Judge will revisit blocking immigration court arrests after faulty ICE info

MANHATTAN (CN) — A federal judge will reconsider whether ICE can make arrests at immigration courthouses after the government admitted to misleading the court with erroneous information from the agency.

U.S. District Judge Kevin Castel ruled last September that ICE had the authority to make those arrests, based largely on a May 2025 guidance memo that specifically greenlit them. But last month, federal prosecutors admitted ICE gave them faulty arguments — the memo “does not and has never applied to civil immigration enforcement actions” near immigration courts, only other courthouses.

Castel, who called the prosecutors to court on Wednesday to determine how to proceed given the stunning about-face, scrutinized ICE’s assertion that the guidance “never applied” to immigration courts.

The George W. Bush appointee called the argument “specious” and “a post hoc construct” aimed at conforming the agency’s practices to a slew of litigation around the country targeting its aggressive nationwide deportation campaign.

After all, Castel noted, “there was a rise in arrests in or around immigration courts as a result of the May 27, 2025, guidance.” Considering that, he was skeptical of ICE’s newfound claim that the memo was never meant to justify those arrests, a claim that only came to light after ICE sent an email in March informing the Enforcement and Removal Operations personnel the following:

“This broadcast serves as a reminder that the May 27, 2025, guidance does not apply to Executive Office for Immigration Review (immigration) courts, regardless of their location.”

The Department of Justice, representing ICE in this lawsuit from immigration groups challenging the practice, said this was news to them. It told Castel last month that it was “specifically informed by ICE” that the memo applied to immigration courthouse arrests.

Government lawyers chalked the mistake up to “agency attorney error.”

Castel has agreed to revisit his ruling from last September, in which he denied the plaintiffs’ request for a preliminary injunction barring the practice in an order that was based largely on the faulty memo. The plaintiffs want Castel to find that a 2021 memo from the Joe Biden administration, which specifically discouraged ICE from making arrests at immigration courthouses, is now the agency’s most updated guidance on the issue.

DOJ attorneys were hesitant to accept that Wednesday, saying they needed to run the issue by ICE.

“This is an issue I’m grappling with for the first time,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Tomoko Onozawa conceded.

Castel urged the parties to work out the issue outside of the courtroom, now that ICE appears to have no such policy in place that the plaintiffs are challenging.

“Following the recent revelation that ICE misrepresented the justification of its policy of conducting mass arrests at courthouses, today’s hearing affirmed the need for the court to grant our clients immediate relief,” Amy Belsher of the New York Civil Liberties Union, representing the plaintiffs, said in a statement Wednesday. “There is no justification for ambushing and arresting people who are showing up to court. Immigrants are entitled to seek safety and relief from our justice system.”

A spokesperson for prosecutors in the Southern District of New York declined to comment following the proceedings.

The groups, African Communities Together and The Door, sued the Trump administration in 2025 seeking to stop ICE arrests at immigration courthouses — which has historically been discouraged by past administrations amid fears that it could discourage attendance at mandatory hearings and check-ins.

The government’s admission that ICE misled DOJ attorneys in their defense came more than six months into the case. The plaintiffs said last month the implications of the supposed error are far-reaching.

“In the months since the court relied on the government’s representation to deny plaintiffs preliminary relief, defendants have continued arresting noncitizens at their immigration court hearings, resulting in their detention — often in facilities hundreds of miles away,” Belsher said in March.

The practice has been a controversial centerpiece of President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement campaign, which the groups argue discourages noncitizens from dutifully attending their immigration hearings amid fears that ICE agents could be waiting for them.

Many viral videos have captured it in action. Last summer, then-New York City Comptroller Brad Lander was arrested while trying to escort someone through a crowd of ICE agents following their court hearing.

In another instance, ICE agents shoved and injured a photojournalist while making an arrest in the building’s 12th floor hallway.

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