ICE finally gets the criminal.

ICE defies sanctuary law to arrest illegal immigrant at San Francisco courthouse

Blocked from picking up a repeat-felon illegal immigrant at a California jail last year, ICE officers tracked him down at a court appearance earlier this week and made the arrest outside of San Francisco’s Hall of Justice, defying a state law that claims to ban such arrests.

ICE said it had tried nine times since 2014 to get local authorities to turn over the man, 43-year-old Alberto Uc Ponce, but each time those “detainer” requests were rebuffed.

His most recent release in defiance of ICE came after an arrest on drug and burglary charges just after Thanksgiving last year.

Stymied by the local authorities, ICE officers tracked down Mr. Uc Ponce as he was about to enter the courthouse for a hearing on one of his local charges, and made the arrest.

The move is the latest escalation between the Trump administration and California over immigration enforcement, with the feds pushing back hard on the state’s sanctuary policies through lawsuits, subpoenas, and now going to courthouses despite the state law.