Activists marched from through Lower Manhattan Thursday to protest immigrant arrests at courthouses. 

Civil rights organizations and community groups want the the state's chief judge, Janet DiFiore, to keep immigration and customs enforcement agents out of courthouses. 

They say immigrants have a right to due process whether they are here legally or not. 

"Sometimes, people are only victims or witnesses, and these people are being swept up in a detention dragnet. It isn't fair," said Bob Newman, an attorney with the Legal Aid Society. "They should not be scared out of making court appearances by the fear that they will be put into detention and, in many cases, kept there for months or even years." 

The chief judge has not commented on the issue.