Migrants Taken Into Custody In Federal Building in L.A. After Being Called To Check-In Appointments

A group of migrants who went to a federal building in Los Angeles for their immigration check-in appointments were taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) this week, brought to a basement and held there, some overnight. The incident comes as arrests in federal buildings become increasingly common and the Trump administration seeks to increase the number of daily detentions.

It is unclear how many migrants were taken into custody, but attorneys in Los Angeles told CBS News, which first reported on this story, that hundreds were detained— dozens in the basement in rooms that could fit up to 30 at a time.

According to one attorney, Lizbeth Mateo, several of her clients were scheduled for check in appointments at the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building in downtown L.A. But when they showed up, they were detained and immediately escorted to the basement.

The attorney added that a couple and their two children, one of whom is a U.S. citizen, spent the night in a room with no beds and limited access to food and water. Mateo said the father had previously been issued a stay of removal, barring him from deportation, but he and his family were detained anyway. His wife was released Wednesday evening along with their children since she needed medical attention due to a high-risk pregnancy. But he was still being detained as of early Friday.

"This is something I've never seen before," she added. "Under the first Trump administration I represented clients with very difficult cases, but never anything like this. Under any other circumstance he would have been released."

Other immigration lawyers who spoke to the news outlet said it was unclear to them why this group of migrants were being held, pointing out that holding people at a makeshift detention center is illegal.

"They're having to literally house these immigrants in a makeshift detention center, which on its face is illegal," said Juan Proaño, chief executive officer at the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC). "It is beyond inhumane treatment for an immigrant and in this particular case, you're talking about families."

Neither ICE nor the Department of Homeland Security immediately commented on the matter.

The incident comes as ICE recorded the most immigrant arrests in a single day in its history Tuesday, detaining more than 2,200 people, according to NBC News. Hundreds of people in this group had been enrolled in ICE's Alternative to Detention (ATD) program, which releases undocumented immigrants who are deemed not to be threats to public safety and then keeps track of them through ankle monitors, smartphone apps or other geolocating programs, along with periodic check-ins at ICE facilities.

The number of arrests does not come as a shocker, given increasing pressure from the White House to increase its mass deportation figures. Last month, the White House deputy chief of staff for policy, Stephen Miller, threatened in a meeting with ICE leadership to fire senior officials if the agency did not start making 3,000 arrests per day.