14 people attending court proceedings detained by ICE at Chesterfield County Courthouse
VENN
Editor's note: This article has been updated after the Chesterfield County Sheriff's Office reported that more people had been detained by ICE agents at the courthouse.
CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) -- Fourteen people attending court proceedings for criminal charges at the Chesterfield County Courthouse have been detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) over three days.
On Friday, June 20, ICE agents reportedly appeared at the Chesterfield County Courthouse and detained six people who were attending court proceedings for criminal charges they are facing, according to Chesterfield County Sheriff Karl Leonard.
ICE agents reportedly returned on Monday, June 23, Leonard said, and detained six more people at the courthouse.
Leonard added that ICE agents appeared again on Tuesday, June 24, "with very little notice." At around 4 p.m. Tuesday, the Chesterfield County Sheriff's Office reported that two more people were detained and taken into custody.
Chesterfield County Courthouse (Photo: Paul Nevadomski/8News)
Chesterfield County Courthouse (Photo: Paul Nevadomski/8News)
According to authorities, all 14 people were defendants appearing at the courthouse for "a myriad" of both misdemeanor and felony offenses.
Officials said none of the 14 people were incarcerated at the time, and all were detained "without incident" after their court appearance was completed.
When 8News further asked if the ICE agents were expected to remain at the courthouse, Leonard did not answer.
"It is not clear how ICE determines when to be at the Chesterfield County court campus," the sheriff's office said in a Tuesday press release. "However, the list of defendants appearing in court on any given day is public information and easily accessible on the internet. Once that list is accessed, it can be easily compared to any other list one may have to compare names."
8News has emailed ICE for further information but has not yet received a response.
