Tani Cantil-Sakauye, chief justice of California. Credit: Diego M. Radzinschi / ALM

Federal immigration agents arrested at least two allegedly undocumented men at a county courthouse in Santa Rosa on Tuesday in defiance of a state law meant to stop such detentions.

Sonoma County, California, District Attorney Jill Ravitch, Public Defender Kathleen Pozzi and County Counsel Bruce Goldstein issued a statement condemning the arrests by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, saying "they have the effect of scaring away witnesses and victims."

While the county officials said three people were detained Tuesday, one in a courthouse hallway and two more in the parking lot, an ICE spokesman said only two men, both Mexican nationals with prior convictions and past deportations, were arrested.

For three years, Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye has pleaded with federal officials to stay away from state courthouses. The arrests this week highlight the difficulties judges and court officials face as they grapple with conflicting federal and state laws governing immigrants in California courthouses.

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation last year that gives judicial officers the authority "to prohibit activities that threaten access to state courthouses and court proceedings, and to prohibit interruption of judicial administration, including protecting the privilege from civil arrest at courthouses and court proceedings."

But it's unclear what practical power, if any, judges have to stop federal agents from making arrests in courthouses.

Xavier Becerra, attorney general of California. Credit: Diego M. Radzinschi / ALM

Before the law's enactment, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra issued model policies for courts interacting with ICE that recommended limiting disclosure of litigants' immigration statuses and using pseudonyms for immigrants "where feasible."

"In those model policies, the attorney general states that the state of California 'has a responsibility to provide safe and secure access to court facilities to all residents regardless of immigration status,'" B. Tam Nomoto Schumann, president of the California Judges Association, said in an email. "Courts have relied and will continue to rely on these model policies to ensure access to justice for all in California."

Courts aren't required to adopt policies about ICE activities, however, and the judicial branch does not track whether they have done so. Sonoma County Presiding Judge Bradford DeMeo did not return a message left at the courthouse Wednesday.

Federal immigration authorities say they're not bound by California's law in any case.

"California Assembly Bill 668 cannot and will not govern the conduct of federal officers acting pursuant to duly-enacted laws passed by Congress that provide the authority to make administrative arrests of removable aliens inside the United States," David Jennings, the San Francisco field office director for ICE, said in a statement. "Our officers will not have their hands tied by sanctuary rules when enforcing immigration laws to remove criminal aliens from our communities."

The arrests follow the Trump administration's recent announcement of an escalated crackdown on so-called sanctuary cities that limit cooperation with federal authorities seeking to detain undocumented immigrants.

The U.S. Justice Department sued New Jersey and King County, Washington, this month to block such policies. President Donald Trump also deployed tactical law enforcement units to major U.S. cities to help agents there with deportation efforts, The New York Times reported.

In 2017, city leaders declared Santa Rosa, home to the Sonoma County courthouse where the arrests took place, an "indivisible city." City employees are barred from enforcing federal immigration laws.

A spokesman for Cantil-Sakauye on Wednesday referred to the chief justice's previous statements criticizing the use of courthouses "as bait" by immigration enforcement officials.

Last year, a federal prosecutor charged a Massachusetts state judge with obstruction of justice for allegedly helping an undocumented immigrant slip out a back courthouse door to evade ICE agents.