The U.S. Department of Homeland Security on Thursday defended its policy of having Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arrest people at their immigration court hearings after a class-action lawsuit was filed that seeks to stop the practice.

The lawsuit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against the agency and ICE says the arrests of thousands of people at court have stripped them of rights afforded to them under immigration law and the U.S. Constitution.

Tricia McLaughlin, Homeland Security assistant secretary for public affairs, said Thursday that arresting people at immigration court is safer for law enforcement officers because the immigrants have gone through security and were screened for weapons.

It also conserves law enforcement resources “because they already know where a target will be,” she said.

“We aren’t some medieval kingdom, there are no legal sanctuaries where you can hide and avoid the consequences for breaking the law,” McLaughlin said in an email.

— The Associated Press