“This decision is going to have a pronounced chilling effect on the number of people willing to interface with court, which is going to have an extremely negative impact on society,” said Nicholas Reppuci, the head of the Charlottesville Office of the Public Defender.
Two men were detained this week at a courthouse in Charlottesville by plain clothes federal law enforcement officials, alarming state lawmakers and the local community about the Trump administration’s continued attacks on civil rights.
On Tuesday, The Daily Progress published a report on the events, including a shocking video showing one of the men being detained inside the Albemarle County Courthouse as bystanders tried to intervene.
video from that charlottesville courthouse kidnapping, nice effort from the bystanders, ICE guy is extremely Low-T pic.twitter.com/qRTjdcLOxY
— Capitol City Turn-Based Intelligence Center (@inthesamedevice) April 23, 2025
The now widely-circulated video shows the man leaving the courtroom where he had just been cleared of an assault charge. The man is then confronted by three other men in plain clothes, including one who was wearing a balaclava, who put the man in hand cuffs and led him out of the court house.
On Wednesday, the Albemarle County Sheriff’s Office issued a statement saying that the three men had identified themselves with their badges and federal credentials to the bailiff before they made their arrests.
Nicholas Reppuci, the head of the Charlottesville Office of the Public Defender, which defended the man in the video in court that day, said these kinds of chilling incidents happening as part of the Trump administration’s federal immigration policy are “uncharted territory” that will make people less likely to report crimes.
“I am very concerned that not just undocumented people, but citizens, tourists, foreign students, green card holders, visa holders – every segment of our population is going to be inherently less likely to go to court,” Reppuci told The Dogwood. “This decision is going to have a pronounced chilling effect on the number of people willing to interface with court, which is going to have an extremely negative impact on society.”
Repucci said he is working to develop protocols to try to prevent incidents like this from happening again.
In the meantime, news of the detentions sparked a massive protest in Charlottesville, and two Democratic state lawmakers are demanding answers.
State Sen. Creigh Deeds and state Del. Katrina Callsen sent a letter to the Albemarle County FOIA officer requesting information and records related to the Albemarle County Police Department’s cooperation with the Department of Homeland Security in carrying out the Trump administration’s immigration agenda.
The Dogwood reached out to DHS for comment.
Today, Senator Deeds and I penned a letter to Albemarle County requesting more information regarding the presence of plain-clothed Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents operating at the Albemarle County Courthouse.
After many conversations with officials, advocates, and… pic.twitter.com/7fceP2ZmNO
— Delegate Katrina Callsen (@DelegateCallsen) April 23, 2025
