One of the people the Trump administration calls an invading horde was breast feeding in the back bench of Courtroom 16 in Manhattan’s immigration court when Judge John Siemietkowski asked her to raise her right hand.
Valeria Lopez steadied her eight-month-old daughter, Mia, on her right breast with her left hand as she complied. The judge asked through an interpreter if she swore to tell the truth in this initial hearing on whether she will be granted asylum after fleeing Central America.
“Si,” she replied.
Her husband, Edison Chavez, did the same. The couple had also brought their two older children, 11-year-old Alan Chavez and seven-year-old Iker Chavez. The family had arrived at 26 Federal Plaza earlier Wednesday morning, passing through the metal detectors and official photos of President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance, who got elected declaring undocumented immigrants as a grave threat to the nation’s security and civilization itself. The second term Trump portrait is a glowering variation of his 2023 mugshot.
Mugshots of the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted—among them a gang leader, a drug kingpin, a racketeer and a terrorist—were posted beside a portal marked FBI New York Field Office. Along with espionage, such cases are the bureau’s proper focus.
But in recent days, the White House has been pressing the FBI and other federal law enforcement agencies to join in scooping up 3,000 undocumented immigrants a day. The Trump administration has largely abandoned the pretext of only targeting violent criminals among the migrants and is instead simply seeking to run up the numbers.
One easy way to do that, the equivalent of going fishing in an aquarium, has been to position snatch teams of federal agents—often masked—outside immigration courtrooms when an asylum seeker reports for a hearing. The government asks for the case to be dismissed. That leaves the person without the interim protection granted when they applied for asylum. And the agents are ready to make an immediate arrest.
That ploy has been repeated across the country and at least twice in New York on Monday. Immigration Judge Kyle Dandelet in Courtroom 9 voiced sympathy when an asylum seeker named Ivan dutifully arrived at the appointed time only to suddenly find himself facing imminent arrest
“I realize that this is all confusing, only being presented to you now on the day of our hearing,” Dandelet said.
Dandelet is a Harvard Law graduate who chose public service over big bucks and keeps a framed picture of the Statue of Liberty to the left of the bench. Judges are randomly assigned cases and Ivan would have been lucky to get Dandelet, who denies only 27.8 percent of asylum applications, below the New York average of 34.8 per cent. But none of that matters now that asylum was not even a possibility.
“I just want to say one more thing to you,” the judge said. “I only have control over what happens in this courtroom.”
A team of agents waited in the hallway, some with ‘FBI’ on their tactical vests.
“Are you Ivan?” an agent asked.
Ivan nodded and he was led away by the elbow to the holding cells below.
The rest of the agents, at least 18 in three groups, remained poised to take into custody anybody else who was suddenly without an asylum seeker’s protection.
“Everybody has to run the gauntlet,” a legal observer observed.
The agents were back on Tuesday and a team was taking a migrant named Eduardo into custody when New York City Comptroller Brad Lander sought to intervene.
“You need a judicial warrant,” Lander declared.
In fact, the agents did not need one. They ended up handcuffing Lander. And video of the ensuing tussle was widely viewed. A string of other politicians arrived, including New York State Gov. Kathy Hochul. Lander was released.
On Wednesday morning, Democratic U.S. Rep. Dan Goldman of New York arrived on the 12th floor and moved to observe the proceedings in Courtroom 2, which was packed. A clerk kept him from entering.
“Right now, we’re full,” she said.
“I’m a member of Congress,” Goldman said.
Fellow Democratic U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler arrived moments later. The clerk made room for them and they observed for a few minutes before it became clear that nothing dramatic was going to happen. As departed they had an opportunity to see Nando Garcia of Honduras step before Judge Frederic Leeds in a multi-colored suit, gold baseball cap and sneakers with flashing lights along the soles.
“I custom made them,” Garcia afterwards told the Daily Beast.
He also departed without event on a morning that seemed to have been tempered by the previous day’s events.
Better bosses would have had the snatch team FBI agents out chasing the 10 Most Wanted Fugitives and other actual menaces. Instead they were in among the agents from ICE and other federal agencies who were down the hallway when Lopez and her family stepped off the elevator. More of them were masked, including a woman in an FBI tactical vest who said a news photographer had stuck a camera in her face the day before. That made them look more menacing in contrast to the Lopez family, who passed through the gauntlet looking as harmless as they in fact are.
The family settled quietly in the back bench in courtroom 16. Judge Siemietkowski marveled at how well behaved their children remained.
“I just noticed we have a few children in the courtroom,” he said through an interpreter. “After the hearing, I want to know your secret for raising such angels.”
He then addressed the two older children.
“If you would like to, you can make me a picture,” he said through an interpreter. “We have a lot of pictures from other children. So, when I’m having a bad day, I look at them and it makes me happy.”
The judge rose from his bench and brought over two white legal pads and a pair of blue ballpoint pens.
“Thank you,” both boys said in English.
Alan and Iker set to drawing.
“Who needs Lion King or Wicked when you can come to Courtroom 16,” the judge joked.
The judge was back on the bench when the mother began to breastfeed her little one. He noted that their appointment was not officially until the afternoon and the father said they had not wanted to risk being late.
“You have shown great responsibility coming to court,” the judge said.
The judge allowed them to go ahead since the family was there. He walked them through what might and might not be successful when the time came for their asylum application to be heard. He is no pushover lib. He is clearly an adherent to facts and the law. Records show he denied 58.9 percent of application pleas, well above the New York average, though below the national average of 76.
In the meantime, he set their next hearing for 9:30 a.m. on June 3 of 2026. She noted that the New York Immigration courts have a backlog of 265,000 cases. The national backup is 3.5 million.
“I have about 8,000 cases assigned to me,” he added.
He said he is currently setting final hearing dates for March and April of 2029. He suggested this gave the family extra time to assemble witness statements and medical records and other evidence to support their asylum claim.
“Start thinking about what you’re going to be able to prove four years from now,” he said.
The clerk gave them papers indicating their hearing appointment.
“I have heard it may be helpful to show copies of your hearing notice if law enforcement were to stop you,” he said.
Siemietkowski was aware of the agents out in the hallway and of what happened with Lander the day before. He now spoke as someone who had spent three decades in the law, including as an Army trial judge and prosecutor and defense attorney. He had also served as an anti-corruption official in Kabul.
“As a judge I cannot give you legal advice but I want to share some of my experience,” he said. “In my experience, it is best to cooperate with law enforcement.”
“It is best not to interfere with law enforcement. You may see somebody arrested. You may see somebody you know arrested. You yourself may be arrested.”
He added, “Nobody’s perfect. Law enforcement makes mistakes. In my experience, it is best to comply rather than interfere.”
When the hearing came to a close, the judge asked to see the children’s drawings.
“Come on up and show it to me, please,” he said.
The two boys approached the bench with the pads.
“Oh my goodness,” the judge exclaimed. “These are beautiful.”
He held them up for all in the courtroom to see.
“Look at these drawings,” he said.
He began to applaud and everybody in the courtroom joined him.
“Our own Picassos!” he announced.
The two latest drawings joined those of previous children. And the moment came to move on to the next of his 8,000 cases.
”I wish you and your family good health and happiness and a wonderful summer,” he said
Lopez and her family exited the courtroom and passed the gauntlet of agents. But, this time anyway, nobody stopped them. The 11 year-old gave a report on his life in America so far.
“I love school!” he said.
Seven-year-old Iker gave a thumbs-up. The family boarded the elevator and expect to return next June to run the gauntlet again. They are almost sure to be early. There is no guarantee they will not be arrested, save little Mia, who is U.S. born and therefore a citizen.
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