Cities, including Providence, are enacting bills to limit ICE enforcement in and around courthouses for non-criminal cases.
Since the Immigration crackdown has taken America by storm, some city and town officials have taken matters into their own hands, by making city property off limits to ICE officials.
Recently, ICE officials have been picking up and detaining people without a proper reason or warrant. While this is the way it is currently being done, ICE officials would normally have proper warrants and specific people they are looking for. The ICE officials were required to coordinate with the Office of the Principal Legal Advisor before conducting civil immigration enforcement in or around courthouses to make sure the jurisdiction-specific legal limitations apply. The Office of the Principal Legal Advisor is the largest legal program within the Department of Homeland Security.
In the event that an immigration arrest was made at a courthouse, ICE officials would have to coordinate with the courthouse security and employees at the courthouse. Officials must also, when practicable, conduct arrests in non-public areas of the courthouse according to DHS in March of 2025. ICE officials are encouraged to steer away from courthouse arrests in cases of family court and small claims. In some cases, an arrest in non-criminal courts is deemed necessary. However, proper procedures still need to be followed. Agents must receive permissionfrom their Field Office Director before enforcement. Enforcement includes any action taken by an ICE officer or agent to apprehend, arrest, interview, or perform a search and seizure in connection with the enforcement of administrative immigration violations This includes any act taken by an ICE officer or agent to apprehend, arrest, interview, or search an immigrant in connection with enforcement of administrative immigration violations. In cases of Criminal Immigration Enforcement, agents are allowed to detain them without following these rules.
On January 31, 2025, ICE issued a memo to local officials and ICE agents stating that based on the guidance offered by DHS on January 20, 2025, ICE agents are now allowed to use their own judgment when taking action in or around protected areas. They can consider the factors in front of them. As a result of this memo, DHS has not been issuing rules where immigration laws are permitted to be enforced. This has made recent immigration enforcement unpredictable and in some cases, dangerous.
Back in July of 2025, some local Rhode Island businesses pledged to protect the immigrant community with “Deportation Defense Zones.” The Rhode Island Deportation Defense Coalition announced their initiative in a press conference announcing the 33 organizations committing to “saying no to ICE terror.”
Kate Hao, the organizer of the coalition said, “…this racist campaign of misinformation and persecution, which has long had severe and even deadly consequences, has been raised to a new level of crisis.”
Hao had businesses sign the “Defense Zone Pledge,” and they will be reserving their right as property owners to lock their doors and say no to law enforcement trying to get into their stores.
In cases of places of worship, a 2021 memo to ICE agents stated that immigration enforcement should avoid taking action at places of worship whenever possible and enforcement can only happen in specific situations. Unless there is an emergency, officers must get approval from Enforcement and Removal Operations headquarters before taking action near a house of worship, but in case of an emergency, they must tell the ERO headquarters afterwards. If the enforcement does happen, it should be done privately and in a way that does not discourage people from going to the place of worship. As of March of 2025, the requirements have been changed. ICE is under a court order and must respect any place of worship, and this includes 1,4000 locations within 36 states according to the U.S ICE website.
In light of these recent developments, Providence Mayor Brett Smiley announced a bill on January 20, 2026 that would protect those a part of court proceedings from immigration enforcement. This was announced after numerous detainments around Providence Courthouses, including one instance on January 15, 2026 where several ICE agents breached the security of the Garrahy Judicial Complex while in pursuit of two young men. This caused outrage among state leaders.
This was the second time in three months that this had happened. Lt. Gov Sabina Matos said in a January 16th statement, “Allowing these barely trained and reckless federal agents to blunder through our state, disrupting the justice system and harassing children and judges diminishes the safety of our citizens and undermines the efforts of real law enforcement officers.”
State Representative, Jose Batista stated in an email to The Brown Daily Herald, “Our courthouses are foundational to our democracy, our justice system is weakened when individuals are afraid to appear in court because they fear being targeted by federal immigration authorities.”
The bill Smiley announced states that city property, including parking lots, public schools, parks, and municipal buildings, are off limits to federal immigration officers conducting enforcement operations. The order was signed by Providence Mayor Brett Smiley. Smiley said at a conference at City Hall, he believed that this order was necessary. He stated, “We’re taking clear action to affirm Providence’s values…we do not want and will not allow Providence’s public property to be used to execute what we see as unlawful immigration enforcement.” Now, in the event ICE officers are seen on any city-owned property without a judicial warrant, Providence police will be required to vacate the federal agents from it.
Smiley also ensures, “If Immigration and Customs Enforcement presents a valid judicial warrant, we will honor it. We honor it today, but the reality is that’s not what’s happening in most instances.”
The bill also allows private property owners to go to the city’s website and print out signs for their own property. They can be used at their own discretion.
Smiley aslo says he is encouraging the courts to offer a remote option for people who do not feel safe going to the courthouse and to discourage ICE visits. The judiciary enacted rules for virtual court hearings in 2021 and recently posted its revised policy for requesting such a hearing from an online form; however, a judicial officer must choose whether or not it is necessary for the hearing to be in person.
Other cities and states across the US have also enforced ICE free zones, restricting immigration enforcement officers from accessing public and government owned spaces, including Chicago, New York City, New Jersey, San Jose and Richmond Oakland, Los Angeles County California, and Washtenaw County Michigan. This doesn’t mean state officials can completely ban immigration enforcement from operating on government property, but it makes it easier for officials to sue the agents who do enter.
Audio-Visual Editor: S.Brown
Copy-Editor: Abigail Stark
Fact-Checker: Aliyah Goulette-Brown
Researcher and Reporter: Addison Mason