U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement violated the intent of Oregon’s Sanctuary Law with its unauthorized entry into the lobby of the Lane County Jail on Oct. 15 to detain several individuals who were in the process of being released. The video of the incident was just released last week, and it underscores further issues with what took place.

As a criminal defense attorney, and the former director of Public Defender Services of Lane County, I am worried about the actions of ICE officials in our community, and how they make their arrests. I’m not disputing the legality of detaining, or even deporting people who don’t have legal status to be in our country.

But the process of how they go about their work is just as important as the results. When ICE invades our courthouse or our jail, it means undocumented people in our community are less likely to show up to court when they are subpoenaed as a witness, or when they are trying to gain relief as a victim of abuse or a criminal offense.

ICE entered the jail when a (likely undercover) agent in a hoodie and sunglasses grabbed the lobby doors of the jail as they were swinging shut, who then let in a federal agent in a flak jacket. Using this method was deceptive and unnecessary.

But agents compounded matters when they tried to arrest an individual within the lobby itself, putting other members of the public in jeopardy, including a pregnant defense attorney who was nearly run over by the fleeing suspect and pursuing officer and is still traumatized by the experience.

The jail lobby closes at 5 p.m. There was absolutely no reason for ICE to go inside the lobby. When someone is released from Lane County Jail custody, they have to leave the lobby through the secure jail courtyard to the public sidewalk. There’s only one exit through the courtyard.

If it was really that important to detain the suspects in question, ICE should have waited and arrested them there, beyond the courtyard. Instead, they put the public at risk and made our community less safe by sneaking into the jail lobby and making an arrest violently.

The Lane County Jail isn’t just for locking people up — and even for those detained, the vast majority are awaiting court and trial, not serving sentences. Pretrial services, housed directly next to the jail lobby, does important work in monitoring people in our community who are accused of crimes and on release agreements.

The Sherman Center, just beyond the other side of the jail lobby, supervises people on work release and other jail alternatives such as community service. Even in our county jail’s lobby, there’s a booth for people who want to sign up for drug treatment. The deputies who staff the jail use the lobby to show up for their jobs every day. Defense attorneys, investigators and family members of adults in custody all use the lobby.

Simply put, it’s not a place where arrests should be made, and ICE should not have been there.

It doesn’t appear that any local officials notified ICE that the detained men were being released (an advance heads-up would violate Oregon’s Sanctuary Law). But it is my hope that the federal government keeps ICE away from our public spaces in Lane County.

As a lawyer who has dedicated my practice to upholding the constitution and defending people from government overreach, I firmly believe our community is safer when we don’t coordinate with ICE. If the agency wants to detain or deport, it should wait and take action against people found guilty in a court of law, not snatch them from the jail lobby.

Brook Reinhard is the owner of Reinhard Law, a criminal defense firm in Springfield, and is also an adjunct law professor at the University of Oregon and Willamette University law schools. He was the executive director of Public Defender Services of Lane County for eight years before starting his firm in 2024.