Salt Lake County’s sheriff says federal immigration agents have stepped up enforcement operations at a Salt Lake City courthouse, and it’s causing problems for her deputies.
Sheriff Rosie Rivera said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents began serving arrest warrants more frequently at Utah’s 3rd District Court this month, and they’re not telling bailiffs before they do it. The added enforcement, she said, has led to complaints from residents and at least two conflicts with deputies.
“There have been some issues with the way that it’s being conducted,” she said Tuesday during a Salt Lake County Council meeting. “Part of the problem is ICE is showing up in court. They have no identifiers. They’re in plain clothes. They’re wearing masks. We don’t know who these people are, either, so it has become a problem. ”
ICE did not respond to questions about the courthouse arrests.
The sheriff’s office contracts with the court for security services, so deputies — who also serve as bailiffs — must ensure ICE agents can safely arrest any people they have a warrant for at the courthouse, Rivera said in an interview.
In one altercation, the sheriff said a deputy witnessed a scuffle outside a courtroom. The confrontation turned out to be ICE agents taking someone into custody, she said, and the deputy used “foul language” when he asked an agent why ICE didn’t inform the sheriff’s office about its plan to serve a warrant.
“[There] again is why we ask that it be done in a manner that doesn’t create public concern or public safety issues,” Rivera said. “Fortunately, the deputy didn’t just jump in and start doing things because that could have even gotten worse because our deputies are identified, and they are armed.”
In a separate encounter, a sheriff’s deputy handcuffed someone ICE agents were taking into custody, Rivera said. Because the ICE agents were in plain clothes, the judge and a deputy decided it was safest for the deputy to handcuff the person and escort him to agents outside the courtroom.
“That is not our procedure,” Rivera said. “But the deputies are not doing ICE’s job for them. They have their role, and ICE has their role. But we, under federal law, cannot interfere with federal agents on any type of enforcement actions. We can’t interfere with the courts either. And so it’s a hard place to be for our bailiffs.”
State court officials said in a memo last year that if they are made aware of a planned arrest at a courthouse, they ask the arresting agency to coordinate with security personnel. Court officials, however, don’t have the power to prevent ICE operations in and around courthouses, and they cannot require the agency to coordinate with court security, according to the memo.
In a directive issued in January 2025, ICE said immigration enforcement operations in or near courthouses should, “to the extent practicable,” take place in non-public areas, use the building’s non-public entrances and exits, and “be conducted in collaboration with court security staff.”
Rivera’s office has asked ICE and the courts to review their protocols to prevent issues in the future.
County Council member Jiro Johnson, who also works as a public defender, said Tuesday that while the county does not have the authority to get ICE out of the community, it can make sure its departments are not going out of their way to assist the agency.
“That is a problem, and that is a problem because these spaces used to be off-limits,” Johnson said. “That has changed as of late. … I promise to this community that we are going to get to the bottom of this, and figure out what is happening and why it is that ICE feels so bold.”