In rare move, ICE drags criminal defendant out of a federal courtroom

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As part of an ICE operation, plainclothes agents on Thursday pulled an accused MS-13 leader out of a downtown L.A.federal courtroom, catching attorneys and the judge off guard, and casting uncertainty over the fate of his pending criminal trial.Mark Sedlander, a defense attorney, said the agents, and at least one deputy U.S.

marshal, surrounded and detained his client, Orlando Olivar, shortly after U.S.District Judge André Birotte Jr.

left the bench following a pretrial status conference Thursday.Sedlander said the agents backed Olivar up against the wood railing that separates the public area from where the parties sit.

The agents did not identify themselves and did not display or mention a warrant, he said.He asked them to wait for the judge to return, but said they immediately whisked his client from the courtroom through the holding cell door.“We don’t control ICE,” Assistant U.S.

Atty.Shawn T.

Andrews told the judge when he returned, according to a court a transcript.“So I would just need to do investigation into what is going on.”Olivar is now listed in an ICE inmate locator as being held at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center.Prosecutors have accused Olivar of being a “shot caller” of an MS-13 clique, which Sedlander said his client denies.

Olivar is charged with racketeering conspiracy, conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine and distribution of methamphetamine.Olivar, who has pleaded not guilty, is set to go to trial on May 19.

He had been out on bond.“First and foremost, I’m concerned about my client, period, and second about people’s willingness to participate in our judicial system, whether it’s criminal or civil, when they know that unlike in years past, the courthouse is not a safe space,” Sedlander told The Times.“This is going to chill people from participating in the system.”The U.S.

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