Assemblymember Maggy Krell has sued the U.S. Department of Justice, asking a federal judge to require the release of records about Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests in and around Sacramento courtrooms. She filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California after months of seeking the information.
Krell is requesting internal communications, detention logs and other records to determine whether immigration and routine state court hearings at Sacramento’s John E. Moss Federal Building are being used as enforcement points. She says she turned to a lawsuit after her Freedom of Information Act requests went unanswered and community members reported courthouse detainments.
As reported by FOX40, the lawsuit targets alleged arrests at the John E. Moss Federal Building and in state courtrooms and names the Department of Justice as the entity that must locate and turn over the records. According to FOX40, the DOJ did not respond to the outlet’s request for comment about the filing, and Krell’s complaint follows earlier FOIA requests she says were ignored or delayed.
In a press release from Assemblymember Maggy Krell's Office, Krell said she began submitting FOIA requests last summer after a partial closure of the federal courthouse during what was described as an ICE operation. That lockdown restricted public access to the building and, she argued, raised red flags about transparency and due process in already high-stakes proceedings. Her office says the new lawsuit is intended to force a formal records search and clarify who ordered the courthouse restrictions and the arrests that followed.
Courtroom Arrests And Protests
Immigrant-rights advocates and volunteer attorneys say the issue is not abstract. They report that plainclothes agents have detained people as they leave hearings, sometimes right outside courtroom doors, sparking tense confrontations in the hallways.
CapRadio documented a June 12, 2025 lockdown of the John E. Moss building after witnesses reported an in-court detainment, an incident that drew protesters who blocked exits and demanded answers from officials. Local television coverage by KCRA described several arrests tied to hearings in late May and June. Advocates say those episodes scared people away from required court appearances and forced community groups to scale up accompaniment teams and rapid-response efforts just to get people in and out of court safely.
How Big A Problem Was It?
Kamalpreet Chohan, who coordinates the Sacramento Attorney of the Day program, told FOX40 that advocates documented more than 30 courtroom arrests last summer. She also said they have not tracked similar detentions in recent months, though the chill from earlier incidents has lingered. Volunteer attorneys warn that even a handful of in-court arrests can derail asylum claims and other forms of relief, since people may skip hearings rather than risk detention.
To reduce that fear, local legal clinics and organizers say they plan to keep running accompaniment programs and 24/7 hotlines for people with upcoming hearings, essentially treating a trip to court like a high-risk appointment.
What Krell Is Seeking
Krell’s complaint asks the DOJ to turn over internal emails, after-action reports, detention logs and any guidance related to arrests at immigration proceedings or in state courtrooms. Similar fights over transparency have been playing out nationally: immigrant-rights organizations have filed FOIA requests and, when agencies slow-walked or withheld records, joined lawsuits to pry the documents loose, a pattern described by LatinoJustice.
Krell’s case is designed to put a federal judge in the position of deciding whether the agencies must disclose how, when and why arrests at or near court hearings occurred.
Legal Implications
The lawsuit lands in the middle of a shifting legal landscape. Advocates point to a December 25, 2025 federal ruling that temporarily barred ICE and the Executive Office for Immigration Review from carrying out certain arrests inside Northern California immigration courts. The decision, supporters say, sharply reduced courtroom detentions in the region.
The Los Angeles Times reported that the federal government has appealed that ruling, leaving the rules somewhat in flux. If courts ultimately force disclosure in Krell’s case and others like it, internal records could shape oversight of enforcement tactics and influence courtroom-arrest litigation well beyond Sacramento.
For now, Krell’s lawsuit moves the transparency fight into federal court, where judges will decide whether the DOJ must search for and release the requested records. The agencies could comply, push back on FOIA grounds, or try to narrow what they hand over. Each option will determine how quickly, if at all, the public gets a clearer view of what has been happening in and around local courtrooms. Until then, local advocates say they will keep walking people into their hearings and pressing federal authorities for answers.
