Across America, migrants are stepping into immigration courts believing they are finally getting their chance to follow the law. Instead, they are walking straight into traps carefully set by the government.
Reporters from the Associated Press witnessed this disturbing pattern in 21 cities: hearings that end suddenly, cases dismissed without warning, and migrants immediately grabbed by ICE agents waiting in the hallways. These weren’t random arrests — they were coordinated, planned, and carried out with military-style precision.
One scene shows just how cold the system has become. A Cuban man arrived with his wife and baby for what he thought was a standard asylum hearing. He was doing everything right. But the government lawyer quickly moved to dismiss his case, making him instantly eligible for deportation. The moment he stepped into the hallway, plainclothes agents swarmed him. His wife screamed as agents dragged him away. Minutes later, an ICE officer texted the lawyer: “Got him.”
This is happening again and again.
The Trump administration has turned immigration courts into machinery designed for speed, not justice. Nearly 90 judges have already been fired — replaced with people who are expected to obey political orders, not the law. Judges who try to be fair are warned or pushed out. Courtrooms no longer feel like courts; they feel like checkpoints.
Behind the scenes, DHS lawyers prepare spreadsheets marking which migrants are easiest to deport. ICE agents study these lists, wait outside courtrooms, and move in the second a case is dismissed. Sometimes they even arrest people in front of their children.
Families collapse in the hallways. Children scream for their parents. And the government calls it “efficiency.”
Migrants who follow the rules are discovering the truth too late:
the courtroom isn’t a place of justice — it’s the trapdoor.
