About 75 public defenders walked out of Bronx Criminal Court Thursday afternoon in protest of the sudden detention of one of their clients following a routine court date.

The walk-out dramatized the ongoing dissatisfaction by immigrant advocates with federal agents, whose presence at the courthouses they say intimidates witnesses and victims from coming forward for fear of being deported.

The defendant in this case, 27-year-old Aboubacar Dembele, was brought to the U.S. at age 3 from Ivory Coast, his attorneys said. He had appeared in court on an assault charge stemming from an altercation on a bus in December, according to court records. It was his first arrest in New York City, according to police.

After another client was arrested by #ICE outside of Bronx Criminal Court, our attorneys and @BronxDefenders walked out in protest. "Say it loud, say it clear, immigrants are welcome here." #ICEOUT #HereToStay pic.twitter.com/BAxEKzDziK

— The Legal Aid Society (@LegalAidNYC) February 8, 2018

Dembele's wife, Zaquera Laniere, 24,  a U.S. citizen, was with her husband when he was suddenly detained. The minute the couple stepped out of the courthouse, she said, they were surrounded.

"It was like eight of them stepped in front of us," she said. "It's like an ambush. You finish one case. You're walking out freely. But as soon as you step outside you're going right back into handcuffs."

Officers mentioned Dembele's DACA application, which had been denied just a few weeks ago, she said.

"We got to take you in. Your DACA got denied," she said Immigration Officials told them, before taking her husband away. 

A spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement didn't immediately confirm Dembele's detention.

Dembele, who's lived in New York City since 2012, works as a barista, his wife said. He recently applied to Bronx Community College and Medgar Evers College, but hadn't yet enrolled in any classes, according to officials at The City University of New York. He had applied for DACA years ago but had clerical issues, and then financial difficulties paying for the application. He had resubmitted the paperwork, Laniere said, but was denied entry into the program. DACA — short for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals — gives protected status for undocumented individuals who entered the country as young children.

Public defenders stayed outside the courthouse for about an hour.

"The presence of ICE officers in our courthouses," Legal Aid spokesman Redmond Haskins said in a statement, "and the perception that no immigrant is safe to seek their day in court, is threatening to upend our entire legal process and the principles upon which it stands."

Correction: An earlier version of this story said Dembele is a student at Hostos Community College. That was incorrect. The college said he is not enrolled as a student there.