrelated, routine pretrial hearing on Sept. 15 at the Wiley W. Manuel Courthouse, according to Public Defender Brendon Woods. On Tuesday, the arrest was confirmed by the sheriff’s office.

County Supervisor Nikki Fortunato Bas condemned the incident, calling it “nothing short of a violation of due process, of human dignity, and of our most basic constitutional rights.”

“This is unacceptable and part of a coordinated, racist, authoritarian campaign to criminalize immigrants and dismantle

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