California State Supreme Court Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye. Photo: Jason Doiy/The Recorder

California Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye on Friday repeated her two-year-old plea to immigration enforcement officers to stay out of state courthouses, as federal authorities announced plans to round up undocumented immigrants starting Sunday.

President Donald Trump tweeted Monday that the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office would begin removing “millions of illegal aliens who have illicitly found their way into the United States” next week. National media outlets, citing unnamed sources, said ICE plans to target up to 2,000 immigrants that have received deportation orders.

“President Trump's threat of mass arrests of undocumented immigrants could have a profound effect on access to justice in our state,” Cantil-Sakauye said in a prepared statement. “Enforcement of immigration laws that upset the delicate checks and balances set up by our Founders undermines our democracy.”

Immigration agents plan to make arrests in San Francisco, Los Angeles and eight other cities around the country, according to the Miami Herald.

Cantil-Sakauye's comments followed those of Gov. Gavin Newsom who on Friday said the planned raids “are cruel, misdirected and are creating unnecessary fear and anxiety.”

On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani of the District Court of Massachusetts issued a preliminary injunction blocking ICE from making civil arrests “of parties, witnesses, and others attending Massachusetts courthouses on official business while they are going to, attending, or leaving the courthouse.” Massachusetts prosecutors and public defenders have sued ICE over its policy of arresting undocumented immigrants in state courthouses.

“California is a place of refuge—that includes our schools, our courts and our hospitals and clinics,” Newsom said in a prepared statement, which included a link offering advice to immigrants who may encounter ICE agents. “We hold certain institutions sacred and people should continue to access programs and services they need.”

In 2017, Cantil-Sakauye wrote to then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, accusing immigration agents of “stalking” undocumented immigrants who had come to state courthouses as victims of crimes, witnesses or litigants in civil cases. The chief justice asked the federal officials to treat the courthouses like schools and churches and to stop detaining immigrants there.

In their response to Cantil-Sakauye, Sessions and Kelly wrote that since the administration of then-Gov. Jerry Brown would not allow immigration agents access to state prisons, courthouses provided a security-screened, safer location for them to make arrests.

Cantil-Sakauye told The Recorder in an interview last month that after a brief hiatus, ICE activity in the courts appears to be on the uptick again.

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