Professor Johnson Talks to Bee About Asylum Seeker Arrested by ICE in Sacramento

Professor Kevin R. Johnson spoke to the Sacramento Bee for an April 7 story on Wilfredo Rivero of Siskiyou County, who was arrested after traveling to Sacramento’s immigration office to notify officials of his new address before his pending asylum case was to be heard.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement Officials instead arrested Rivero, who is in the United States legally. He now awaits potential deportation in an ICE facility near Bakersfield.

The Bee story noted that Rivero’s arrest highlights wat multiple immigration attorneys says is a growing trend of ICE arresting people who show up at its offices for check-ins or changes of addresses.

“It’s cruel,” Johnson told the Bee. “And it’s going to punish the most law-abiding people, the people who show up.”

Kevin R. Johnson is a distinguished professor of law, Mabie-Apallas Professor of Public Interest Law, and Martin Luther King Jr. Professor of Law. Johnson also has an appointment as professor of Chicana/o studies at UC Davis. He served as dean of UC Davis Law from 2008 to 2024. Johnson is an internationally recognized scholar in the fields of immigration law and policy, refugee law, and civil rights.