The government lawyer knew what was coming as she stood inside a courtroom and texted an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent waiting in a corridor a few feet away.

“I can’t do this,” the lawyer said in a text message as she looked at her docket of cases. “This is a new emotional load.”

“I understand,” the agent responded. “Hopefully we meet again in a better situation.”

Nearby, a Cuban man who had lived in the United States for years stepped from an elevator and into the courtroom where the government lawyer was waiting for what the man thought was a routine hearing.

The man was doing what the law required, and brought along his wife, a legal resident, and their 7-month-old infant.

Then the lawyer quickly moved to have the man’s asylum claim dismissed and a judge agreed, making

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