THE HILL: DHS: Immigration agents can make courthouse arrests.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) says immigration agents are authorized to arrest crime victims and witnesses at courthouses, amid scrutiny of the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement tactics.

“Just because they’re a victim in a certain case does not mean there’s not something in their background that could cause them to be a removable alien,” DHS spokesman David Lapan said Tuesday, according to The Washington Post.

“Just because they’re a witness doesn’t mean they might not pose a security threat for other reasons,” he told reporters.

Lapan said the factors inspiring Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials to make an arrest “could be any number of things.”

“I can’t give a blanket statement that says every witness and victim is somehow untouchable, because they may have circumstances in their own case that would make them again subject to arrest,” he said.

“Again, the categories that we’ve talked about that make them subject to arrest or potential removal still apply to somebody who might him or herself be a victim.”

Court officials have complained that ICE agents going to local courthouses could scare potential witnesses and victims from reporting crimes, the Post noted.

Well, that’s a concern, but it’s not the law. And besides, this is mostly just concern-trolling aimed at establishing “sanctuary courthouses.”