Federal immigration officials took a man facing charges related to a domestic dispute into custody hours after his trial began in Clark County Superior Court this week, in a move some observers say may be unprecedented in Washington state.
Video of the Jan. 12 arrest shows five masked ICE officers handcuffing 26-year-old Brayan David Morales Bermudez on the sidewalk outside the Clark County courthouse.
The arrest puts an immediate halt to the trial just as it was getting underway, and strains public resources already invested in the case, Clark County Superior Court Judge Camara Banfield told OPB.
It also violates historic precedent under which immigration officials avoided enforcing orders in courthouses out of respect for the criminal justice system that seeks to hold criminals accountable and to get justice for defendants…