FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 24, 2026
Media Contact:
Jessica Flores, [email protected]
Centro Legal de la Raza and Al Otro Lado Demand Answers After Immigration Attorney Flagged on DHS Watchlist at SFO
Organizations warn that targeting immigration attorneys threatens the right to legal representation and demand immediate transparency from DHS and ICE.
OAKLAND, CA — Centro Legal de la Raza and Al Otro Lado are demanding immediate answers after a Centro Legal de la Raza immigration attorney was subjected to maximum screening at San Francisco International Airport and informed he was allegedly on a Department of Homeland Security watchlist.
Although the Centro Legal attorney was not arrested, this is not the first time an attorney has been stopped and searched at a U.S. airport. The incident comes amid escalating attacks by the Trump administration on legal aid organizations that support immigrant communities — part of an alarming pattern of increased scrutiny on attorneys defending immigrants’ rights.
In response to this incident, Al Otro Lado, an organization providing humanitarian and legal aid to asylum seekers, deportees, and immigrants, filed a FOIA and Privacy Act request seeking records that explain why the Centro Legal attorney was flagged and whether DHS or ICE is maintaining a watchlist of immigration attorneys. The request comes just weeks after Al Otro Lado filed a separate FOIA lawsuit after discovering what appeared to be a hidden “watchlist” on an ICE website that included the names of immigration attorneys. To date, ICE has not responded to Al Otro Lado’s requests.
Centro Legal and Al Otro Lado are calling on ICE and DHS to immediately disclose whether such a watchlist exists, explain the legal authority for maintaining it, identify who has been included, and account for why immigration attorneys appear to be subject to heightened scrutiny while carrying out their professional responsibilities.
“They did not treat me like a randomly selected person, but rather as a suspect. When I asked why I was stopped and searched, a TSA worker told me I was on a watchlist. No attorney should have to wonder whether doing their job will subject them to government scrutiny,” said Nikolas De Bremaeker, Immigrants’ Rights Practice Managing Attorney at Centro Legal de la Raza.
“When lawyers can be singled out, subjected to heightened scrutiny, and treated as suspects simply because of their work, it threatens not only the legal profession but the fundamental right to counsel. We call on DHS and ICE to provide transparency and accountability regarding any watchlists,” said Monique Berlanga, Executive Director of Centro Legal de la Raza.
“When immigration attorneys can be flagged, detained, and searched for doing their jobs, it sends a chilling message to the entire profession: represent immigrants, and you may become a target. DHS and ICE owe the public — and the legal community — a full accounting of why it appears to be maintaining a watchlist of immigration attorneys, and who has access to it,” said Andrews Fels, Staff Attorney at Al Otro Lado.