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

Source: LA Times

As part of an ICE operation, plainclothes agents on Thursday pulled an accused MS-13 shotcaller out of a downtown 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 pre-trial status conference on 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.

Sedlander said the prosecutor told him they had no control over ICE. Olivar is now listed in an ICE inmate locator as being held at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center.

Read more: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-03-20/in-rare-move-ice-drags-criminal-defendant-out-of-federal-courtroom